YouTube is aware of an issue on Android and iPhone where Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode does not activate when closing the app.
Some users are “experiencing issues with the Picture in Picture (PiP) feature not working when exiting the YouTube app.” Instead of keeping the floating player in the corner and continuing to watch, YouTube shows nothing and just keeps playing audio in the background.
Google says that “the vast majority of these reports come from iOS users,” but there are also cases from Android devices. We can reproduce this issue on an iPhone running version 21.28 of the YouTube app, but not on our Pixel.
YouTube first discovered the issue on Friday morning (PT) and said “teams are actively investigating the issue.” However, as of Saturday afternoon, there has been no progress. You can check YouTube Help for updates.
Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue!
Earlier this year, YouTube began rolling out PiP to free users around the world.
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