If you want to multitask while watching YouTube on your desktop or mobile, then picture-in-picture (PiP) mode is indispensable. Switch to it, and you can do whatever you want without skipping a beat.
Below, you’ll find exactly what you must do to watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
How to Watch YouTube in Picture-in-Picture Mode on Windows
You can watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode in Windows using any major web browser, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Most Chromium-based browsers such as Opera and Brave also support the functionality.
Start by loading YouTube in a browser tab. Then, start playing a video and right-click the video pane. You’ll see a context menu. However, right-click another time, and you’ll see a different context menu with a Picture in picture option. Select it, and the video should load in picture-in-picture mode instantly.
You can click and drag the PiP pane to move it to any desktop area, and it should stay on top of all other open applications.
Additionally, you can resize it (up to one-quarter of the total screen size) by clicking and dragging the edges of the pane. If you use multiple desktops on Windows, you can also move it between them.
However, the PiP video pane itself does not have any playback options except for a Play/Pause icon. You must use the options within the YouTube browser window or tab itself if you want to skip ahead to a different part of the video, control the video quality, etc.
If you want to exit picture-in-picture mode and go back to watching YouTube on the browser tab or window, simply select the Back to tab icon on the PiP pane. Or, select the Close icon to the pane’s top-right to pause and quit the video without shifting your focus to the browser tab.
How to Watch YouTube in Picture-in-Picture Mode on Mac
Like on Windows, you can watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode on any popular Mac browser such as Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.
Simply right-click—or control-click—the YouTube video pane twice and select Enable Picture in Picture or Picture in Picture to load the PiP pane.
On Chrome specifically, you may want to move the cursor slightly before right-clicking a second time to reveal the picture-in-picture option.
Once YouTube switches to picture-in-picture mode, you can resize the video and drag it to all four corners of the screen. However, you can’t make the PiP pane stay on the exact position you want since it tends to glide to a corner of the Mac’s screen.
That said, the PiP pane will automatically follow you whenever you switch between spaces on your Mac, which is very convenient compared to Windows where you must drag it manually between desktops.
If you want to exit the pane, simply select the Back to tab icon (which will automatically take you to the browser window). You can also select the Close icon to pause and quit the video.
How to Watch YouTube in Picture-in-Picture Mode on Android
If you pay for a YouTube Premium subscription or live in the United States, you can easily watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode on any device running Android 8.0 Oreo or higher.
To enable picture-in-picture mode on YouTube, tap the profile portrait icon in the top-right corner of the YouTube app. Then, select Settings > General and turn on the switch next to Picture-in-picture mode.
From now on, just visit the Home screen while playing a video on YouTube, and it should automatically switch to picture-in-picture mode. You can then drag the PiP pane to the area of the screen where you want it to stay or double-tap it to go back to the YouTube app.
If you don’t want to pay for a YouTube Premium subscription or live outside the US, you can use a Chrome-based workaround to watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode.
Load YouTube in Chrome and start playing a video. Then, tap the Full-Screen icon to the video pane’s lower-right corner to switch it to full-screen mode. Exit to the Home screen and the video should start playing in PiP mode automatically.
window[‘gallery_1’] = new Swiper(‘#swipper-1’, {
direction: ‘horizontal’,
spaceBetween: 20,
slidesPerView: 1,
centeredSlides: true,
preventClicks: false,
observer: true,
observeParents: true,
loop: false,
keyboard: {
enabled: true
},
// If we need pagination
pagination: {
el: ‘.swiper-pagination’,
},
navigation: {
nextEl: ‘.swiper-button-next’,
prevEl: ‘.swiper-button-prev’,
},
});
var images = document.getElementsByClassName(“gallery-1-images”);
for (var i = 0; i If picture-in-picture does not work on your Android device, open the Settings app, head over to Apps > Apps and notifications > Advanced > Special Access, and allow Picture-in-picture mode for YouTube and Chrome.
How to Watch YouTube in Picture-in-Picture Mode on iOS
Starting with iOS 14, most apps on the iPhone support picture-in-picture mode. However, YouTube is an exception. If you want to watch YouTube in picture-in-picture mode on your iPhone or iPad, you must ditch the YouTube app and use Safari instead.
Start by loading YouTube in a Safari tab. Then, play a video, tap the Full-Screen icon, and head over to the Home screen. The video should begin playing in PiP mode automatically.
window[‘gallery_2’] = new Swiper(‘#swipper-2’, {
direction: ‘horizontal’,
spaceBetween: 20,
slidesPerView: 1,
centeredSlides: true,
preventClicks: false,
observer: true,
observeParents: true,
loop: false,
keyboard: {
enabled: true
},
// If we need pagination
pagination: {
el: ‘.swiper-pagination’,
},
navigation: {
nextEl: ‘.swiper-button-next’,
prevEl: ‘.swiper-button-prev’,
},
});
var images = document.getElementsByClassName(“gallery-2-images”);
for (var i = 0; i You can then move the PiP pane around to all four corners of the screen. You can also double-tap it to change the PiP pane’s size or hide it from view (with the audio running in the background) by pushing it to an edge of the screen. Tap the Back or the Close icons to exit the PiP pane if you want to.
Alternatively, you can use the YouTube PiP shortcut to automatically open YouTube videos in picture-in-picture mode. Just make sure to enable the Allow Untrusted Shortcuts option under Settings > Shortcuts before downloading it. You must also install the Scriptable app, which the shortcut requires to run properly.
After adding YouTube PiP, tap the Share icon while watching a YouTube video in Safari. Then, scroll down and tap YouTube PiP to open the video in PiP mode.
window[‘gallery_3’] = new Swiper(‘#swipper-3’, {
direction: ‘horizontal’,
spaceBetween: 20,
slidesPerView: 1,
centeredSlides: true,
preventClicks: false,
observer: true,
observeParents: true,
loop: false,
keyboard: {
enabled: true
},
// If we need pagination
pagination: {
el: ‘.swiper-pagination’,
},
navigation: {
nextEl: ‘.swiper-button-next’,
prevEl: ‘.swiper-button-prev’,
},
});
var images = document.getElementsByClassName(“gallery-3-images”);
for (var i = 0; i If picture-in-picture mode does not work on your iPhone, head over to the Settings app, select General > Picture in Picture, and turn on the switch next to Start PiP Automatically.
You Can Now Watch YouTube Non-Stop
Picture-in-picture mode is a fantastic way to watch videos without having to stay glued to YouTube all of the time. Whether on the web or mobile apps. Hopefully, it will become more convenient and easier to access sooner rather than later. Until then, follow the steps above to watch YouTube in PiP mode on your devices!