If you want to enjoy watching videos and at the same time want to use some other app in Android, then VLC Media Player is your best choice. It allows you to play videos in a special mode called the picture-in-picture mode or the PiP mode. In this mode, the videos are played inside a very small floating frame that always stays on top of other apps and that you can easily drag around on the screen while using other apps.
Here is how you can enable VLC media player in Android to use the picture-in-picture mode:
- Launch VLC media player in your Android smartphone or tablet.
- Tap on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) to pull down the menu and select Settings from there.
- On the settings screen tap on Background/PiP mode that you can find under the Video category.
- You will see three options – Stop, Play videos in background, and Play videos in Picture-in-picture mode. Select the last option Play videos in Picture-in-picture mode and you are all set.
- Now you can try playing videos in VLC media player and then launch some other app. The video will continue to play in a small picture-in-picture window/frame.
You can drag this picture-in-picture video anywhere on the screen where it makes it easy for you to work with other apps. You can double-tap on this small video frame to switch to the full video mode. Alternatively, you can also pull down the notification bar and select Expand Video to switch to the full video mode. In the expanded video mode, the video is played normally inside the VLC media player.
Unlike some other apps, VLC does not require you to have Android Oreo (Android 8) in order to use the PiP mode. You can use the PiP mode of VLC media player in earlier versions of Android as well.