How To: Float & Control YouTube Videos Over Any App or Home Screen on a Samsung Galaxy S3

For me, YouTube on my Samsung Galaxy S3 is more of a music player, not a video player. I have tons of YouTube playlists for music, but since I'm mostly only interested in listening, it'd be nice if YouTube would continue to play in the background while I use other apps.

There are apps out there like NextVid that let you play YouTube videos in the background, but what if you actually want to see the video while you're browsing your Home screen or using other apps, not just listen to it?

For that, you have a few options. No root required.

Option #1: YouTube Floating Popup Player

One app you could use is called YouTube Floating Popup Player, by Android dev digitalportal, and it's free on Google Play. This app does just as the name suggests, providing you a floating YouTube player that hovers over your home screens and other apps.

You can view the video in HD and minimize or maximize the YouTube window without ever stopping the video's playback.

Regular size is on the left and the max is on the right.

There is also an integrated search function so you can find other videos without having to leave the app. You can also open YouTube videos using the Floating Popup Player via Share, but the player must already be running.

Issues with YouTube Floating Popup Player

While the app is handy, it's far from perfect. I did have some issues resizing the popup window with pinch gestures. The gestures do work, but it's pretty difficult to get the size you want. This isn't a huge problem, though, since the defaults are more than adequate.

The player did crash a few times. If I download an app to save me time, frequent crashes can be pretty counterproductive. While there is an integrated search function, you have to leave the floating window if you want to search for a video.

The search option, accessible in the menu panel, take you to the app's integrated search menu.

The last issue is that sometimes you'll get a warning message saying the player is too small. Hopefully, that will be fixed in future updates, since there's no use having an option to shrink the video down to that size without it continuing to play the video.

Option #2: Floating YouTube Popup Video

If you want an alternative, you can check out Floating YouTube Popup Video, another free app created by Sud Software. This one has pretty much the same features as the app covered above.

But the upside to this one is that it lets you search from within the floating window, and it has a working pinch-to-resize feature. I did have an issue with the maximize button not working, but overall, the app gets the job done and has a more refined UI.

What Floating YouTube Player Do You Use?

Have you used either of these applications? Which do you prefer? Use a better one? Let us know in the comments.