YouTube Restores iOS 14 Picture in Picture Capability on Mobile Website

Tonight, the YouTube website has started allowing iOS 14 devices to use the built-in Picture in Picture functionality for its videos even without a Premium account.

This is an apparent reversal of a change that YouTube explicitly made following the release of iOS 14 which blocked such behavior. At that time, YouTube would only allow that capability for users with Premium accounts. Tonight's change means that any YouTube visitor can use Picture in Picture in Safari.


iOS 14 introduced native Picture in Picture capability to the iPhone for the first time, however, apps have to explicitly support the feature. YouTube's native app has never supported Picture in Picture for any of its users even though iPadOS has offered the capability for some time. There have been reports that YouTube has been testing this feature, but there have been no announcements.

As a result, iOS 14 users have had to resort to using YouTube in Safari as a workaround. Since there have been no announcements either way, it's unclear if this change is permanent or not.

Thanks Jorge

Related Forum: iOS 14

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
macos tahoe

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for macOS Tahoe 26.1

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week. The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included. macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Another Vehicle Brand Gaining iPhone Car Keys Support

Tuesday October 28, 2025 5:27 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...

Top Rated Comments

ctg7w6 Avatar
66 months ago
How about you let me use it from the app itself? It should be free as a part of iOS, but I am also a premium subscriber. I wish there were a YouTube alternative. Unfortunately, due to the (insane) number of ads it is actually worth it TO ME to subscribe even if I get jacked over and don't get PiP from the app.

Honestly, YouTube is a pretty shameful company.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rjp1 Avatar
66 months ago

How about you let me use it from the app itself? It should be free as a part of iOS, but I am also a premium subscriber. I wish there were a YouTube alternative. Unfortunately, due to the (insane) number of ads it is actually worth it TO ME to subscribe even if I get jacked over and don't get PiP from the app.

Honestly, YouTube is a pretty shameful company.
You should really consider using an ad blocker. They get rid of all Youtube ads. More importantly, they get rid of a lot of dangerous ads.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jamieinoc Avatar
66 months ago

This just might have been a bug. Pip continued to work in chrome and Firefox even though it didn’t work in safari and edge.

What I want to know is, when is 4K (non hdr) coming to iPhone and appletv 4K?
It wasn’t a bug. There was code specifically designed to detect PIP and stop it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iZac Avatar
66 months ago
Don’t worry they’ll still drill you with constant “one month free trial” Premium offers.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
javisan Avatar
66 months ago
Enabling in Safari works perfect for me as that is how I view YouTube in my iPhone. I have an adblocker that completely removes all ads embedded to the videos.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tapoma Avatar
66 months ago

YouTube provides nearly unlimited entertainment. You think they give this out for free? Ads are the only thing that’s keeping the website running. Those servers storing those videos aren’t cheap to maintain. It’s also how creators get paid as well, the creators can choose how many ads show up in a video.

They have a paid subscription if you don’t want to see ads, what’s there to complain about again?
The issue with YouTube Premium is the cost. It is not providing sufficient value for money for us as customers. £11.99 per month to remove ads is completely excessive, and they have purposely degraded the free experience (in app) in order to annoy customers into subscribing.

If Google let us pay to remove ads in the app and have background playback at a reasonable price I’d pay for it because I use the YouTube app a lot. But they bundle it with a music streaming service I have no interest in, and YouTube originals which I also have no interest in.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)