YouTube confines iOS 14 picture-in-picture feature to Premium subscribers, 4K not accessible on tvOS 14
- Technology
- September 19, 2020
Google’s YouTube unit seems, by all accounts, to be confining picture-in-picture video viewing on Apple’s iOS 14 to subscribers of its Premium subscription service, while guaranteed 4K resolution in tvOS 14 is a no-show.
Apple’s iOS 14 delivers PiP video viewing to iPhone for the first time. The handy feature permits clients to at the same time watch video content, direct FaceTime calls and more while finishing tasks in different applications.
Video viewing is a main use case for PiP, and YouTube is seemingly the most exceptionally trafficked destination for online content. Shockingly, apparently Google is gatekeeping access to the function.
While the feature stays allowed to use on iPad (in any event through Safari), the iPhone version of YouTube’s application confines PiP to YouTube Premium subscribers. Soon after iOS 14 launched, clients found a workaround that enabled PiP similarity when getting to content through YouTube’s website in Safari. That hole has now been shut.
It’s not clear if the recent change was made purposefully or is the consequence of a bug. As supported by MacRumors, in any case, PiP actually works with videos that are embedded in third-party websites, proposing YouTube effectively updated its code to block the functionality.
YouTube is additionally dragging its feet on delivering a guaranteed update that would permit tvOS 14 clients to watch content at 4K resolutions. While 4K playback was supported in pre-release beta versions of tvOS 14, the feature is as of now absent.
When gotten some information about the issue on Twitter, YouTube stated, “Sorry about the back and forth — jumping in to clarify that Apple TV 4K will support 4K playback soon. Stay tuned for an update here.”