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YouTube website now blocks iOS 14’s picture-in-picture mode for free users

25 points by soraminazuki 6y ago

soraminazuki 6y ago
With Google's willingness to bend browsers to their will like this, I fear to imagine what would happen if all browsers other than Chromium drops out of the competition.
teterphiel 6y ago
If they in turn add it to their app for payed users, that would be much apprecited
sthnblllII 6y ago
This is what happens when browsers stop being user agents and start being publisher agents. Its why movie studios didnt used to be allowed to own movie theaters. The website shouldnt even have any way of knowing how it's content is being viewed by the user.
errantspark 6y ago
Sort of unrelated, but for those that don't know, on Android you can download NewPipe off f-droid, or just grab the APK off github. It's a user-centric youtube client. I don't know if there's an equivalent on iOS but it's much much better than the site or the app on android.
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago
  This. The existence of f-droid and apps like New Pipe, Gadgetbridge and Blokada is what kept me from jumping ship to iOS. It's also something I install/show to my non-techie friends and they're amazed of the new no-ads experience.
- gdevenyi 6y ago
  There's also YouTube vanced, a "modified" APK of the official YouTube client that bypasses some of the premium blocks.
username3 6y ago
They don’t disable PIP if you request desktop website.
jpeg_hero 6y ago
Sounds similar to the prior crimp YouTube pulled on iOS. In order to listen to the audio of a YouTube while the screen was turned off, you need to pay for YouTube Premium.
PeterStuer 6y ago
I have a YouTube Premium subscription which enables background play on Android. However even though I use that feature all the time to listen to podcasts, music or audio books, the main reason I got the sub was to be free of the adds. When I see friends watching YouTube. It looks like the amount of adds has gotten even worse than its already intolerable level a few years back.
sebmellen 6y ago
And this is why everyone should use NewPipe [0]. [0]: https://newpipe.schabi.org https://newpipe.schabi.org
- ulfw 6y ago
  What kind of tip is that? Google blocks an iOS feature so go buy an Android phone to run newpipe?
csdreamer7 6y ago
Isn't it likely this is just a bug with iOS/Safari or Youtube? Apple does not have the best reputation for bug free software right now.
- soraminazuki 6y ago
  People were using PiP just fine immediately after the launch of iOS 14. Since no updates to iOS have been issued since, it's a change in the YouTube website that triggered this problem.
Nextgrid 6y ago
I highly suggest everyone check out Invidious, a self-hostable proxy for YouTube: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious https://github.com/iv-org/invidious I've deployed this a week ago after YouTube's official frontend became even more obnoxious and it's been a much needed breath of fresh air.
tinus_hn 6y ago
The app shouldn’t be allowed to do this as you can’t lock away OS or device functionality behind subscriptions.

25 points by soraminazuki 6y ago

With Google's willingness to bend browsers to their will like this, I fear to imagine what would happen if all browsers other than Chromium drops out of the competition.

teterphiel 6y ago

If they in turn add it to their app for payed users, that would be much apprecited

sthnblllII 6y ago

This is what happens when browsers stop being user agents and start being publisher agents. Its why movie studios didnt used to be allowed to own movie theaters. The website shouldnt even have any way of knowing how it's content is being viewed by the user.

errantspark 6y ago

Sort of unrelated, but for those that don't know, on Android you can download NewPipe off f-droid, or just grab the APK off github. It's a user-centric youtube client. I don't know if there's an equivalent on iOS but it's much much better than the site or the app on android.

ChuckNorris89 6y ago
This. The existence of f-droid and apps like New Pipe, Gadgetbridge and Blokada is what kept me from jumping ship to iOS. It's also something I install/show to my non-techie friends and they're amazed of the new no-ads experience.
gdevenyi 6y ago
There's also YouTube vanced, a "modified" APK of the official YouTube client that bypasses some of the premium blocks.

username3 6y ago

They don’t disable PIP if you request desktop website.

jpeg_hero 6y ago

Sounds similar to the prior crimp YouTube pulled on iOS. In order to listen to the audio of a YouTube while the screen was turned off, you need to pay for YouTube Premium.

PeterStuer 6y ago

I have a YouTube Premium subscription which enables background play on Android. However even though I use that feature all the time to listen to podcasts, music or audio books, the main reason I got the sub was to be free of the adds. When I see friends watching YouTube. It looks like the amount of adds has gotten even worse than its already intolerable level a few years back.

sebmellen 6y ago

And this is why everyone should use NewPipe [0]. [0]: https://newpipe.schabi.org https://newpipe.schabi.org

ulfw 6y ago
What kind of tip is that? Google blocks an iOS feature so go buy an Android phone to run newpipe?

csdreamer7 6y ago

Isn't it likely this is just a bug with iOS/Safari or Youtube? Apple does not have the best reputation for bug free software right now.

soraminazuki 6y ago
People were using PiP just fine immediately after the launch of iOS 14. Since no updates to iOS have been issued since, it's a change in the YouTube website that triggered this problem.

Nextgrid 6y ago

I highly suggest everyone check out Invidious, a self-hostable proxy for YouTube: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious https://github.com/iv-org/invidious I've deployed this a week ago after YouTube's official frontend became even more obnoxious and it's been a much needed breath of fresh air.

tinus_hn 6y ago

The app shouldn’t be allowed to do this as you can’t lock away OS or device functionality behind subscriptions.