This article was published on June 29, 2018

YouTube makes picture-in-picture video (mostly) free for Android users in the US


YouTube makes picture-in-picture video (mostly) free for Android users in the US

Quite possibly the best thing about being a YouTube Red/Premium/Google Play Music subscriber is the ability to watch videos in a floating picture-in-picture (PiP) window on my phone. That allows me to continue watching a video while chatting, browsing the web, or doing pretty much any activity.

I’ll soon be losing that bragging right. YouTube is bringing PiP video to anyone on Android O within the US, whether you pay for YouTube Premium or not. The change was first spotted by XDA, though it’s since been confirmed in a Google support page.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. The feature will work with most YouTube videos, but not those with certain music content. And again, it’s currently only rolling out in the US, although I imagine it will expand to more users in due time.

It was frankly a little silly to make exclusive to those of us who pay, considering PiP mode works with so many other apps. Still, better late than never.

Via The Verge

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with