Use picture-in-picture on certain devices

Picture-in-picture (PiP) allows you to watch YouTube videos while using other apps on your mobile device.

Watch YouTube while using other apps

Watch YouTube while using other apps on Android | Pro Tips from TeamYouTube

How picture-in-picture works

Picture-in-picture shrinks the video into a small player that you can move around your home screen and position over other apps. You can continue watching YouTube videos while using other apps on your mobile device with this feature turned on.

To start PiP playback while a video is playing in the YouTube app, tap the Android home button . The video will shrink into a PiP window. The PiP window can be dragged to different parts of the screen, allowing playback to continue on top of other apps.

To resume playback in the YouTube app, double-tap the PiP. To dismiss the PiP altogether, you can it drag to the bottom of the screen.

Who can use picture-in-picture

Picture-in-picture is only available to:

  • YouTube Premium members on Android mobile devices, worldwide.
  • Android users in the United States running Android Oreo or greater, with ad supported PiP playback.

Using picture-in-picture

Turn off picture-in-picture

Picture-in-picture is turned on by default for all devices running Android 8.0 Oreo and above.

To turn off picture-in-picture:

  1. Go to your Android settings And thenApps & notifications And thenAdvanced And thenSpecial app access And thenPicture-in-picture.
  2. Tap YouTube.
  3. To turn off, tapAllow picture-in-picture.

Turn on picture-in-picture

Picture-in-picture is turned on by default for all devices running Android 8.0 (Oreo) and above.

To turn on picture-in-picture:

  1. Go to your Android settingsAnd thenApps & notificationsAnd thenAdvancedAnd thenSpecial app accessAnd thenPicture-in-picture.
  2. Tap YouTube.
  3. To turn on, tapAllow picture-in-picture.

Dismiss picture-in-picture

There are two ways to dismiss picture-in-picture:

  1. Tap the PiP player to show controls.
  2. Tap the X in the top-right corner of the video PiP player.

or

You can drag the PiP player off to the bottom of the screen.

Note: If you're a YouTube Premium subscriber, a notification will open, allowing you to resume playback in Background Play mode.

YouTube Premium members: Set background play as default

Background play allows YouTube Premium members to watch videos while using other apps or when your screen is off. You can set up the YouTube app to default to background play instead of picture-in-picture.

There are two ways to do this:

You can turn off picture-in-picture for YouTube in your Android settings.

or

Switch from PiP to background playback by tapping the PiP and then tapping the headphone icon "".

Note: Music content is unavailable for PiP playback without a YouTube Premium subscription

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