Float Is Built for Video Over Fullscreen; PipNow Handles Every Window You Need to Watch

First, a clarification: the Float in this post and the Floaty from an earlier post are two different apps — similar names, different jobs. Float positions itself as a floating browser + video window: it turns web pages like YouTube and Twitch into floating windows, can also play local video, and its flagship scenario is watching video over a fullscreen editor — VS Code fullscreen writing code, Final Cut fullscreen cutting footage, video floating in a corner. Basic features are free; Pro is a $9.99 one-time purchase.

Where Float Is Strong

• Fullscreen specialist: it’s designed for exactly “watch video without leaving fullscreen,” with a crystal-clear target scenario
• Built-in floating browser: no need to open a page in Safari first and move it over — type the URL straight into Float
• Plays local video too: downloaded movies and course videos drag right in
• Free to start: basics cost nothing; paying unlocks Pro

If 80% of your need is “a video beside me while I work fullscreen,” Float is a cheap, well-matched tool.

The Difference: Float Handles “Watching,” PipNow Handles “Keeping an Eye On”

Float’s core content is media — video streams, local video files. It assumes what you want to watch is something being “played.”

But in real work, most of what needs to sit in a corner isn’t playing:

• A terminal scrolling logs — did it finish, did it error
• A chat window — waiting on a reply
• An AI tool generating — how far along is it
• Docs / tutorials — you’re writing code against them and need to read a specific passage now and then

Float can’t touch any of these — it’s not a window tool, it’s a content tool. PipNow is the reverse: any already-open window becomes a corner mini window with one press of ⌥⌘P; hover and a near-full-size preview auto-pops up so you can read the details, then tucks back away; and when you need to act, the preview is interactive.

Honesty in the other direction too: on fullscreen, both tools share the same problem. A fullscreen app owns its own Space, and a floating mini window lives in the desktop space — once you enter fullscreen, it’s out of sight. That’s macOS’s mechanism. Float showing video over fullscreen is a genuine implementation highlight of theirs, but “crossing into fullscreen” remains unstable territory for mirror-based tools — test it yourself before trusting it.

One Table

	Float	PipNow
Positioning	Floating browser + video player	Any window → floating mini window
Content sources	Web pages (built-in browser) + local video	Any open window + screen regions ⌥⌘F
Watching terminals / chats / AI tasks	—	✅ Core scenario
Hover preview that auto-enlarges	—	✅
Interactive preview	—	✅
Local video playback	✅	—
Opacity	✅	✅
Price	Basics free + Pro $9.99 one-time	Free version available, one-time purchase from $9.9

How to Choose

Choose Float if: what you want is exactly “video beside me while I work fullscreen” — tutorials, live streams, a show over dinner — and you don’t want to install a heavier, pricier window tool.

Choose PipNow if: what you’re watching is part of your workflow — terminals, chats, AI tasks, docs you code against; you need to read details in the mini window, not just know “something is playing there”; or you even want to interact directly inside it.

The simplest test: does what you want to watch need to “play”? Yes (video, streams, movies) — Float is handy. No (something happening live inside a window) — PipNow.

Both have a free tier; install them, try them for a day, and you’ll know which camp you’re in.

One More Thing

For local video there’s an even more specialized option in Vihover, with subtitles and playlists; if most of what you watch lives in the browser, compare with PipZ.