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Google is ready to bring back a very useful YouTube feature for Google Messages it deleted last year

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By Alan Friedman

Published: Mar 21, 2025, 10:50 PM

The Google Messages text bubble icon is seen in front of a stark white background.

Last August Google removed a feature from the Google Messages app that allowed users to receive a link during a Google Messages chat. Tapping on the link opens a small video player allowing the recipient of the link to view a YouTube video while still engrossed in a text conversation with the person who sent the YouTube link in the first place. Other members of a group chat could also tap the link to watch the video.

This feature would allow you to view a YouTube video that someone wanted you to see and then reply with your thoughts on it without having to leave the Messages app, go to YouTube, view the app, and return to Messages. At the time, Google said that the feature ended "the hassle of switching back and forth."

Now it appears that Google plans on bringing this feature back. With Google Messages version v20250319 beta, new strings of code were discovered by code sleuth AssembleDebug that suggests the return of the PiP YouTube video player for Google Messages. The strings include:

Pause
Pause YouTube video button
Play
Play YouTube video button

While AssembleDebug was able to get the video player to launch during a chat, he was unable to get the PiP window to function. So it is up to Google to make the decision whether it wants to take things past where they are now and actually return the feature by launching it. Perhaps if we knew the reason why Google removed it in the first place, we'd have a better idea of what it plans to do with it.

Example of what the video player will look like when it returns.

While AssembleDebug was able to create the PiP window in Google Messages, he could not get the feature to be functional at this time. | Image Credit-AssembleDebug

Google never explained why it removed this PiP video player from Google Messages last year but it's possible that the feature wasn't used that much. Or, if you follow the money trail, Google would prefer that if you like the YouTube video player that much for Google Messages, you shell out the cash and sign up for YouTube Premium which gives you a Picture-in-Picture window that can be placed anywhere on the display.

Google originally added the YouTube video player feature to Google Messages back in 2022 and removed the code in 2024. Based on this pattern that has Google doing something to this feature every two years, its return might not take place until 2026. However, with everything already in place for its return, there is no reason for Google to wait that long to press the button or flick the switch that returns this useful YouTube multitasking feature to Google Messages.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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