Picture-in-Picture: A Multitasker’s Best Friend
Picture-in-picture (PiP) is a feature that has become an essential part of our multitasking habits. While some people prefer to focus on a single task, others like to keep multiple things going at the same time. I’m one of those individuals who often have a video playing in the background while I scroll through headlines, chat with friends, or complete tasks that don’t require my full attention.
On mobile devices, PiP is particularly convenient, as most video player apps have adopted a natural method of triggering it. When you play a video, you can simply leave the app, and the video continues playing in a PiP window. This has become muscle memory for me on iOS: I head to YouTube, choose a video, and swipe out of the app, knowing my video will keep running as I move to other apps on my iPhone.
The Problem: YouTube PiP Not Working
However, like most things, PiP is only good when it works. You might have recently tried the exact shortcut I described, only to find that nothing actually happens. You close out of YouTube, but your video doesn’t follow in a PiP window. (Though it may still continue to play in the background.) And while some of you might be Android users, I’d be willing to bet most are on iPhones. What gives?
As reported by 9to5Google, YouTube is currently experiencing issues with PiP. This isn’t something only a handful of users are dealing with. The problem is apparently so widespread that YouTube has confirmed the issue directly. In a statement on YouTube Help, a Google employee shared the following:
"We’re aware that some of you are experiencing issues with the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature failing to trigger when exiting the YouTube app. While the vast majority of these reports are coming from iOS users, we are also seeing a significantly lower volume of reports from Android users…Our teams are actively investigating the issue, and we’ll update this thread as soon as we have more information."
At the time of writing, over 11,600 users had hit the "I have the same question" button on this YouTube Help post. This is a significant number, indicating that the issue is not isolated and is affecting a substantial portion of the user base.
Is There a Fix for PiP in the YouTube App?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there is any workaround. For what it’s worth, PiP was intermittent for me this morning in the YouTube app on iOS. I had no problem swiping out of a video into PiP mode during an ad, but once the video started playing, PiP didn’t work. Not only that, but playback stopped as well. I went back to YouTube, played the video again, and when I left the app this time, PiP kicked in. This continued on and off, not working one time, but working the next.
It’s clear that the issue is not limited to a specific device or software version, but rather a widespread problem that affects multiple platforms and user experiences.
