YouTube could always end up keeping background play behind its Premium paywall. However, Google gives free users a picture-in-picture mode for free. The company rolled out this feature last year in the US. They rolled it out more widely to specific global users earlier this year. But picture-in-picture doesn’t work inside YouTube itself. Fortunately, that is changing with a new server-side update.
As noted to AP by Zachary Kew-Denniss, the new UI for the YouTube miniplayer was live. He updated his Galaxy S24 Ultra to the 19.29.37 app version. A shrunken video does not move into the minibar, instead, it now appears as a resizable and movable player on your screen. YouTube is now using a proper picture-in-picture mode.
YouTube is rolling this out with a server-side update. It could take some time to reach your devices. Before you rush to the Play Store to update, prepare yourselves to be disappointed. This update is server-side. Changes might not appear even after updating YouTube to the latest build.
Provided that Google rolls out the update to everyone, this is a big deal. It is the biggest update to video playback on YouTube since 2018. Now, the controversial mini-bar is there to replace the lower-right minimized player. It feels like a no-brainer upgrade to move back to a movable PIP mode.
For now, you’ll just have to wait for this feature to broaden from Google. We’ve reached out to Google for more information. The change will make it easier to browse your YouTube feed when a video plays in the background. If you’ve seen the change, let us know in the comments.
