Android Oreo Picture-In-Picture Mode: How To Use, Enable And Disable

The 2017 Google Android Update — Android 8.0, Oreo OS — was revealed in August this year and is now available for Pixel and Nexus smartphones. It is expected to roll out to other Android devices by the end of the year.

One of the leading features of Android Oreo is the picture-in-picture mode, which lets Android users multi-task more efficiently. The new Android iteration introduces a feature which lets you use two apps together — If you are watching a video and want to use an app such as Facebook in the larger screen area, you can now do that. The video in the picture-in-picture mode can be minimized to a smaller window, while the user can use another app, utilizing the rest of the screen area.

The feature is mostly available for Google apps but can also be used on third-party apps, if developers have built it into their apps. The feature is currently available for YouTube only if you are subscribed to YouTube Red.

You can use the picture-in-picture mode by playing any YouTube video and going full screen. Once the video is full screen, you can just tap on the home button. This will resize the video to a smaller window and you can use the rest of the screen space for anything else you want to do. The video will continue playing and you can drag this small video window to anywhere you want it on the screen.

You can control the video on this floating window by double-clicking on it and then pausing or closing it. You can go back to full-screen mode by tapping on the full-screen mode or go to the regular YouTube screen by clicking the back button.

If you don’t see it working on your smartphone, you can simply navigate to the settings of your smartphone and check if it’s enabled. Just go to Settings >Apps and notifications > Advanced > Special App Access > Picture-in-picture mode.

The picture-in-picture mode works differently than existing multi-tasking modes such as split-screen and multi-window. While those modes can simply line up two apps, you cannot operate them simultaneously. In the picture-in-picture mode, you can run them simultaneously. You can even play just the audio by clicking on the headphones icon on the YouTube screen.

You can disable the picture-in-picture mode by navigating to the settings menu. You will need to then navigate to Settings > Apps and notifications > Advanced > Special App Access > Picture-in-picture. You can also disable it for any app. Under Picture-in-picture, you can click on a specific app and click on “allow picture-in-picture” and simply turn the toggle on/off.

You can also use this mode for non-YouTube videos and for other apps — you can open navigation in the smaller window while being on a call.