YouTube TV finally adds picture-in-picture for iPhone and iPad

By Phil Nickinson Published March 31, 2022

After months of promises and and extreme patience from customers, YouTube TV finally has added a picture-in-picture feature (also referred to as PiP) for iPhone and iPad. The company confirmed the rollout this week, and it started appearing in the app a few hours later, apparently triggered by a server-side update.

The feature allows you to continue watching a show in a smaller window while doing something else on your device.

YouTube TV's picture-in-picture feature shown atop a web browser on an iPhone. — Phil Nickinson/Digital Trends

To activate PiP mode, you’ll need to be actually watching a video first, and then switch to another app, or swipe up to go to the home screen. The active video will shrink into a corner of your device, and you can then drag it to any other corner you wish.

Recommended Videos

The feature has been long-requested by iOS users — and it was added to the YouTube app in June 2021. But it wasn’t made available for YouTube TV until now. Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, said in February that it was coming, and a month and a half later it’s here.

More on YouTube TV

iPhone & iPad users 🔊

We’re happy to share that picture-in-picture is now rolling out to your iOS 15+ devices. Simply select a video to watch and swipe ⬆️ from the bottom of the screen to return to the device's homepage. The video can scale down and move across your screen.

— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) March 30, 2022

YouTube TV is believed to be the second-largest live TV streaming service in the United States. It last reported “more than 3 million” subscribers in October 2020, but hasn’t given an update since. Hulu With Live TV last reported having 4.1 million paid subscribers, and Sling TV had 2.486 million subscribers at last count.

YouTube TV costs $65 a month and comes with the ability to have a half-dozen second profiles attached to a subscription, each with the ability to “record” as many shows and movies as they want. It’s available on every major streaming platform, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV, which are the two largest platforms in the world. It’s also available on Google TV and Android TV, Apple TV, various smart TV platforms, and in a web browser.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…

Mobile

iOS 18.2 may make charging your iPhone even easier. Here’s how

A close-up view of the App Library page on the iPhone 16.

We've all been in a situation where we need to charge our phone quickly, but it can be hard to gauge just how much time it needs to spend on the charger before it gets a usable amount of juice. A feature coming to iOS 18.2 will tell you how much more time your phone needs, although we aren't quite sure yet when it will be released.

On Monday, iOS 18.2 beta 2 was released to developers. 9to5Mac spotted the codebase for this feature in their breakdown, stating that it will calculate the amount of time needed to reach a certain charge threshold based on how powerful the charger is. The framework was dubbed "BatteryIntelligence" within the code, but although it was present, the feature isn't finished. That likely means it has been added in for testing purposes, but won't be ready for full deployment for some time yet.

Mobile

Why this 3-year-old iOS feature is one of my favorite things about the iPhone

Focus modes page in the Control Center on an iPhone 16.

Apple's latest software update for the iPhone — iOS 18 — is a big deal. Between more customizable home screens, a huge Control Center update, and all of the new Apple Intelligence features, this year's iOS update has a lot to like.

However, as I've been using my iPhone 16 over the last few weeks, I've realized that one of the iOS features I use the most has nothing to do with the iOS 18 update. Instead, it's an iOS feature that was introduced over three years ago and remains one of my favorite iPhone features year after year. Yes, I'm talking about Focus modes.
How I use Focus on my iPhone

Mobile

There’s an easy way to follow election results on your iPhone. Here’s how

Screenshot of Apple News on an iPhone.

It’s Election Day in the U.S., and Apple is making it easier for people to check real-time results. The Apple News app will have a Live Activity feature that starts displaying results on your device as they come in tonight. The Live Activity on iPhone will appear on the Dynamic Island (if your iPhone has it) and the lock screen.

For the election, the Live Activity feature will provide up-to-date information, eliminating the need to refresh the Apple News app. You can expect results for the presidential, Senate, and House races to be posted.