How To Watch Picture-In-Picture Videos In iOS 14
iOS 14 is bringing a number of massive changes to the iPhone’s operating system. One of the most exciting ones is system-wide picture-in-picture video support. Picture-in-picture video has been supported on the iPad since iOS 13, but iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 expands on that capability as well as, of course, bringing picture-in-picture to the iPhone.
How To Use Picture-In-Picture Videos In Apps In iOS 14
Picture-in-picture videos in iOS 14 work a bit differently depending on whether you’re using PIP in apps or on the web. With apps, the PIP process couldn’t be more straight forward. Once you are playing video in an app that supports picture-in-picture mode (like the Apple TV app) there are three ways you can enable PIP:
- Tap the video so the user interface buttons appear. Then tap the picture-in-picture button (it looks like two boxes overplayed on each other with an arrow pointing between them.
- Or, simply double-tap on the video with two fingers.
- Or, swipe upwards from the bottom of the display when the video is playing.
To EXIT picture-in-picture mode, tap the picture-in-picture video that’s playing and then tap the “X” in the upper lefthand corner of the PIP window.
How To Use Picture-In-Picture Videos On The Web In iOS 14
Safari in iOS 14 will also support picture-in-picture mode for videos played on some websites. Here’s how to activate picture-in-picture mode for videos playing on a website in Safari (hint, you do it exactly the same as you do for apps):
- Tap the video so the user interface buttons appear. Then tap the picture-in-picture button (it looks like two boxes overplayed on each other with an arrow pointing between them.
- Or, simply double-tap on the video with two fingers.
- Or, swipe upwards from the bottom of the display when the video is playing.
To exit a PIP video in Safari, tap the picture-in-picture video that’s playing and then tap the “X” in the upper lefthand corner of the PIP window. Do note that if you want to rose a different web page than the one the PIP video is playing from, you’ll need to open a new tab. If you navigate away from the PIP webpage, the PIP video will close.
How To Use Picture-In-Picture With FaceTime Video Calls In iOS 14
Another cool picture-in-picture feature in iOS 14 is that it works with FaceTime. Yep, now you can FaceTime video call people, while still navigating other aspects of your iPhone. Using picture-in-picture mode in FaceTime is even easier than using it in other apps. To use picture-in-picture mode in FaceTime:
- During a FaceTime video call, simply swipe up on the FaceTime app as if you were going to close the app. The video of the call will automatically shrink down into a picture-in-picture window.
Tap the picture-in-picture window to return to full-screen FaceTime, or end the call as you normally would to close the picture-in-picture window.
What Apps and Website Picture-In-Picture Videos Work With In iOS 14
Any app made by Apple that is designed to play videos will automatically support picture-in-picture in iOS 14. Third party video playing apps are also likely to support the feature, but it will depend on those app developers to implement it.
Picture-in-picture will also work on most websites by default (including YouTube), however, some embedded videos on web pages may not work with picture-in-picture without the website’s owner tweaking some code.
Interacting with Picture-In-Picture Videos In iOS 14
Once a picture-in-picture window is live on your iPhone’s screen you can interact with it in various ways:
- Change the size of a picture-in-picture window: double-tap and PIP window to cycle through three sizes for the thumbnail: small, medium, or large.
- Hide the picture-in-picture window: you can also quickly hide the PIP window to get it off-screen. Simply swipe the PIP window toward the edge of the screen to do this. The video in the PIP window will keep playing in the background, so you’ll still be able to hear the sound.
