ChromeOS prepares launcher & lockscreen updates, better settings for Android apps

Google is toying round with some good quality-of-life tweaks on ChromeOS, together with some launcher updates and the overdue skill to cover profile footage on the lockscreen.

ChromeOS has all the time had a easy feel and appear to the “homescreen,” with a clean desktop and your whole apps in a customizable grid. Soon, although, that launcher is choosing up just a few tweaks. The “Everything” launcher, as it is going to be recognized, will permit ChromeOS machines to have search outcomes personalized as a brand new flag noticed by @cr_c2cv reveals.

Enable search management in launcher in order that customers can customise the outcomes offered.

This reveals up as a brand new settings icon to the appropriate aspect of search outcomes, and in addition is accompanied by a earlier discovery that the launcher can present interactive “cards” from the Diagnostics app, reminiscent of displaying the CPU temperature with out opening the complete app as pictured under.

Another tweak coming to the launcher is the flexibility to see apps which are being put in from the Play Store, very similar to how Android reveals putting in apps and iOS has performed for years.

Beyond that, coming ChromeOS variations are additionally making some tweaks to settings and privateness. Most noteworthy is a brand new possibility to cover your profile image and username when on the ChromeOS lockscreen. Chromebooks nonetheless depend on your Google account to log into the machine, and whilst you can set a PIN to keep away from typing in a password consistently, it nonetheless reveals your account’s profile image and your full identify if you go to register, which will not be one thing everybody desires. Windows 11, notably, affords the choice to cover your e-mail deal with on the lockscreen, however not a profile image or your identify.

Finally, ChromeOS can be getting ready better controls over Android apps. This is completed by a slight tweak to the Settings menu which extra clearly explains the separation between apps and Google Play, in addition to far more clearly explaining that eradicating the Google Play Store out of your ChromeOS machine additionally disables Android apps. Previously, this web page solely mentioned that you’d be eradicating the Play Store.