Launch the Miniplayer If you're using the YouTube app, the Miniplayer will automatically pop up at the bottom of the screen if you click the back button, or if you swipe down while watching a video. Note: If the content you're watching in the app is set as made for kids, the Miniplayer will be paused.
To turn on the feature, go to Settings > General in your YouTube app and turn-on Picture-in-picture. If you don't turn on PiP, you'll still be able to use background play by default (based on your feedback from our experiments)! Premium members with Android devices already have this feature and will continue to.
You can use picture-in-picture (PiP) to watch content across YouTube, with a YouTube Premium membership. If you don't have YouTube Premium and are in the United States, you can still use PiP, but you can't watch certain content, like music videos.
To use YouTube's PiP mode, go to Settings > Apps > YouTube > Picture-in-Picture, and toggle on "Allow Picture-in-Picture." Next, open your YouTube profile, navigate to Settings > General, and toggle on "Picture-in-Picture." Play a video and exit YouTube to see the floating video window.
YouTube requires you to press the Home button to activate the PiP feature. Some Android phones disable that button when you turn on on-screen gestures. If this is the case with your phone, disable the gestures, and YouTube's PiP mode will start working.
They are only disabled for videos made for kids. It is done as a part the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) and it is one of the few other features that are turned off for videos dedicated to small children such as videos of nursery rhymes and small stories.
Android Devices
Select 'Apps' or 'Application Manager'. Find 'YouTube' and click on it. Scroll down and choose 'Picture-in-picture' under 'Advanced'. Make sure 'Allow Picture-in-picture' is enabled.
General YouTube Shortcut Keys:
YouTube fullscreen shortcut: Press f. Theater mode: Press t. Miniplayer mode: Press i.
The Android home button can help you start PiP playback while playing in the YouTube app. The video will shrink into a PiP window. You can drag this picture mode over other apps as per your convenience over the whole screen.
Launch the Miniplayer
If you're using the YouTube app, the Miniplayer will automatically pop up at the bottom of the screen if you swipe down while watching a video. Note: If the content you're watching in the app is set as made for kids, the Miniplayer will be paused.
If your iPhone still doesn't enter Picture-in-Picture mode while quitting the Home screen, try bringing up the PiP page manually. While streaming video, switch the app to full-screen mode. Then, tap the tiny PiP icon in the upper-left corner of the screen, if visible. That should force the video into a PiP pane.
The picture-in-picture feature is present on both Android and iOS, but it's only available to YouTube Premium subscribers. Nevertheless, you can use a few neat little tricks to watch YouTube in PiP mode on any desktop or mobile device.