WhatsApp users on Android can finally try out the picture-in-picture mode, which lets them watch videos without going full screen. The feature first made its debut in beta mode for users back in October and now it has been pushed officially via an update for all devices.
WhatsApp on 3 October, had begun rolling out "Picture in Picture (PiP) mode" for viewing videos hosted on selected platforms, for all Android beta users running Android operating system (OS version 4.4 and above).
The PiP feature was first rolled out in January for iOS users this year.
The feature lets users watch videos from YouTube, Facebook or Instagram on the chat screen itself. All other videos, shared natively from the messaging app, will open in full screen mode. With video consumption on mobile seeing massive growth in country like India, this feature makes complete sense.
PiP is a special type of multi-window mode mostly used for video playback. It lets the user watch a video in a small window pinned to a corner of the screen while navigating between apps or browsing content on the main screen.
This feature has been widely used by those with the Samsung Galaxy phones, to whom the dual-screen option has been available for a while now.
PiP is the latest of the many features released on WhatsApp this year. Users have got access to a slew of new basic features like updated emojis, stickers as well as advanced applications like WhatsApp for Business and group video calls.
WhatsApp in dark mode has been mooted for a while now, but most reports have emerged without giving a clear timeline for its availability. According to WABetaInfo the dark mode is still in development and there’s no launch time as of now.
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