Finally! YouTube TV finally rolled out Picture-in-Picture (PIP) to iOS and iPad through their application (see article on 9to5Google). Prior to this past week the only way to watch a show on YouTube TV while doing something else on your Apple device was to use Safari or split screen with the application. Not ideal! It is good to be able to multitask and keep current on a game that is playing or a show from the DVR.
The ability to be able to use PIP on my iPhone while watching a show is the best improvement from this change. Prior to this week, it was not possible to use Safari on the iPhone to watch PIP or even to use the app and split screen as the iPhone does not allow this to work. Starting Thursday evening, I am now able to do PIP without any problem. The ability for Android customers on YouTube TV have been able to use PIP for a long time, so it is finally good to get the feature on Apple iOS devices.
I am still waiting for a new guide to show up on our Roku devices for YouTube TV (see article on 9to5Google). Having been with YouTube TV for over two years, the guide has been the same since we signed up. A new user interface was needed for the guide. The existing guide works, but it does lack in the ability to read about a show before tuning into the show or seeing which shows are selected to record. From what I have read, it sounds as though the option to read about a show before tuning in will be available as well as seeing on the guide which shows are set to record. The whole interface will be different, so I am excited to see how it looks and any other new features that are added.
A few new features rolling out from YouTube TV is good to see and I hope to see more features sooner rather than later. Having been with YouTube TV for two years with no changes, it feels good to see some improvements for the user interface being introduced. That is not to say that YouTube TV has not added other new features such as channels or features to add such as 4K or downloads, but having these features added to the base is a bonus. Once the new guide is available, I will post a follow up to post my review of the new user interface.