No Second Monitor? How to Watch Videos While You Work on a MacBook With Pinned Windows, Hero Layouts, and Saved Setups

To watch a video while you work on a MacBook with no second monitor, float it above your work: Safari's Picture in Picture or QuickTime's View > Float on Top keeps one video on top, and Plush Media Player's Pin on Top (⇧⌘P) keeps a small window of up to three tiles (eight with Plush Pro) above your other apps, free, and with Plush Pro you can use a hero layout and save and reopen it tomorrow.

The short answer

Your work already wants the whole MacBook screen. The fix is not more pixels. It is giving the video the smallest rectangle that still works, and keeping it from sinking behind your document every time you click.

• Free and built in: Picture in Picture, Split View, Stage Manager, a second Space, or an iPad as a second display through Sidecar. Each solves part of the problem.
• One window you control: Plush Media Player, free on the Mac App Store, macOS 14 or later, Mac only. Shrink it, pin it above your work, and resize the tiles for free. Plush Pro, a one-time $2.99 upgrade, adds the Hero layout, so one tile is big and the rest small, and saved sessions such as "Study" or "Work".

We built Plush, so the free options come first.

Free ways to watch a video while you work on a Mac

Picture in Picture in Safari, and Float on Top in QuickTime

Picture in Picture (PiP) pops a video out of its tab into a small window that floats above everything else. You can drag it to a corner and resize it. Safari offers it on many video sites, and for one lecture or one stream it is excellent. QuickTime Player has a plainer version for files on your disk: open the movie, choose View > Float on Top, and that window stays above your other windows until you turn it off.

The limits are simple. PiP floats one video at a time, and starting a second replaces the first. And nothing else comes along: no music, no second feed, no memory of the setup.

Split View and window tiling

Split View puts two apps side by side, and you can drag the divider to change the split (Apple Support: Split View). Newer macOS versions can also tile windows against the screen edges (Apple Support: Tile app windows). On a 13-inch MacBook, a video in one half and a document in the other is cramped, because each app gets a narrow strip of a small screen. It works and costs nothing, but it is built for two windows, not a video plus music plus a second feed.

Stage Manager

Stage Manager keeps the window you are using in focus and arranges your other windows to the side so you can switch between them quickly (Apple Support: Stage Manager). It organizes windows well; it is not designed to keep a video in view while you type elsewhere.

A second Desktop (Space)

You can put a video on its own Space and swipe between it and your work (Apple Support: Work in multiple spaces). That suits an occasional glance, not peripheral vision: a Space you cannot see is a video you are not watching.

Sidecar: an iPad as your second monitor

Sidecar turns an iPad into a second display, the nearest thing to a real second monitor. Apple lists macOS Catalina 10.15 or later on a supported Mac, iPadOS 13 or later, both devices signed in with the same Apple Account, and for wireless use, the two within 10 meters (30 feet) with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff on. Apple suggests a USB cable to keep the iPad charged (Apple Support: Use an iPad as a second display). If you already own the iPad, it is the best free upgrade here. If you do not, it is not free.

What Plush adds for a MacBook

Plush is one window with up to three tiles for free and up to eight with Plush Pro, and each tile can hold the web, a local file, or Apple Music. For a person with no second monitor, five features matter: Pin on Top, Hero layout, draggable dividers, Sound modes, and saved sessions.

One thing Plush does not have is Picture in Picture. We removed our floating mini player in version 1.4.0, and what you pin is the whole Plush window, not a detached video. If you want one video in a tiny corner window and nothing else, Safari's PiP is the better tool. See Plush vs. Safari Picture in Picture.

Pin on Top

Press ⇧⌘P, or use the Pin row in the sidebar, and the Plush window floats above your other app windows. The menu item reads Pin on Top, then Unpin from Top. Shrink the window, tuck it into a corner, and click freely in your document without Plush sliding behind it.

One honest note: the pin is not saved in a session and resets when you quit Plush, so after relaunching, press ⇧⌘P again. Pin raises Plush above normal app windows on your desktop, so keep your work app as a regular window rather than full screen.

Hero layout (Plush Pro): one big tile, the rest small

In the sidebar's Layout control, choose Hero (the View menu has Grid Layout, Hero Layout and Split Layout too). One tile takes the large area and the others stack small beside it. The default gives the hero about 65 percent of the width. When you switch from Grid to Hero, the tile you have selected for sound, or failing that the one under your pointer, becomes the hero, so pick the one you care about first.

On a small screen that is the difference between a lecture you can read and a thumbnail.

Resize tiles by dragging the dividers

The seams between tiles are handles. Drag one to give a tile more room and its neighbors less. The hero split moves between 30 and 85 percent, no tile shrinks below 120 points, and ⌘Z undoes a drag. Double-clicking a seam resets the whole layout to even tiles, so treat it as a panic button, not a tweak. Widen the hero when you are listening, narrow it when you are typing.

Control what you hear

• Focus: only the selected or hovered tile plays audio. Music steps aside too, unless its tile is set to keep playing. Double-click a tile to lock it.
• Adaptive (Plush Pro): the focused tile plays at full volume and the others drop to an ambient level. Music keeps playing until you pause it.
• Chaos (Plush Pro): every tile plays at its own volume.

For working, Focus keeps your head clear: the small tiles stay silent until you hover over them. Adaptive, with Plush Pro, suits a lecture over quiet music.

Mix the web, a local file, and Apple Music

One tile can hold a lecture or stream from the web, another a recorded class from your Mac, another an Apple Music playlist. Web tiles load a built-in list of streaming sites plus any site you add yourself (Plush offers an Add Site button when a site is not on the list). For sites that need an account, sign in on the site's own page in the tile. Plush's Stay Signed In After Quitting switch, on by default, keeps sign-ins that sites would otherwise end at quit, for up to 14 days unused. It does not promise that a particular service will play, so test the ones you rely on.

Set it up in seven steps

1. Choose how many tiles. Use the Tiles stepper in the sidebar (⌘\). On a small screen, two or three is plenty. The maximum is three on the free version and eight with Plush Pro.
2. Load your sources. Click an empty tile and pick Website, Local Files, or Apple Music, or drag a file from Finder onto a tile.
3. Select the tile you care about, then choose Hero (Plush Pro). Use the Layout control in the sidebar. The selected tile becomes the big one.
4. Set Sound to Focus. Now only the tile you select or hover over is heard.
5. Shrink the window and drag the dividers. It can go as small as 720 by 480. Park it in a corner.
6. Press ⇧⌘P. The window now floats above your work. Click into your document and it stays put.
7. Save the session (Plush Pro). In the sidebar's Sessions section, choose Save Current Session and give it a name.

Save your setup and reopen it tomorrow

This is the part no free option offers, and it is part of Plush Pro. Sessions > Save Current Session opens a sheet titled Save Session with a Session Name field. The default is the date and time, such as "Session - Oct 12, 9:14 AM", but type something you will recognize: "Study", "Work", "Game night". You name a session when you save it, and there is no rename afterward, so save a new one and delete the old one if you change your mind. Each saved row shows its tile count and date; click it to load.

What comes back: tile count and layout, your Hero or Grid sizes, the Sound mode, accent color and tile borders, and in each tile its content, volume, and zoom. Local files reopen if they are still where you left them, and Plush tells you which tile failed if one is missing. Web tiles return to the same site, and an Apple Music tile returns with its song.

What does not come back:

• A restored session starts paused. Press play when you are ready.
• No tile is selected for sound. Click or hover the one you want to hear.
• Playback position and speed are not saved.
• Web tiles reopen the site in its normal view, not Video Mode.
• Pin on Top is not saved. After you quit and relaunch Plush, press ⇧⌘P again.

Next to Save Current Session is a Restore Last Session button, which reopens the tiles you had open at your last quit. Launching Plush restores nothing by itself, so that button (free) or a named session (Plush Pro) is how your tiles come back.

Three ready-made MacBook setups

Here are three starting points, shown in the graphic below. Save your own versions once they feel right.

Study: lecture plus quiet music

• Tiles: 2. A recorded lecture or course video is the hero, an Apple Music playlist the small tile.
• Sound: Adaptive (Plush Pro), so the lecture is clear with music underneath. On the free version, use Focus.
• Window: pinned to the right third of the screen.
• Save as: "Study".

Deep work: a calm loop and an album

• Tiles: 2, shrunk to a small pinned strip. One is a local folder of photos or video that Plush steps through at a dwell time you choose, the other an Apple Music tile.
• Sound: Focus with the music tile selected, so nothing else speaks.
• Save as: "Work".

Game day while working

• Tiles: 3. The main game is the hero; a second game and an Apple Music tile are the small ones.
• Sound: Focus. Hover a tile to listen, double-click to lock it when something is happening.
• Save as: "Game night". Sign in on the service's own page in the tile.

13-inch vs. 16-inch MacBook: screen-space tips

Plush opens at 1280 by 720 and shrinks to 720 by 480, so you choose how much screen to hand over.

On a 13-inch MacBook

• Use two tiles, three at most. More makes the small ones unreadable.
• Keep the window to about a third of the screen while you type, with the hero taking most of it.
• Pin it to a side. A vertical strip suits documents, which are tall.

On a 16-inch MacBook

• Three or four tiles are comfortable, with one hero and a column of small ones.
• Your work and Plush can sit side by side at about half each.

If you also use an external display some days, save one session per arrangement.

What Plush does not do

• No Picture in Picture. Plush pins its whole window, not one detached video.
• Web tiles use built-in streaming sites plus sites you add. It is not a general browser, and it is Mac only.
• Sessions do not save playback position, speed, or the pin.

A local video in a tile loops by itself, which makes a small pinned clip easy to leave running; how to loop a video on a Mac covers the other ways. For a bigger setup, this post turns one Plush window into an ambient wall with Apple Music, and this one covers split-screen with two videos.

Frequently asked questions

How do I keep a video on top of other windows on a Mac?

For one video, use Picture in Picture in Safari, or open a file in QuickTime Player and choose View > Float on Top. For several sources, open Plush Media Player and press Shift-Command-P, which keeps the whole Plush window above your other app windows. Pin on Top is free.

How do I watch a video while I work without a second monitor?

Shrink the video to a corner and keep it above your work. Picture in Picture does that for one video. For a lecture plus music, or a game plus a second feed, use Plush: drag the window small, pin it with Shift-Command-P, and, with Plush Pro, choose a hero layout and save it as a session.

Can I use my iPad as a second monitor for video?

Yes, with Sidecar. Apple requires macOS Catalina or later, iPadOS 13 or later, the same Apple Account on both, and for wireless use, devices within 10 meters (30 feet) with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Handoff on. It is free if you already own a compatible iPad.

Does Plush have Picture in Picture?

No. Plush pins its whole window above your other apps with Pin on Top, and that window holds up to three tiles free or eight with Plush Pro, but it does not detach one video into a floating mini window. For that, Safari's built-in Picture in Picture is the better tool.

Can I save a setup and reopen it later?

Yes, with Plush Pro. In the sidebar, choose Sessions, then Save Current Session, and name it, for example "Study" or "Game night". A session remembers tile count, layout, sizes, sound mode, and each tile's content, volume, and zoom. It reopens paused, with no tile selected for sound. The pin is not saved, so after relaunching Plush, press Shift-Command-P again.

What is the best layout for a small MacBook screen?

Two or three tiles in Hero layout (Plush Pro), with the video you actually follow as the big tile. On a 13-inch MacBook, keep the window to about a third of the screen while you type and drag the divider wider when you want to watch. A 16-inch can run three or four.

Will Plush keep me signed in to my streaming sites?

Plush has a Stay Signed In After Quitting setting, on by default, that keeps sign-ins sites would otherwise end when Plush quits, for up to 14 days unused, on streaming and user-added sites. It does not promise that any specific service will play, so sign in on the site's own page in a tile and check the ones you depend on.

Plush Media Player is free on the Mac App Store, and Plush Pro is a one-time $2.99 with no subscription and no account. Shrink it, pin it, save it, and get your work done with something good on in the corner.