European users of Android tablets might soon see a change in how audio plays in Google Chrome. A recent development in Chrome Canary shows Google is working to address an issue with picture-in-picture (PiP) mode. This issue causes audio to keep playing after users close the PiP window. The fix is currently undergoing internal testing.
The problem has been particularly noticeable on tablet devices, where audio continues to play in the background even when a PiP window is shut. This behavior is controlled by a feature flag called “kAndroidEnableBackgroundMediaLargeFormFactors,” which allows background media playback on larger screens. On Android phones, however, closing a PiP window typically stops playback as expected.
Currently, tablet users must manually stop audio playback by accessing the notification shade or pausing video in the YouTube app. With the new fix, closing a PiP window should automatically pause playback, streamlining the experience. The change was recently merged into Chrome Canary, version v153.0.7991.0, and may eventually make its way to the stable release channel.
The change is expected to go through several testing phases. It will first appear in Dev builds and later in Beta versions. Then it will reach the general public. Google developers explained in the commit notes that closing a PiP window signals an 'explicit user intent to stop playback.' This reasoning underlies the new behavior. It aims to make the user experience more intuitive across devices.