Google Chrome for Android to get picture-in-picture mode

It seems that Google Chrome for Android is going to jump on the ‘picture-in-picture’ (PiP) bandwagon.

Even though Google did not officially announce the feature for its browser’s Android version, Techdows found the option to turn on picture-in-picture Web API for Android in the latest Google Chrome Canary (developer) build.

Here is how to turn it on, according to Techdows:

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

In short, the Picture-in-Picture mode allows users to resize an app on top of other apps to enhance their multitasking experience.

Introduced as one of Android Oreo’s feature sets, many Android apps adopted the new PiP mode. For example, Chrome’s arch-rival Firefox added PiP mode to its Nightly (beta) build on April 22nd. Plex, a well-known home media server app, got official PiP support at the end of May.

YouTube, on the other hand, locked its Android app’s PiP mode behind a paywall in Canada.

As a heads up, Google Chrome Canary builds are not for the general public because they are experimental and unstable. To add to that, Techdows pointed out the new PiP feature does not work at this point.

Source: Techdows