YouTube

Apple has given third-party developers access to Picture in Picture on iPad since iOS 9 and, more recently, on iPhone since iOS 14, but YouTube has been one of the few not to support the feature outside of Safari or premium memberships. Thankfully, that's no longer the case if you live in the U.S.

Aside from home screen widgets, one of the most exciting updates to the iPhone with iOS 14 is Picture in Picture mode. With it, you can watch minimized versions of videos on top of other apps so you can multitask like a pro. However, not every service is on board with Apple's new features. YouTube is the primary culprit, but there is a workaround.

It's pretty clear with all of the annoying "Get YouTube Premium" pop-ups that litter the YouTube app that Google really wants you to pay for its Premium membership tier. That's why you'll see that "Get background play with YouTube Premium" ad after closing YouTube with a video playing — even in iOS 14 which supports Picture in Picture playback. But there are workarounds for background listening on iPhone.

Even if you pay for YouTube Premium, you are not exempt from ads. YouTube will stop adding pre-roll and interstitial ads, but content creators still have their own advertisements baked into videos. These product placements can be even worse than ads, and they're not the only annoyance embedded into videos. To put it nicely, YouTube is starting to have a problem with distractions.

Most streaming platforms have seen a huge viewership increase in the past few months. As a result, wireless carriers and ISPs are struggling to provide the necessary bandwidth for everyone, resulting in some customers being limited to DVD quality. The same applies to YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV, but you can see the resolution being used and change it to something better.

Millions of people use YouTube every day, whether it's for trailers, new music, or gameplay walkthroughs. But according to Pew Research Center, over half of U.S. adults use YouTube to figure out how to do things. If you fall into that crowd, adult or not, sometimes it's good to have written instructions to follow along with the video or in lieu of it completely.

Instead of using a single APK, YouTube Vanced recently started being distributed as a bundle that requires a third-party app to install. Some fans found this too difficult, so the Vanced developers decide to make the process easier.

To share a song or album to family and friends, it's as easy as copying its link in the app and pasting that into a message. However, not everyone uses the same music streaming service, so a link to an Apple Music song won't do a Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, Deezer, or YouTube Music subscriber any good. If you're on an iPhone, though, there's an easy way to convert links from one service to another.

The YouTube app will default to 480p playback when you first open a video. It's supposed to switch to your screen resolution a few seconds in, but this isn't always the case. The regular YouTube app doesn't let you change this behavior, but like most things with Android, there is still a way.

Binging on YouTube these days can be just as fulfilling as Netflix or Hulu, but sometimes you just need to skim through a video. Whether you want to skip over a long-winded intro or you want to show your friend the best part in the middle, YouTube has a great gesture for you.

Have you tried searching for 4K HDR videos on YouTube, only to get 1080p videos just because the uploader used "4k" or "HDR" in the description? Or have you tried looking for a video about something that just happened, except YouTube's algorithm surfaces established videos first by default, so all the results you get are older than a month? Well, there's a better way.

Some may find it annoying to get YouTube notifications randomly throughout the day. Every time a YouTube channel uploads a video, every time someone replies to your comments. But at the same time, you don't want to turn off those notifications so you don't miss out. Well thankfully, YouTube offers a happy medium where you can get important notifications, but only get them once a day at your desired time.

Closed captions are great for watching YouTube videos on mute, or simply following along with a video that's hard to understand. It's easy to turn on captions on YouTube's desktop site, but in the YouTube Android app, the closed captions settings are tucked away.

Owning digital movies has many advantages over physical discs, such as easy access and a variety of online stores you can turn to for good deals. There's Prime Video, iTunes, Vudu, and the list goes on. However, this leads to fragmented video libraries, unlike DVDs and Blu-rays which can be stored together. Surprisingly, YouTube is one app that can help consolidate your collection online.

Downloading YouTube videos for offline use to watch later has always been a problematic endeavor. Dedicated third-party apps don't last long in the App Store, web-based converters aren't very functional on mobile, and rogue apps outside the App Store are tricky to sideload and open up the possibility of vulnerabilities. But that doesn't mean you still don't have a few good options.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get your mind out of the gutter. Search histories can and should be managed. Many folks are uncomfortable knowing that every video they click and every phrase they search is being recorded and saved, and YouTube is no exception.

For a while, YouTube Red original content was a joke, lagging behind other services like Netflix and Hulu in terms of quality, so breaking down the paywall didn't seem necessary. However, with series like Cobra Kai turning heads, it's a good time to start using Red. Luckily, Android users can get all of this content for free, and without rooting.

One of the downsides to iOS is the lack of a true dark mode. While Apple has offered a workaround, third-party developers have taken it upon themselves to implement dark themes in their apps. While big names like Twitter and Reddit have led the charge for some time, it appears YouTube is the next app to join the party.

YouTube's mobile live streaming feature is great for connecting with your audience in a more personal way than traditional videos provide. Audiences can view and respond to content in real time, and creators can do the same. While unfortunately not available to everyone — you need at least 100 subscribers — live streaming is possible, even with your smartphone.

When Google announced YouTube Red — a paid monthly subscription service that disables advertising, among other perks — many of us thought "just use an ad blocker." But it isn't really that simple.

Watching YouTube on your phone has never been a better experience than it is today — our smartphones have super-sharp displays that make watching the newest HD, QHD, and even 4K content look fantastic. But there are plenty of circumstances where we want to watch our content on a larger screen.

YouTube is nothing without its creators — the people who make the content worth visiting the site again and again. Many of us have favorite channels and creators we return to, but it can be difficult to keep track of all the new videos they make, as the alternative is to be plagued by unwanted notifications.