WhatsApp Developers are currently rolling out the Picture-in-Picture mode on the web version of the app. This comes weeks after the company made the feature available for its app on different mobile platforms. According to a recent report, the feature is currently rolling out in the version 0.3.2041 for the web. This new version also comes with other under the hood improvements along with security fixes. The web version that we are talking about refers to the online version of WhatsApp and does not refer to the desktop app that users can install on their devices.
According to a report by WABetaInfo, the company is set to bring the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode for the desktop version of WhatsApp in the coming update. To recap, PiP is a relatively new feature that allows users to watch videos from popular video hosting websites including YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and more directly by tapping the generated thumbnail. This opens a small overlay window inside the app that users can move around according to their needs. This means that they don’t have to navigate away from the app to a website or the app for the video service and users can continue to chat with their friends and family.
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The web version of the app supported the PiP feature but it was only limited to the videos that you had shared with the particular contact. One still has to navigate away to another web page while opening the video links. According to the report, it is also likely to continue watching the video while switching between multiple chats without closing the PiP. The new update should reach you as it has already started rolling out. In case the feature does not work then it means that you are currently running an older version of WhatsApp Web. To update to the new version, users need to clean the cache of their browser from the settings and then go to the WhatsApp for Web after restarting the browser.
One important thing to note for this feature to work is to wait for the app to generate the link preview before sharing the video link with your friends or family. To do this, one should paste the video link in the chat and then wait for some seconds for the app to look for the associated video.
This comes right after the company rolled out a new update for its beta version for Android. The new version came with a redesigned emoji layout and a shortcut for photos. A new report about Facebook planning to integrate WhatsApp with Instagram Direct and its Messenger platform also emerged on the internet around the same time.
