WhatsApp update brings support for Android 8.0 Oreo’s best new feature

WhatsApp has pushed-out an update to Android users that includes support for picture-in-picture.

The Facebook-owned messenger has been testing the functionality since July, but had not revealed when users could expect to see the feature drop.

Picture-in-picture, which minimises a smartphone app into a small window that floats over the top of the operating system and can be used while another app runs fullscreen, is one of the headline new features of Android 8.0 Oreo.

version 2.17.323 supports picture-in-picture on any smartphone running Android 8.0 Oreo.

When users are in a video call, tapping the back button will continue the video call in a picture-in-picture window.

WhatsApp users can continue the video chat while browsing other conversations within WhatsApp, or launch another app.

Like the WhatsApp Stories, text-only updates are still only available for 24 hours.

Users can tap the pencil icon within the Status tab – type the message they’d like to display – then pick a background colour to help illustrate.

Facebook includes a very similar feature.