YouTube is finally loosening one of its more frustrating restrictions.
Starting this week, picture-in-picture (PiP) is rolling out globally to free users on iOS and Android. This means you can now keep videos playing in a floating window while using other apps. Importantly, you can do this without paying for Premium.
There is a catch, though. The rollout only applies to non-music, long-form videos. Music content including official videos, Art Tracks, kids’ songs and user-uploaded tracks remains locked out of PiP for non-paying users. That effectively keeps one of YouTube Premium’s key perks intact.
Up until now, PiP access was uneven. Free users based in the US already had access to the feature, but elsewhere you either needed a YouTube Premium subscription or had to go without. Now, this change brings global users in line, at least for standard video playback.
Unsurprisingly, the reaction online has been somewhat mixed. Some users are welcoming the move and are calling it “actually fairly useful,” especially for multitasking. Others are less impressed. They point out that PiP has long been a native feature on iOS and Android, with commenter joking that YouTube is “graciously not charging you for the pleasure” of using something your phone already supports.
There’s also frustration from users who feel the feature was artificially restricted in the first place. A recurring sentiment is that enabling PiP is technically simple which has led to criticism that YouTube held it back to push subscriptions.
At the same time, some confusion remains. A handful of users say they’ve had PiP for years without paying, likely due to regional testing or platform quirks. Meanwhile, others have already turned to workarounds like browser extensions or third-party apps to get the same functionality.
Still, even with the limitations around music, this is a meaningful shift. By bringing PiP to free users worldwide, YouTube is making one of its most requested features more accessible. Even if it’s taken longer than many would’ve liked, users welcome this change.
The post YouTube’s picture-in-picture feature is now rolling out to free users worldwide appeared first on Trusted Reviews.