Johannesburg: YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode is coming to the iPhone and iPad, joining the club of Android users able to make use of the feature.
One of the highlights of the feature is that music and videos will continue to play on a minimised screen after exiting the app, ending the irritation of interrupted music playlists when closing the app.
"With PiP, users can watch YouTube videos in a small mini player while simultaneously browsing other apps on their mobile device," the company said.
For many years, users complained of music being interrupted when the YouTube app was closed, which prevented users from, for example, listening to music while working or studying without needing to keep the app open.
The Google-owned video-sharing platform heeded its users' calls and introduced the feature to Android users and, now finally, iPhone and iPad users.
YouTube announced that the PiP feature would roll out to iPhone and iPad devices running iOS and iPadOS 15.0 or higher over the next several days.
"We recognise this has been a slow roll-out for a highly requested feature and want to thank everyone who shared feedback during experiments and waited patiently for this moment," the company said.
YouTube says the feature will not affect users who subscribe to its paid service, YouTube Premium, which already allows for a similar feature – background play – but will work alongside the function.
YouTube’s non-premium users using the YouTube app on iPhone and iPad will have access to PiP for non-music content, which Android users have access to.
Globally, all premium members on iPhones and iPads will have access to PiP for all content, both music and non-music.
How to use the feature on iPhone:
● Go to YouTube’s 'Settings' in the app.
● Under the 'General' tab, turn on 'Picture-in-Picture'.
● If the feature is not available as yet, once the app is updated, it should become visible.
● If users do not turn on the feature, it will use the background play function by default.
PiP became YouTube’s latest service after recently offering users a function on most video platforms, such as TikTok, called 'Gifting', to monetise the platform for its content creators further.
Channel Memberships Gifting, which allows viewers to make donations to their favourite creators, was released to a small group of creators and is expected to reach more creators, including those in South Africa, soon.
IOL Tech