Despite using a Mac as my daily driver for the last five years, I still use Google Chrome as my browser instead of Apple’s Safari, but the browser’s excellent system-wide picture-in-picture feature gives me a good reason to click that icon when I want to watch something while I work.

Who Doesn’t Love Watching Videos While Doing Something Else?

Now, I am well aware that true-multitasking is just an illusion and people can’t really do it, but I do have a hard time working in complete silence. Most of the time, I listen to music, but I do like having factual programs playing in the background, so I can learn something interesting or get inspiration for things to write about.

While I use a big ultrawide monitor at my desk, and use my iPad as a second screen when I’m working in other rooms or on the go, I still need that real estate for my browser or word processor or whatever other app I might be working on. Which is why I like using picture-in-picture functionality and place a small version of the video window on top of what I’m doing.

Chrome’s PiP Plugins Only Work on Full-screen Chrome Windows, Safari Works Everywhere

In Chrome, there’s an official picture-in-picture extension that I’ve been using for years on my Windows systems and it works just the same on my Mac. However, there’s one major limitation—it only works on Chrome windows when maximized. So if I have another full-screen app open and I want to see the PIP window there, I’m out of luck.

It also doesn’t work consistently with video on every site. YouTube is fine, and so is Netflix, but from time to time I’ll try using the extension on less mainstream sites, or even a site where it’s worked before, and it just won’t play ball that day for whatever reason. This is, admittedly, pretty rare, but it just doesn’t feel very integrated into my computer, which makes sense given it’s an optional extension, I guess.

Safari’s built-in picture-in-picture function, however, works anywhere in macOS on any screen. Which means I really can have a consistent PIP experience no matter where I happen to be working on my Mac. Though, strangely, it doesn’t work with Netflix as of this writing. I tried it with all of my video services and Netflix was the only one that didn’t play ball. So, for that, I still need to use the Chrome extension instead.

It’s Even Better With Ultrawide or Dual-Screen Setups

I use an ultrawide desktop setup for both my Mac and Windows laptops, and with so much screen space, it’s always nice to have the option of tucking a small floating video window away somewhere, such as the border at the top of two split windows.

Again, it’s awesome that I can move the floating window over non-browser apps like Pages, so there’s no reason to feel limited.

I’ve never really gelled with Safari, and in the early days of the Apple Silicon transition, I ran into performance and battery issues that weren’t present with Chrome, but I’ll still keep it around for this one neat party trick.