WhatsApp Web Gets Picture In Picture Feature In Latest Update

To be honest the social media blackout of over a week ago exposed people to some of WhatsApp’s shortcomings. When people flocked to Telegram for example they were amazed at how the chat service’s apps seem to be in perfect sync across all platforms. I mean I am sure that there are differences between the snap version of Telegram (Linux) and the Android version but these are invisible to the average user.

WhatsApp does not really have a desktop version and we all have to do with its web offering which is sort of a lite version of WhatsApp with some of the features in the actual app missing never mind you actually have to have the mobile app running on your device if you want to use WhatsApp web.

One such feature that was missing on the desktop version is picture in picture (PIP) mode. This has been available on the actual WhatsApp app for a while now. PIP saves time, it allows you to continue to watch a shared video, which presents as a tiny floating window while you continue to read and reply to other chats. PIP will be available for both actual shared video files and other popular video sharing services lead by YouTube.

So if you are wondering what you have to do to get the feature? Well if you are like me nothing. Just wait for your WhatsApp to update automatically using the Play Store or that other store that iOS users use and one day soon when you visit web.whatsapp.com picture in picture mode will appear. If you use WhatsApp for Windows (a fancy name for WhatsApp web) you will need to update to version 0.3.2041 or greater.

In addition to this feature WhatsApp web is getting some security fixes and performance tweaks just as you would expect from any update.

WhatsApp is on a roll

In the past people have had to resort to modded apps if they wanted advanced features such as a dark mode or fingerprint lock. My friends are particular fans of the YoWhatsApp mod-yes I am not linking to that thing. The problem with mods is sometimes they come with nasty surprises such as possibly malware or some features do not work. Google Drive backup of chats does not work in YoWhatsApp for example.

WhatsApp has recently started adding some of that functionality though which means there will be less and less reasons for people to resort to mods.