If you've ever found yourself in a situation where you're watching a lengthy YouTube video, you know how frustrating it is to have to stop watching and do other things on your phone or tablet. But, in a remarkably generous move by Google, that isn't going to be an issue for much longer.
Google has announced it will be expanding YouTube's picture-in-picture mode to everyone. This used to be an exclusive feature for YouTube Premium subscribers, though Google expanded it to free users in the U.S. a few years back. Now the feature has started rolling out to free users worldwide, but only if you're watching the right kind of video.
According to Google, picture-in-picture will only be available on "longform, non-music content" for users on Android and iOS. Google hasn't specified exactly what qualifies as "longform content," and if there's a minimum time limit. However, we can safely assume that YouTube Shorts won't count.
Obviously, the music limitation has been added to stop people from trying to use picture-in-picture as a loophole for streaming tracks in the background. Background play in the main YouTube app is still exclusive to full Premium subscribers. Premium Lite subscribers, on the other hand, get picture-in-picture access to everything except music.
How to use picture-in-picture mode on YouTube
The bad news is that the picture-in-picture update will take a few months to fully roll out, so you may have to wait a little longer to take advantage of it. The good news is that the update should be activated as soon as the rollout reaches you, meaning you probably won't need to do anything.
To activate picture-in-picture mode, you simply need to open a video and head back to your phone's homescreen. A mini player should appear at the bottom of your screen, playing the same video. It's possible to move that player around to different parts of the screen, expand its size, and access playback controls by tapping the mini-player.
It's quite a useful tool if you watch a lot of YouTube on your phone, but still want to have access to all your other apps in the process. The fact that you no longer have to pay for it makes it even better, especially when you remember just how much YouTube Premium costs. It's $16 a month for Premium and $9 a month for Premium Lite, and seeing as how everything else costs so much anyway, getting Premium-tier features without having to pay for them is a win.
