Google’s Updated YouTube App With In-App Multitasking Launches On iOS

Just yesterday, Google unexpectedly announced the new YouTube app for Android, but it wouldn’t say when it would bring these updates, including the ability to multitask in the app by minimizing videos while searching for that next glorious cat video, to iOS. The wait didn’t take long. Today, Google made both the redesigned Android and iOS apps official.

The functionality of the iOS app is virtually identical to that of the Android app we talked about yesterday. The iOS app features the same “picture-in-picture” capability the Android app has and the ability to search for and watch playlists. While you’re watching a video, the app now lets you minimize the video to the bottom right of the screen while you continue looking for more videos. From there, you can dismiss the video with a flick of your finger (right or left), or bring it back up to full-screen mode.

The app now also features extended support for connected TVs and Google’s own Chromecast, which allows you to see a preview screen when using YouTube to “cast” videos to your Chromecast or other supported TV. This, Google says, is meant “to make it easier to choose what to watch next.” The app will now show you “a preview screen when your devices are connected and you select a video, with options to play the video to queue it up to watch next. ”

With today’s announcement, the YouTube team also teased a new version of its HTML5-based web app. The company says it is working to bring many of these features and updated design to the web app “in the coming months.”