Did you know that you can watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode on iOS? You just need to know how.
Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode makes it easy to continue watching a YouTube video when you switch iPhone apps. It's great for tutorials or even to keep playing songs while sending an email.
The YouTube app for iOS allows users to use PiP mode as an experimental feature for YouTube Premium members. If you don't have a premium membership, you won't be able to use this feature through the app.
However, there are workarounds for those who don't have YouTube Premium that we will look into as well.
PiP mode allows you to easily follow tutorials or listen to music from YouTube while using other iOS apps.
While YouTube requires a premium membership to use this feature, there are great workarounds. If you don't have a premium membership and don't want one, consider using the YouTube PiP shortcut. That way you can always use PiP mode when you need it.
Using Picture-in-Picture mode in the YouTube app for iOS
If you have YouTube Premium, you can start using this feature right away. The YouTube app is the best way to use the PiP mode.
To get started, go to the browser of your choice. When you get there, you will see an option to open the YouTube app, if you have it installed.
Once here, tap apri to open this page within the app. This will show a list of features that you can activate. Scroll down to Picture-in-picture su iOS and touch PROOF to start using this feature.
To use PiP mode, swipe up when in the app and the video should continue playing in the Picture-in-Picture mini player.
As the feature is new and experimental, YouTube claims it may not work properly for the first hour. So if it doesn't work right away, give it some time and double check. If it still doesn't work, you'll need to uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app.
Enable YouTube Picture-in-Picture mode using Safari
With iOS 14 and later, most apps allow PiP mode. While YouTube is the exception (unless you're a premium user), there are still other ways to get YouTube to work in picture-in-picture mode on your iOS device.
Thankfully, you can do this using Safari. In Safari, go to and play the video of your choice. Make the video full screen by tapping the a icon full screen .
Once in full screen, swipe up or press the Home button to return to your iPhone's home screen. Once done, the video should continue playing in the on-screen picture-in-picture mini player.
You can pinch the window to increase the size if you need it a little bigger.
It works for all devices with iOS and iPadOS 14 or later. If that doesn't work for you, you may need to delete the YouTube app if you have it installed.
You will also need to make sure that PiP is activated. You can do this by going up Settings > Generali > Picture in Picture and enabling Start PiP automatically .
Create a shortcut for YouTube Picture-in-Picture mode
There is also a shortcut you can install to enable PiP mode faster while using Safari.
To download the shortcut, go to and search for the shortcut YouTube PiP . Touch Get link to download it. If it downloaded successfully, you should see the link listed at the top of the Links app.
To use the shortcut, you will also need to download the app. You don't need to open this app to use the link, you just need to have it installed for the link to work.
To use the link, open YouTube in Safari and navigate to the desired video. Then, tap the share button at the bottom of the page in Safari. Here you will see an option for YouTube PiP. Tap this and the video will open in picture-in-picture mode.
Make sure you keep Scriptable open while the video is playing in PiP mode.
