Most users have never seen them on the iPhone and iPad anyway, now YouTube is turning them off almost completely. As of now, the picture-in-picture function is no longer available for new users. It was only introduced on a trial basis a year ago.

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iPhone and iPad: YouTube ends picture-in-picture mode

YouTube has its tests for that Picture-in-picture support officially ended on iPhone and iPad. It has been available to YouTube Premium subscribers as an experimental feature for almost a year. Non-premium users have never seen the picture-in-picture feature on iPhone and iPad. Those who previously activated Picture-in-Picture can reportedly continue to use it (source: 9To5Google).

Google as the operator of YouTube had previously announcedto officially introduce picture-in-picture support for YouTube Premium subscribers as a “perk”. In addition, it is probably still planned to make the function available to all YouTube users – regardless of whether they have a premium subscription or not – in the USA. However, Google has not yet announced when the rollout will actually happen.

Why google such a clear distinction between iPhone and Android users enforced remains unclear. The picture-in-picture feature has been available on Android devices in the US since the launch of Android Oreo in 2017. The mode has been available for the YouTube TV app since the end of March 2022. As before, music videos are excluded from the Picture-in-Picture feature.

The picture-in-picture mode is included in the YouTube alternative Vanced for Android. More about this in the video:

Picture-in-Picture: iOS supports mode since 2020

That the picture-in-picture mode maybe would fail on iOS, no longer true since iOS 14. The operating system released in 2020 allows the picture-in-picture function for various video apps.