YouTube rolling out picture-in-picture feature to iPhones, iPads

The YouTube app on iOS will soon be getting picture-in-picture support. It will allow users to watch videos while doing other things on their iPhones and iPads.

A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge that the feature is currently rolling out to Premium subscribers and that a launch for all iOS users (including the free ones) in the US is in the works.

Apple added support for picture-in-picture video for iPads with iOS 9 and brought it to iPhones with iOS 14.

Since then, YouTube's support for the feature on iPhones and iPads has been spotty it works for iPad if you're using Safari (though some have reported it doesn't work for non-Premium subscribers); iPhone users have only been able to access the feature periodically.

That complication seems to be going away, at least for those in the US: iOS users, with or without a YouTube Premium subscription, will soon have access to it using the YouTube app as Android users have for years.

YouTube did not provide a timeline for when the feature would arrive for free users, but stated the rollout to Premium subscribers is in progress.