How to Enable or Disable Picture-in-Picture Mode on iPhone and iPad

Quick Tips

• Go to Settings > General > Picture in Picture and enable Start PiP Automatically.
• You also need to enable picture-in-picture in the settings menu present inside the app you are trying to use in picture-in-picture.
• You can also enable picture-in-picture by tapping on the PiP icon for videos and apps that support it.

Enable Automatic Picture-in-Picture Mode on iPhone and iPad

If your iPhone or iPad doesn’t automatically open videos in Picture-in-Picture mode when quitting to the Home screen, it’s likely that your iOS device has the functionality disabled. Go through the following steps to turn it on.

Step 1: Open the Settings app and tap on General.

Step 2: Tap on Picture in Picture and turn on the toggle for Start PiP Automatically.

Once you enable Picture in Picture on your iPhone, you can use it on a wide range of content streaming apps.

Now, try going to the Home screen while playing a video in an app such as Apple TV or Netflix—it should automatically appear in a PiP pane. However, if it does not show up – you may need to enable picture-in-picture for the specific app.

Enable PiP Via In-App Settings

Apart from enabling PiP in the Settings app on your iPhone, you must also enable the feature within the application for which you want to enable the PiP view. Therefore, go to the settings menu of the app and turn on the toggle for Picture-in-Picture.

How to Use Picture-in-Picture on iPhone and iPad

Quit to the Home screen on the iPhone or iPad while watching a video in a supported app, and the Picture-in-Picture pane should pop up automatically. You can also tap the PiP icon within the video pane in certain apps (to the upper-left of the screen) to activate the functionality.

Once you do that, a small video pane will appear on the corner of your home screen.

Change the Size of PiP on iPhone and iPad

If you feel the video pane is small, you can easily change its size by double-tapping anywhere on the video pane.

Further, you can also move the video pane to any corner of the screen. This way, you can use the picture-in-picture feature on iOS per your comfort level.

Also Read: How to fix FacetTime picture-in-picture not working on iPhone & iPad

Exit PiP on iPhone and iPad

To get out of Picture-in-Picture mode, tap the PiP icon in the top right corner of the video pane, which should prompt the video to open in the relevant app automatically. You can also double-tap with two fingers on the video pane to return to the app.

Alternatively, you can exit the Picture-in-Picture pane by tapping the Close icon—you can then resume the video at any time by visiting the relevant app manually.

Turn Off Picture-in-Picture Mode on iPhone and iPad

Despite its usefulness, you may find Picture-in-Picture mode a hassle. If you want to stop the PiP video pane from following you when quitting apps, consider turning off the automatic PiP functionality.

Step 1: Open the Settings app and tap on General.

Step 2: Tap on Picture in Picture and turn off the toggle to enable the same.

Note: Even with the setting above turned off, you can still manually open videos in Picture-in-Picture mode via the PiP icon.

Also Read: How to fix picture-in-picture not working on iOS devices