Google Maps is one of the most important and useful tools that can be installed on your iOS or Android phone. Over the years, the app has matured from a navigation and mapping app to one that not only gets you from point “A” to point “B” safely and quickly, but also gives you suggestions on what places you should visit, the restaurants you might want to dine at, and the hotels you might want to sleep at.
Android 12 breaks picture-in-picture mode on certain Android phones
Google says that every day it makes tens of thousands of updates to Google Maps and new features are added from time to time. And sometimes, features disappear. Several Google Maps users have been complaining on the company’s forums that the picture-in-picture (PIP) mode hasn’t been working since the update to Android 12 was dropped back in October.
PIP mode on Pixel 6 Pro
But it seems that the issue goes beyond Google Maps. Apparently, the update to Android 12 broke the picture-in-picture mode on several Android phones. Users of affected devices have been writing into the help forum for Google Maps even though the problem goes beyond just one app.
Goose honks that before the update, the feature worked perfectly. This also appears to be a system-wide issue as User 13699692458693559625 wrote that since the Android 12 update, his Android device has been unable to use PIP on apps like Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. This might not seem like a big deal but one person named Victor Manuel Beltrán responded to the first post by confirming that he is experiencing the same issue and added “I hate Android now.”
The problem might have already been fixed for Pixel users in the January update
Could Google have included a fix for the PIP between the January 4th update that was sent out to the Pixel 3a series, the Pixel 4 series, the Pixel 4a and 4a (5G), the Pixel 5, the Pixel 5a (5G), and the January 14th update for the Pixel 6 line? We thought that we had the answer when we found that the changelist for the January update stated that all Android 12 compatible Pixel models received a “fix for issue causing PIP window to render incorrectly for certain apps.”
But here’s the thing. The update was first dropped on January 4th to eligible Pixels besides the Pixel 6 line. And some owners of these phones were still complaining about the broken PIP feature as recently as two days ago. Still, unless we hear from other Pixel users who cannot get picture-in-picture working, we have to conclude that the January update did include a fix for the broken PIP and we’d suggest that Pixel users try the feature again to see if it works.
