If you love watching videos on YouTube, there’s some great news. The platform has made one of its premium features free for everyone. Earlier, users had to pay for this feature, but now millions of people can enjoy it without any subscription.
With over 2.5 billion active users worldwide, this update will benefit a huge audience. YouTube has confirmed that its popular Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature will soon be available to all users globally.
What is the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) Feature?
The Picture-in-Picture feature allows you to watch videos in a small floating window while using other apps at the same time.
For example, you can keep a video playing while replying to messages, browsing the web, or scrolling through social media. The mini player can be moved anywhere on the screen, making multitasking much easier.
This feature was earlier limited to premium users on Android and iOS devices outside the United States. But now, YouTube plans to roll it out for free to everyone in the coming months.
How to Use PiP on Your Device
Using PiP is simple. While a video is playing, just exit the app by pressing the Home button or swiping up. The video will continue playing in a small window on your screen.
You can drag this floating window anywhere and adjust it according to your convenience.
If you don’t want to use this feature, you can pause or stop the video before leaving the app. If it’s not working, make sure the feature is enabled in both your app and phone settings.
How Android Users Can Control PiP
Android users can easily turn this feature on or off.
Go to Settings, then Apps, select YouTube, and open Advanced settings. From there, you can enable or disable the Picture-in-Picture mode.
You can also control it directly from the app by going to Settings and then Playback options.
Once you’re done watching, you can close the floating window by tapping on it and selecting the close (X) icon, or simply drag it to the bottom of the screen.
YouTube’s Focus on Better User Control
This update is part of YouTube’s bigger plan to improve user experience and give people more control over how they watch content.
Recently, the platform has also introduced new tools for managing Shorts. Users can now limit or completely stop Shorts from appearing on their home screen.
These changes come at a time when social media platforms are facing increasing attention over addictive features. YouTube seems to be working towards a better balance between user well-being and engagement.
