Picture-in-Picture (PiP) is great for our multitaskers. While some prefer to give full attention to their content, others prefer to continue watching videos while attending to other tasks. I often have video playing in PiP on both my iPhone and Mac, while I scan headlines, chat with friends, or take care of any task that requires only half my attention.
While there are ways to manually trigger PiP, it’s best on mobile, as most video player apps have adopted a natural method: when you play a video, you can quit the app, and the video continues in the PiP window. It’s now muscle memory for me on iOS: I go to YouTube, select a video, and swipe out of the app, knowing that my video will continue when I go to other apps on my iPhone.
YouTube PiP is broken (especially on iOS)
Of course, like most things, PiP is only good when it works. You may have recently tried the exact shortcut I just described, only to find that nothing really happens. You close YouTube, but your video doesn’t follow in the PiP window. (Although it may still be running in the background.) And while some of you may be Android users, I’m willing to bet most are on iPhones. What gives?
As reported by 9to5GoogleYouTube is currently experiencing issues with PiP. This is not something that only a few users are dealing with. The problem is apparently so widespread that YouTube has directly confirmed the problem. In a statement on YouTube HelpA Google employee shared the following:
What do you think so far?
“We know some of you are experiencing issues with the picture-in-picture (PiP) feature failing to trigger when exiting the YouTube app. While the majority of these reports are coming from iOS users, we’re also seeing significantly fewer reports from Android users…Our teams are actively investigating this issue, and we’ll update this information further soon. At the time of writing, more than 11,600 users have requested this YouTube help. Pressed the “I have a similar question” button on the post.
Is there a way to fix PiP in the YouTube app?
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a solution. For what it’s worth, PiP was intermittent for me in the YouTube app on iOS this morning. I had no problem swiping from a video into PiP mode during an ad, but once the video started playing, PiP didn’t work. Not only that, but the playback also stopped. I went back to YouTube, played the video again, and when I left the app this time, entered PiP. This continues on and off, not working one time, but working another time.
