For years and years now, mobile users have clamored for the same experience watching YouTube on their small devices as they have on a computer. You can keep YouTube playing and switch to another tab or app, you can resize that window and open another one side-by-side, and all of that without paying for a subscription. On mobile, however, non-paying users had to wait until 2016 and YouTube's multi-window support to be able to do something else while watching a video. If you wanted more perks like background playback and picture-in-picture, you had to be a Red, now Premium, subscriber.
Read MoreOpera for Android version 50 introduces a more publisher-friendly ad blocker, faster scrolling, and PiP [APK Download]
For its latest big Android update, Opera is including a key new feature that makes it easier to whitelist websites from the in-built ad blocker. Other enhancements include the addition of Picture-in-Picture video and a new fast-scrolling handle.
Read MoreGoogle extension enables picture-in-picture for Chrome OS version 72
When you're watching a video from a site, such as YouTube, you might want to do something else and navigate to other tabs while not missing out on what you were watching. That's where picture-in-picture comes in handy as it allows the video to be pushed to a mini-player on your screen so you can do other stuff.
The feature has been in the works for the Chrome browser for a while and is enabled by default as of version 70 for Mac, Windows, and Linux. For Chrome OS, you'd need to manually set a flag to enable picture-in-picture, which didn't always work.
Read MorePicture-in-Picture now enabled by default in Chrome for Mac, Windows, and Linux
It's a popular feature on Android, especially useful if you want to watch YouTube videos while you do other things, and now Picture-in-picture (PiP) is officially coming to the desktop. As of version 70, when you're watching a video in Chrome, you'll be able to minimize it and carry on pretending to do some work.
Read More[Update: Official] YouTube picture-in-picture Miniplayer now being tested on the web
For a while now the YouTube app on both Android and iOS has allowed users to minimize a playing video into a floating window, letting them browse other content without interrupting playback. A similar floating mode is apparently being tested on the web now.
Read More[Update: Rolling out widely in the US] YouTube testing picture-in-picture mode for those without Red subscriptions
When Android 8.0 Oreo introduced picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, the obvious beneficiary of the new feature was Google's first-party YouTube app. Unfortunately, Google decided at the time that the advantage of nested playback was best locked behind a YouTube Red subscription. Based on recent developments, though, that may be set to change. We've seen several reports that some videos are allowing for PiP playback without a YouTube Red subscription.
Read MoreAndroid P feature spotlight: Settings button added to Picture-in-Picture
There are plenty of wide-reaching changes in the first Android P Developer Preview, but there are a few smaller tweaks worth covering. Picture-in-Picture mode was first added in Android TV 7.0, and later arrived on phones and tablets with 8.0 Oreo. One of the many additions in Android P is a new settings button for PiP mode.
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Pluto TV 3.5 adds picture-in-picture for Oreo, On Demand resume, and stream quality settings [APK Download]
Free television streaming service Pluto TV updated its Android app to v3.5, adding Oreo picture-in-picture support, the ability to resume previously-watched On Demand content, and settings to configure the stream quality to conserve data.
Read MoreEssential Phone Oreo Beta 2 now rolling out with more 8.0 features and bug fixes
The Essential Phone might not have been our favorite, but the company has been undeniably quick with updates. Essential first rolled out the Android Oreo 8.0 beta program for the PH-1 back in November, and now, a month later, the Beta 2 OTA is rolling out. According to the changelog, this latest build includes the December security patches, Oreo features like Smart text selection, instant apps, PiP mode, Google Play Protect, as well as performance improvements and bugfixes.
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YouTube's 'miniplayer-bar' test lets you keep watching your video as you read comments
We only just wrote about YouTube's new picture-in-picture test on the web, but it's common knowledge by now that Google loves running limited tests. The world's largest video sharing site is now testing a feature it calls 'miniplayer-bar' in its code, and it's something that really should have been implemented a long time ago.
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