Google TV’s upcoming picture-in-picture mode will be a disappointment
One of the biggest upgrades in Android TV 14 (which powers both Google TV and Android TV) is the return of picture-in-picture (PiP), which hasn’t been available on Android TV in years: As Google announced in May, “qualifying” TVs running Android TV 14 will support the feature. However, a new report suggests that even if it does come to your specific TV, it won’t be the PiP feature you might expect or want.
The report, from Android Policesays that picture-in-picture won’t work as well on Android TV as it does on Android phones. And it will exclude some of the apps you’d expect to use the feature with.
What is Google doing with Android TV PiP?
The report says that Google is limiting the picture-in-picture feature to four types of app categories, with apps requiring specific approval from Google. The categories are:
- Communication services (video and voice calls)
- Smart home integrations (doorbells and baby monitors)
- Health monitoring (fitness trackers)
- Live news tickers (sports scores and stock tickers)
As you can see, there’s no category for the best streaming video services, like Netflix or even YouTube. And there doesn’t appear to be any other type of app in there that you might want to use while watching TV, like a Twitch stream or watching one sports game in full screen and another in windowed mode.
Even that limited functionality might not be available for your specific TV. That’s because many Android TVs are built for budget, and often feature fairly low-end processors without much RAM. So it’s unlikely that some of the very cheapest Android or Google TVs will get the feature at all.
There’s good news, though. If it’s coming to your TV (which likely includes some of the best TVs out there, since Google TV is used by Sony, TCL, and Hisense – and it’s coming to the Google TV Streamer, of course), the new feature will explicitly prohibit apps from using PiP windows for advertising, and from activating PiP mode without your permission.
The app category limits described here apply to system-wide picture-in-picture, but the feature is also available to individual developers. That means you might be able to get the picture-in-picture features you want from third-party apps on your TV. Still, the limits Google is imposing on its own version of the feature seem restrictive. After all, why should we be able to watch baseball in the corner while we mainline? Emily in Paris season 4 after its recent debut.