How to Access YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture Feature 📺

YouTube’s Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature comes in very handy on a daily basis. Although officially reserved for YouTube Premium subscribers, some users have access to it free of charge, but on a random and unreliable basis. This raises questions: why this inconsistency, and what are the criteria for accessing this feature? Answer in this week’s #AskGriots.

YouTube Premium Subscription 🤑

Picture-in-picture (PIP) allows you to watch a video in a reduced player while using other applications on your mobile device. Once free and accessible to all, this feature is now tied to the YouTube Premium subscription.

However, according to YouTube’s official help page, the feature remains accessible to non-subscribed users residing in the United States, except for certain content such as music videos. Additionally, the feature can be accessed in countries where YouTube Premium is not available.

Comparative Tests 🔬

Many users worldwide have found they can access this feature without subscribing to YouTube Premium. However, it doesn’t work with all videos. Journalists have been able to identify some compatible content.

This seemingly contradictory situation is explained by Google’s strategy of regularly conducting comparative tests on its applications. This « erratic » behavior is actually just an experimental phase. We’ll have to wait to know Google’s final decision regarding access to this feature.