YouTube will allow free iOS users to continue to use content in the background – at least in some way.
It comes in the form of a Picture-in-Picture (PIP) feature that lets you exit the YouTube app and still play the video that remains on the screen. This differs from the previous minify feature, where users could play the current video on a smaller screen, but only while they are still in the YouTube app.
Of course, there is a catch. According to MacRumors, the PIP feature will first hit Premium subscribers. But YouTube promises that this feature will be available to all users soon.
I’m apprehensive about PIP because I can use it as a little workaround for streaming music for free. Currently, only YouTube Premium subscribers can stream music from YouTube in the background, allowing you to close the app and still hear audio even when the screen is completely off.
Now, this workaround won’t be perfect: PIP will only shrink the screen rather than completely close the app to play music in the background. So you’ll have to use your phone around a small screen, but that’s not a bad thing.
What’s even more annoying are battery drainage and data usage issues. Continuing to play videos even on a small screen will definitely drain your iPhone battery quickly. And if you do it without Wi-Fi, your data bill will go up just as quickly.
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