Chrome on Android is getting Picture in Picture mode

Google is working to bring Picture-in-Picture API to Chrome browser on Android, which when available and enabled, floats video playing in a mini window on top of other applications.

The Picture in Picture mode is already available for Chrome browser on desktop (recently its UI  has been updated) and for applications such as YouTube and others on Android. Android 8.0 Oreo brought PiP and these apps support it: YouTube, VLC Player, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Duo and Google Maps.

Picture in Picture flag for Android Chrome

We heard Chrome on Android supports Picture in Picture mode, this one not officially announced by Google. Chromium team now working to bring feature to Chrome browser on Android, this is meta bug -“implement Picture in Picture API on Android”- for that with Prority set to 1 and a flag to enable PiP in Chrome has already landed in Canary and can be turned on, but not working at the moment.

Enable Picture-in-Picture mode for Chrome on Android

You can spot the flag in chrome://flags page, to activate it

  1. In latest Canary, visit chrome://flags
  2. Searh for “Picture” for “Picture in Picture Web API for Android” flag, select “Enabled”
  3. Relaunch Chrome browser.

There are a lot of bugs need to be resovled to see the feature in action, we’ll let you know when the PiP mode works for Chrome on Android.

Are you excited?

Related articles:

You can now mute videos in Picture in Picture Mode in Chrome and Chromium Edge

Chrome Picture in Picture Mode vs Opera Video Pop Out

Chrome’s Picture in Picture feature to get Mute button

Picture in Picture Mode working Fine in Microsoft Chromium Edge browser

Venkat Eswarlu

Venkat is an independent technology journalist and the founder of Techdows. He has been covering web browsers, Windows, and software news since 2009. His exclusive scoops on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge features have been cited by Forbes, TechCrunch, Wired, CNET, and other major publications.

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