WhatsApp: YouTube videos will play directly inside chats after update

Opening clips will no longer force you out of the messaging app

The functionality isn't quite ready yet (Reuters)

WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will let you watch YouTube videos within the messaging app.

When you hit a link to a YouTube video in current versions of the app, the YouTube app will open and take over your entire screen.

This functionality isn’t exactly ideal, as it prevents you from simultaneously watching the video and seeing your messages, instead forcing you to keep switching between the two apps.

People who have phones with split-screen functionality can actually view both apps at once right now, but this isn’t a widely available feature yet and the layout isn’t great anyway.

A future WhatsApp update, however, will make things work a lot more pleasantly.

According to WABetaInfo, it’s a hidden feature in the latest version of WhatsApp for iOS, which will be officially activated when it’s ready.

Once it does roll out, you’ll be able to view YouTube videos in picture-in-picture mode right inside your WhatsApp chats.

WhatsApp will reportedly let you drag the video window around without stopping or pausing it, in order to get a better view of your messages, as well as resize it with a pinch, and view it in full-screen mode if you want to.

Of Apple’s smartphones, WABetaInfo says the feature may only come to the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

That's because they have significantly bigger screens than the company’s other mobiles, something that's important for this particular feature to work well.

There’s no word yet on whether or not the functionality will come to Android users too.