Big Update Coming to YouTube 'in a Matter of Days'

By Michael Hein

YouTube is adding a new feature to its mobile app that fans have been anticipating for a long time. On Sunday, the company confirmed that it will be offering picture-in-picture viewing on iOS devices "in the coming days." So far, the company has not confirmed any further details on this update.

These days, many mobile apps offer picture-in-picture (PiP) viewing so that you can watch video content in a small corner of your screen while replying to texts or browsing other apps. YouTube is one of the last holdouts to not offer this feature in iPhones and iPads – presumably because its parent company Google is in fierce competition with Apple. However, a growing number of reports from tech blogs have been saying that PiP viewing is coming to iOS devices soon. On Sunday, an official YouTube account on Twitter confirmed the news.

The support persona "Team YouTube" replied to a user who is subscribed to YouTube Premium, where users can sometimes test experimental features before they are released to a wider audience. This particular person revealed that they had been using a test version of PiP but they somehow lost access to it by accident. They asked for help getting it back, and Team YouTube assured them that they would not have to wait long.

"Are you using an iOS smartphone? If so, the Picture-in-Picture feature is still rolling out and will be available in a matter of days across all iOS 15+ devices. Tweet back @ us if needed," the reply read. Although it was an obscure comment in the depths of Twitter, it still picked up over 100 likes, proving that many people are dying for this PiP feature to go live.

"This is great, but why did it take so long for the most popular video app to finally get PiP while so many other apps have been able to for a long time?" one person wrote. Another added: "Will this work In Canada? Cause I don't want to get my hopes up and be let down again."

There has been no confirmation about when this feature will go live and who exactly will have access to it. The Twitter user that Team YouTube was replying to is based in India, so if this feature is only released in certain countries, there's a chance we may all be stuck waiting. Official representatives for YouTube told reporters from The Verge that this tweet was legitimate and that PiP viewing will launch "in a matter of days," but they did not add any further details.

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