VLC for has been my go-to media player for my iPhone and iPad. It is versatile, easy to use, and extremely stable

For some technical reason though, VLC does not support Picture-in-Picture playback for iOS devices, which is unfortunate.

I’ve gotten used to watching Twitch.tv in PiP mode while playing games or surfing the web on-the-go. To not be able to game/surf on-the-go while watching downloaded YouTube videos and lectures annoyed the hell out of me.

So, after some googling, redditing and trial and error, here are the 3 best VLC alternatives for PiP playback in iOS:

nPlayer Lite
What I liked: Free, Feature packed, informative user interface
What I didn’t like: Loud annoying ads in free version, clunky user interface

Infuse
What I liked: Free, Feature packed
What I didn’t like: Annoying ads in free version, unstable in PiP mode when dealing with other media apps like games

Documents by Readdle
Surprise, the BEST PiP player for iOS is…. a document manager by Readdle. This is my preference after using all 3. Chances are, you already have this but didn’t know that it was also a damn good PiP video player for iOS, or a great VLC alternative in general.

What I liked: No annoying ads in free version, feature packed, can be used to manage other documents, PiP player is stable, easy to use
What I didn’t like: Nothing of note.

Remember, I’m highlighting and making recommendations based on what would give the best *Picture in Picture* experience for the iPad and iPhone in the free version. I have not bothered looking into the premium features.

Need a good YouTube downloader to save on data fees? I use 4K Downloader to download multiple videos quickly, especially useful for long episodic content like let’s plays.