The upcoming Multiview feature boosts Apple’s picture-in-picture mode, and you’ll especially like it when your favorite teams are playing at different times.
- What’s happening? Apple is testing a new Multiview feature that will allow for four video streams in the TV app on the Apple TV and (possibly) other devices.
- Why care? Similar to ESPN+’s MultiCast, this takes picture-in-picture to a whole new level, as you’ll be able to watch multiple games simultaneously.
- What to do? Update your Apple TV when tvOS 16.5 launches.
Apple is testing a Multiview feature for sports broadcasts
Apple’s picture-in-picture feature supports watching a video in a floating window while using other apps. Picture-in-picture works on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, but doesn’t support watching multiple videos at once. That might change soon.
Code spelunker Steve Moser spotted references to a significant picture-in-picture enhancement in the iOS 16.5 code, publishing his findings on Twitter.
The strings he discovered in the iOS 16.5 code mention a quad-box picture-in-picture mode, refered to as Multiview, that’s currently in the works. This is going to be particularly helpful if your favorite teams are playing at different times.
It’s unclear what devices Multiview will support, but the Apple TV seems an obvious choice. We don’t know if Apple will allow Multiview in third-party apps.
Apple has been building out a library of sports content in the TV and News apps. On iOS 16.5, for example, the News app has a dedicated own Sports tab at the bottom.
When will Multiview launch?
References to Multiview sports broadcasts didn’t appear in older iOS versions, so we’re guessing Apple’s just begun testing this feature.
It could arrive as part of the iOS 16 update cycle or launch alongside iOS 17 and other updates next year. We hope that fresh new Apple TV hardware won’t be required to handle four simultaneous full-resolution video streams at once.
Multiview could be especially awesome for following four simultaneous sports broadcasts without switching apps. If you’ve ever tried ESPN’s MultiCast feature, you know how useful this can be. If Apple launches the Multiview feature, we suspect it will be first limited to the MLS and MLB games in the TV app.
Tutorials about picture-in-picture