Google gave its Messages app a major overhaul back in 2022, including the new icon that’s still in use today. The update also added YouTube’s picture-in-picture (PiP) feature to the app. But just a few years later, the latest Google Messages app beta for Android hints at the removal of YouTube’s PiP feature.

The YouTube PiP feature in Google Messages allowed users to preview the thumbnail and play videos in a floating PiP window by tapping the video link. This eliminates the need to leave the Messages app and get distracted from the active conversation, allowing chatting and watching at the same time.

Unfortunately for those who have been using this feature, the latest Android beta of Google Messages shows that all codes and text strings that enabled the YouTube PiP feature in Google Messages have now been removed. Reports also say that the YouTube player no longer works in the latest stable version of the Google Messages app and thumbnails appear broken.

This would be disappointing not only for those who currently use Google Messages on their phones, but also for Samsung Galaxy users in the US. Recently, it was reported that Samsung Messages would no longer be the default messaging app on Galaxy devices in the US and would be replaced by Google Messages.

Samsung explained that it decided to replace its messaging app with Google Messages to accelerate the adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS) and offer a common and unified messaging platform for the Android mobile ecosystem. Unlike Samsung Messages, which relies on mobile carriers for RCS, Google Messages supports RCS regardless of carrier, making it a more attractive option for some users.

Let us know in the comments below whether or not you can still use YouTube PiP in Google Messages.

Source: Android Authority