Picture-in-picture (PIP), a longtime feature of premium cable and satellite TV services, will make an appearance on Apple TV this fall when Apple releasestvOS 13publicly, according to a report by9t05Mac.com. Apple’s version of PIP will let you reduce the size of the video you’re currently watching to a small rectangle that will sit in the lower third of the screen. Once your show has been thus minimized, you will be able to surf for something better to watch, or perhaps something to keep you occupiedwhileyou’re watching your show.
The new feature apparently showed up in a developer release of tvOS 13, Apple’s next version of the Apple TV software that will bring with it several other features including a revamped Apple TV app, support for both PlayStation 4 DualShock and Microsoft Xbox One controllers, multi-user support, plus a refreshed Apple Music app that lets you see lyrics synced to the music.
There’s been speculation about the addition of PIP to Apple TV for years, and back in 2016, a developer actuallyintegrated the feature into his own tvOS appto show just how easy it would be to do it. The feature has been added to more and more devices as both hardware and software matures and increases in processing power. It was added to theAndroid OS as of Oreo (Android 8), and Apple itself added the feature toiOS in version 9, starting with iPads.
There’s also the possibility that this feature may not actually be released at all. Sometimes items that appear in developer releases don’t make it all the way to general release, plus PIP was not among the features that were announced for tvOS 13 when Apple debuted the new software at its WWDC event in June.
