Floating Around Your Screen: PikaShow Picture-in-Picture Mode on Android
Plenty of Android users in Sydney and Melbourne catch a Bollywood thriller on their morning train, then realise the boss has dropped a Slack message in the group chat. Flicking back and forth between a full-screen stream and a texting app is the fastest way to miss a key scene. Picture-in-Picture mode solves that by shrinking the video into a floating rectangle that hovers above whatever else you have open.
PikaShow, the third-party Android streaming client popular for its deep library of Hindi films and live cricket streams, leans hard into multitasking. Its floating mini player is more flexible than the overlay offered by the stock YouTube app, and it works across a wider Android version range, including the older KitKat devices still in use in parts of regional Queensland.
What sets the PikaShow picture-in-picture window apart is the in-house controls it bundles with the system overlay. You get resize handles, a transparency slider, and a quick-swap button that snaps the floating window from one corner of the screen to another. The article below covers the permissions, the settings, and the network quirks you may hit on Telstra, Optus, or a regional NBN connection.
Before diving in, it helps to know which Android flavours play nicely with floating playback, which apps behave the same way, and which network factors can break the experience on a Saturday arvo at the cricket.
| Feature | PikaShow | MX Player | VLC | Stock Android Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Android version | 8.0 Oreo | 8.0 Oreo | 8.0 Oreo | 8.0 Oreo |
| Resizable floating window | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Snap-to-corner shortcut | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Opacity slider | Yes | No | No | No |
| Audio after PiP swap | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Survives clearing recents | Yes (System PiP) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Foreground service notice | Required | Optional | Optional | Required |
| RAM footprint while floating | ~80 MB | ~110 MB | ~140 MB | ~70 MB |
What Picture-in-Picture Mode Actually Does on Android
Picture-in-Picture, often shortened to PiP, is a multitasking layer introduced by Google in Android 8.0 Oreo and refined in every version since. When a video app holds the right permission, Android draws the playback inside a smaller floating window that sits on top of other apps. Tapping the window expands the video back into full screen, while dragging it moves the overlay anywhere on the display.
The core behaviour is the same across phones sold by JB Hi-Fi, purchased outright from Kogan, or picked up on a plan from Telstra or Optus. The PiP window inherits the aspect ratio of the source video, so a 16:9 film keeps its widescreen frame even when shrunk to a thumbnail. Some Android skins, including Samsung One UI and Xiaomi MIUI, add their own gestures for minimising or dismissing the floating layer, but the feature itself is built into the operating system rather than tied to the launcher.
PikaShow uses the official Android PiP API rather than building an unofficial overlay. That keeps the floating window stable when you switch to Chrome, WhatsApp, or a banking app, and it prevents most power-management killers from closing the stream in the background.
Confirming Android Version, RAM, and Overlay Support
A floating overlay is technically possible on any phone running Android 8.0 or later, but the experience improves noticeably on Android 10 and above where resizing and snap-to-corner gestures are smoother. Open Settings, then About Phone, to confirm which version is installed. Most Motorola, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia, and Google Pixel handsets sold through Australian retailers in the last five years will report at least Android 11, while older Huawei devices floating around on the second-hand market often stay on Android 9.
RAM matters more than people think. The PiP window itself is light, usually under 80 MB, but the streaming session keeps the foreground service alive in memory. Devices with 3 GB of RAM or less can stutter when the floating window is forced to redraw quickly, especially during a high-bitrate live match such as a Big Bash League fixture running over a flaky regional NBN connection.
Overlay permission is a separate checkbox in Settings, then Apps, then Special Access, then Display Over Other Apps. PikaShow requests this the first time you trigger the floating mini player, but granting it ahead of time avoids the system dialog that briefly blocks playback.
Granting the Picture-in-Picture Permission to PikaShow
Open the installed PikaShow build, then jump to the in-app settings panel under the hamburger menu. The Picture-in-Picture toggle sits under Player Settings, alongside Resolution, Buffer Size, and Default Player. Flipping it on writes a flag into the package that Android reads the next time the service starts.
If the toggle stays greyed out, the cause is almost always an operating-system-level block. Head to Settings, then Apps, then PikaShow, then Advanced, and tap Picture in Picture. On stock Android 13 and 14 you will see two switches: Allow picture-in-picture and Auto PiP when leaving the app for navigation. Both should be enabled for the smoothest behaviour.
For users on a Samsung Galaxy A-series bought from Officeworks or The Good Guys, the path looks slightly different. Samsung hides the PiP toggle under Settings, then Apps, then the three-dot menu, then Special Access, then Picture-in-Picture. The wording varies, but the option is in the same neighbourhood.
Turning On the Floating Player Inside the App
Inside any PikaShow video screen, tap the screen once to reveal the playback controls and look for the square-within-a-square icon. That icon activates the in-app floating mode, which differs from the Android system PiP in important ways. The in-app mode keeps the video above the home screen but keeps the PikaShow interface in memory, so the buffer stays warm and resume is instant when you tap the window.
Holding the floating icon for a second offers a second option: System PiP. That hands control back to Android, freeing up RAM and letting the stream survive even when PikaShow itself is fully closed from the recents tray. Both modes are useful, but System PiP wins on long streams because Android manages the foreground service notification more gracefully.
A small heads-up for first-time users: the floating window can overlap the navigation bar on phones running ColorOS or FuntouchOS, the skins shipped by Oppo and Vivo devices sold through JB Hi-Fi and Mobileciti. Tap the snap-to-corner button and the window jumps out of the way without any cropping.
Moving, Resizing, and Snapping the Mini Window
Once the floating overlay is on screen, dragging it around the display is straightforward. The window can be parked in any of the four corners or left floating near the centre. Pinching with two fingers resizes it, with a minimum size that keeps the controls readable and a maximum that fills roughly half the screen.
Long-press the title bar of the window to access an opacity slider. Lowering opacity to around 60 percent lets you keep typing in WhatsApp or scrolling through the SEN radio live blog while still watching the match. The slider only appears in the PikaShow in-app floating window; the System PiP overlay always sits at 100 percent opacity because Android controls it.
A neat trick on foldables such as the Galaxy Z Flip 5 sold through Samsung Experience Stores is to unfold the phone while the floating window is active. The overlay snaps to the larger cover-screen layout automatically, which is handy when you move from reading a recipe on ABC News to catching a Bollywood release that you have bookmarked in PikaShow.
Troubleshooting When the Mini Window Disappears
If the floating window closes the moment you switch apps, the foreground service is being killed. Go to Settings, then Apps, then PikaShow, then Battery, and set the battery usage to Unrestricted. On Xiaomi phones you also need to whitelist the app in the Security app under Autostart.
A second common snag is missing the notification. Android requires every PiP-capable app to keep an ongoing notification while the floating stream is alive. If notification access is blocked in Settings, then Notifications, the foreground service shuts down and the window disappears. Toggle Allow notifications on, and the floating stream stays rock solid even when you switch back to Chrome to check the BBL scorecard.
Sometimes the video plays in the floating window but the audio cuts out. That happens when another app grabs the audio focus, typically a navigation prompt or a phone call. Tapping the floating window forces PikaShow back into the foreground and restores audio within a second.
Streaming Smoothly on Aussie Networks and Travel Times
Australia's mobile network covers unusually chunky geography, so PiP performance depends a lot on carrier and location. On Telstra 5G in a Sydney CBD cafe, a 1080p Bollywood stream in PiP mode uses roughly 2.4 GB per hour and stays smooth even when the window is being dragged around. Stepping off the train at Wangaratta on a regional V/Line service drops to 4G, and the stream begins to buffer whenever the window is resized because the radio has to renegotiate the connection.
Optus users on the same plan often see tighter latency on the streaming server hops in Mumbai, which can shave up to 80 milliseconds off the initial load. Vodafone AU sits in between, and is fine for PiP playback on the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane, where coverage can flicker between 4G and 3G.
For anyone streaming on a fixed wireless NBN connection in the outer suburbs of Adelaide or Perth, the practical advice is to lower the PikaShow resolution to 720p before enabling PiP. Floating mode keeps the foreground service warm, and at lower bitrates the stream survives without dipping when other devices on the same network start watching iview or Stan in the next room.