With the release of iOS 14 last month for Apple’s iPhones, the company’s smartphones finally have support for Picture in Picture video…in certain apps.
On the one hand, this is a blessing for anyone who likes to do other things on their phone while on a FaceTime call with a friend or family member. On the other hand, the fact that YouTube doesn’t support this makes it a useless feature for my use case — and I’m sure others would agree.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing I like to do more than lay in bed and catch up on either my Reddit and Twitter feeds or my YouTube backlog. As much as I would love to do both on my phone simultaneously, Google would rather I not. And before I go any further, I know why Google doesn’t have the support for the feature in the app: the money. It’s against Apple’s policy to lock a feature like that behind a paywall, so Google just says screw it. The only way you can watch YouTube via Picture in Picture at this time is by playing the video in the Safari browser (and Google even tried to kill that).
There’s workarounds on iOS — there’s ways to use the Shortcuts app to open your currently playing YouTube video in Safari to get Picture in Picture working — but that’s not how it should be. Come on, Google, I know you want that sweet, sweet money, but throw us a bone here, PLEASE! Even if it bothers you to give that feature to anyone who doesn’t pay for Premium, you may just have to take the L on this one.
Do you think YouTube should add native Picture in Picture to their iPad and iPhone apps? Sound off in the comments below!
Dan Stransky 