YouTube is notorious for not offering Picture-in-Picture mode support and background audio feature on iPhones and iPads. In order to get these features YouTube requires you to get YouTube Premium subscriptions or be in certain regions.
Good news is on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 users can take advantage of Picture-in-Picture mode using an easy trick. In addition to Picture-in-Picture you can also use the background audio feature in YouTube, and enjoy your favorite YouTube videos while playing their audio in the background.
Read on to learn how to watch YouTube videos in Picture-in-Picture mode on iOS 15 and how to listen to YouTube background audio on iPhone.
How to watch YouTube videos in Picture-in-Picture mode on iOS 15
Follow the steps given in the video or in the text form below to play YouTube videos in PiP mode on iOS 15.
Step 1. On your iPhone running iOS 15 or iPad running iPadOS 15 open Safari browser.
Step 2. Now load up youtube.com in Safari. On iPhone tap on the ‘aA‘ button located in the address bar.
Step 3. From the aA menu tap on the Request Desktop Website option.
Step 4. Once the desktop website of YouTube loads, search and play your favorite video. Make sure it runs in fullscreen mode.
Step 5. Swipe up or press the home button to return to the home screen.
Voila! The video should continue to play in Picture-in-Picture window and you should be able to move it around and resize it according to your liking.
Play YouTube Audio in the background on iOS 15
After you have played a YouTube video in Picture-in-Picture mode by following the steps given above, simply lock the device.
As you lock the device the video should continue to play and you will be able to play/pause and skip seconds on it through iOS’s stock audio widget on the lock screen.
There you go folks, this is how you can play YouTube in Picture-in-Picture mode on devices running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. We also showed you how you can play YouTube Audio in background on iOS 15.
What do you think about this YouTube trick? Share your thoughts in comments below.
