All iOS 14 users can use picture-in-picture with YouTube’s mobile website
Previously, picture-in-picture was only available for Premium subscribers.
It appears that the YouTube website is now allowing all iOS 14 users to take advantage of the picture-in-picture (PIP) functionality, even if they don’t have a YouTube Premium subscription. MacRumors noted the change last night.
iOS 14 introduced PIP to the iPhone this summer, but in September, PIP stopped working with YouTube’s mobile website unless you had a Premium subscription. YouTube told Engadget that background playback was a Premium feature.
Now, all iOS 14 users seem to have access to the PIP functionality, at least through Safari. The native YouTube app still doesn’t support PIP, even if you have a Premium account. As MacRumors points out, since YouTube hasn’t made any announcements, we’re not sure if this is a permanent change or not. But third-party apps, like Netflix, are gradually offering PIP for iOS 14, so it wouldn’t be completely surprising.