Google tests picture-in-picture mode for Android users watching videos in the YouTube app

Android users in the U.S. can open a YouTube video, leave the app, and the video goes into picture-in-picture mode (PiP) where the user can move the small box containing the video around the screen. In other markets, a user would have to be a YouTube Premium subscriber to get the same feature. That changed in February when Android users in Europe joined those in the U.S. giving them the ability to watch a YouTube video in PiP mode when leaving the YouTube app.

Here's the thing. Ironically, whether you're a YouTube Premium subscriber or not, you cannot minimize a video in the YouTube app and be able to watch it in PiP mode. Instead, minimizing a video by pressing the small down arrow in the upper left corner while in portrait will create the minibar on the bottom of the screen. This is surely not the minibar you were hoping for (like the one in that hotel room you were in a few months ago). This minibar is at the bottom of the screen and shows a small thumbnail of the video running on the left side of the bar with the title of the video next and the video controls (play, stop, pause) on the right.

In the U.S., Google is currently running a server-side upgrade rolling out now to some users with version 19.29.37 of the YouTube for Android app. Even if you are running this build on YouTube, you still have to hope that you are one of the lucky ones receiving the update. That's because it isn't isn't clear whether we should expect all Android users to get this update for the Android YouTube app or if this is a typical Google A/B test.

For example, even though my Pixel 6 Pro, with Android 15 beta 4 installed, is running version 19.29.37 of the YouTube app, I am still getting the minibar when I minimize a video on YouTube. Once you get the update, minimizing a YouTube video while on the YouTube app will put that video into PiP mode instead of creating a minibar. Google did say in a statement that only a small number of mobile, tablet, and web users have this update right now.