Chrome’s bottom toolbar might automatically move to the top during PiP mode for security reasons

Google is testing a subtle change in Chrome for Android. If a Picture-in-Picture window is open within Chrome, the browser will automatically move the toolbar and address bar to the top.

This isn’t a UI/UX decision or something made for design. The reason is actually better security. A PiP window in the bottom-right corner could actually end up covering URLs and obscuring the “Not secure” indicators. This creates a risk of URL spoofing, since the floating media player can actually sit on top of these security indicators.

The update to PiP mode is currently in Chrome Canary. We weren’t able to find it on Chrome beta or stable, and since Google hasn’t really provided an ETA, the release timeframe is unclear. If they don’t tie it to a specific version of Chrome, you’ll see it quite soon.

If you’re a developer/tester and want to check the new behavior, you need to type chrome://flags, and then look up “Picture-in-Picture moves toolbar…” in the search bar. Enable the relevant flag, and then restart the browser.

After this, set your address bar location to the bottom (if it isn’t at the bottom already), and then bring up a PiP window. You can do that by long-pressing a video that’s playing and then selecting the “Picture-in-Picture” option.

As soon as the PiP window comes up, Chrome Canary will automatically shift the toolbar and address bar to the top.

While the PiP is running, you can’t move the address bar to the bottom. Long-pressing the menu to shift it won’t work. Considering this is just a test in Canary, the final implementation might have more features or some other improvements.

Information about this feature was initially posted by @Leopeva64 on X.

In other Chrome news, Google is testing a “Send to your device” shortcut in the address bar. More on that here.

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