In this article
Picture-in-picture shrinks a video into a small window that floats above everything else, so you can keep watching while you scroll a channel, answer a message or look something up.
It works on Telegram's own videos directly, and on a stream you opened in the in-app browser because the page's player supports it. Knowing which of those two you are in explains every case where the button is not where you expected.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Float a video out of a chat and keep reading underneath it.
- check_circle Move, resize and dismiss the floating window without losing the video.
- check_circle Get a live stream into the same window, and know why that route is different.
- check_circle Cut what a long stream costs in battery and mobile data.
The window sits above the chat rather than inside it, which is why scrolling and typing carry on underneath.
picture_in_picture Two different things called the same name
When you open a video that was sent in a chat, you are in Telegram's own player and the small-window control belongs to Telegram. It knows about your chats, so the window survives moving between them and reappears when you come back.
When you open a link to a streaming site, you are in the in-app browser looking at that site's own player, and the small-window control is the one the page and your operating system provide. Telegram is hosting the browser and nothing more.
It is worth being blunt about this, because the feature is often described as though Telegram integrated with particular streaming services. It did not. What you get is a web page in a web view, and how well it floats depends on that site and your phone — which is exactly why it behaves differently on iOS and Android and differently again from one site to the next.
What floats, and how well
Four sources of video and four different levels of support. The differences are not arbitrary once you know which player you are in.
play_circle Something sent or posted in Telegram
travel_explore A stream opened from a link
open_in_new The same link in your normal browser
battery_alert Battery and data
Rule of thumb: Telegram's own video floats reliably; anything on the web floats at the website's discretion.
settings Using it
- Open the video full screen Tap it in the chat or channel.
- Send it to the corner Use the picture-in-picture control in the player, or swipe the full-screen view down.
- Move it out of the way Drag the window; it settles in the nearest corner. Some clients resize it by pinching.
- Carry on with the chat Scroll, type, open other conversations. The window stays above all of it.
- Dismiss it Flick it off the edge of the screen, or tap it to go back to full screen.
This page is watching a stream while doing something else. The curriculum step is the other side of it: running a live stream inside Telegram itself, from a phone or from broadcasting software, and who is allowed to speak.
At a glance
- 1Picture-in-picture
Float a video and keep reading the chat.
- 2Move and resize
Drag the window anywhere or pinch to resize it.
- 3Live streams
Web streams depend on the site; Telegram's own videos always float.
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