Chrome pip

Seamless presenting and multitasking: Launching Meets Picture in Picture

Automatic picture in picture launched in July 2024. It has millions of daily users, and won an internal award for being one of the most impactful projects across Google Cloud.

My wife just discovered Auto Pip and stopped me from working to tell me how AMAZING it IS. This is so much better than resizing the browser.

Anonymous user

I love picture in picture for Meet because I am able to multitask—doing my work and still being engaged with the meetings I sit in on.

Anonymous user

Identifying room for improvement

The first version of Meet picture in picture had low usage, but it was loved by those that did use it. Partnering with UXR, I identified a few key areas for improvement:

Overview

Not flexible enough

Not discoverable/contextual

Limited feature set

One-off infrastructure

Screenshot of a chrome browser with picture in picture 1.0 circled

Key use cases

I partnered with our amazing UXR to get feedback on what the key uses cases people were using pip for. This informed which features we should toggle on and prioritize in the UI.

A ballet dancer being held up by instructor

Collaborating

Man with 8 hands smoking cigarette, reading, and doing other teasks

Multitasking

Man in hat looking out at a beautiful lake and park

Presenting

Improving discoverability

We partnered with Chrome to trigger the picture in picture any time somebody navigates to a new tab within the same window. What we built in Meet is using all public APIs. We influence and give feedback, but don’t get special treatment. In order to create a strong partnership I focused on understanding their goals and constraints, so that I could be a teammate and advocate for them in Meet specific meetings.

Etching of a person writing with chrome over their eyes and a cherrub with Meet on their eyes

Working in AI