New WhatsApp beta update reveals picture-in-picture mode for video calls on Android O 8.0

Now that VoIP and video calls are now fully functional on both iOS and Android. The software development team at Facebook-owned WhatsApp has now begun to experiment with video calling by adding a picture-in-picture (PiP) mode for the feature. The same was revealed by @WABetaInfo on Twitter that showcased a new WhatsApp Beta Android build tagged as a version 2.17.265. The tweet revealed a screenshot with what appears to be a new picture-in-picture mode while placing video calls using WhatsApp for Android. [caption id=“attachment_390518” align=“aligncenter” width=“400”] Image: @WABetaInfo (Twitter)[/caption] Do note that the feature, according to the tweet, is currently only available on the beta version and only on devices running developer builds of Google’s Android 8.0 or **Android O** (it still does not have name). The feature is enabled by default and adds another layer of interaction for **WhatsApp** users. With the video call window now floating and minimized, users should be able to chat with others while a video call is in progress which is pretty handy. While this is good news, there is also some bad news. The feature needs to have Android 8.0 in particular as pointed out by the tweet as 8.0 possesses a particular API that WhatsApp used to enable the same. This would pose a problem as not all Android handsets get updated as quickly as Google Pixel range of devices. Even today a majority of Android smartphone owners are still stuck with Android 6.0 Marshmallow (and an equal number on Lollipop) firmware as pointed out by a recent Google Dashboard break up. Google’s mobile operating system Android is currently on Nougat, but it just takes up 10.6 percent on the Android distribution chart with Android Nougat 7.1 taking up 0.9 percent. A **recent leak** also hinted that WhatsApp working on integrating **YouTube** inside the app, where users can play YouTube links shared in conversations inside the app.