Chrome Enterprise and Education release notes

For administrators who manage Chrome browser or ChromeOS devices for a business or school.

 

Select the required tab to see Chrome browser or ChromeOS updates.

• Chrome browser updates continue to be published on Chrome browser Early Stable Release.
• ChromeOS updates are published one week before ChromeOS Stable Release.

 

ChromeOS 130 release summary

 

ChromeOS updates	Security/ Privacy	User productivity/ Apps	Management
Quick Insert		✓
Settings and shortcuts changes		✓
Focus on ChromeOS		✓
Enhanced access for Drive files		✓
New suggestions in Tote		✓
Welcome Recap		✓
Studio-style mic		✓
AI-powered Recorder app		✓
Content scanning for Managed Guest Sessions	✓		✓
Additional URLs allowed in Kiosk mode	✓		✓
Appearance effects		✓
More accessible privacy controls	✓
Enhanced keyboard brightness controls		✓
Enhanced display brightness controls		✓
Help me read on ChromeOS		✓
Multi-calendar support		✓
Picture-in-Picture windows		✓
Improved ARC++ user experience		✓
New policy to control Access Point Names			✓
Microsoft SCEP SID update			✓
Upcoming ChromeOS changes	Security/ Privacy	User productivity/ Apps	Management
AI wallpapers and backgrounds		✓
ChromeOS Flex auto-enrollment			✓
Graduate data migration		✓	✓
Chrome App support ending on ChromeOS			✓
Native Client (NaCl) support ending on ChromeOS	✓

 

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The enterprise release notes are available in 9 languages. You can read about Chrome's updates in English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese. Allow 1 to 2 weeks for translation for some languages.

ChromeOS updates

   

• Quick Insert 

  Quick Insert provides a quick way to insert emojis, symbols, GIFs, Google Drive links, and quick calculations and unit conversions with a keyboard key (on select models) or a keyboard shortcut. 

  In ChromeOS 130, a new shortcut Launcher + f is available on all ChromeOS devices. A new hardware key is initially available on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus only, but the Quick Insert key will launch on a range of devices in 2025.

  

   

• Settings and shortcuts changes 

  We’ve updated the shortcut and input device options in Settings to include: 

  • Quick Insert: Launcher + f

   

• Focus on ChromeOS 

  We've designed Focus on ChromeOS to help users minimize distractions and create a more productive workspace. With Focus, you can effortlessly set and adjust your focus time, enable or disable Do-not-Disturb (DND) mode, sort through or create new Google Tasks, and immerse yourself in curated playlists that help you focus better with focus sound or YouTube Music Premium (subscription-based). To use Focus, go to Quick Settings > Focus.

  

   

• Enhanced access for Drive files 

  In addition to files you’ve starred within Tote, access all your starred Drive files directly from the shelf, which is now available to you offline. Enhanced Drive suggestions in Launcher and Tote allow you shortcut access to your most important and frequently used files.

   

• New suggestions in Tote 

  Quickly access and pin the files you need the most with local and Drive file suggestions. The new Suggestions section in Tote suggests files to users, up-leveling files that will be useful for them to pin and access offline.

   

• Welcome Recap 

  The new Welcome Recap features help users resume their work and explore new options at start-up. Once you enable this feature you will be able to preview and restore apps and tabs from your previous session. Welcome Recap also provides helpful information like weather, your next calendar event, recent tabs from other devices and relevant Google Drive suggestions. 

  To turn on this feature, select Settings > System Preferences > Startup > Welcome Recap, and make sure Ask every time is chosen for your device.

  

   

• Studio-style mic 

  Make your Chromebook's built-in microphone sound like a professional studio microphone by activating this feature in the video call controls. Studio-style mic includes the existing noise cancellation and de-reverberation effects, and further enhances them with advanced balancing, reconstruction of fine details, and room adaptation. Users who have enabled noise cancellation will get the Studio-style mic enhancements by default starting with this release. If a user wants to revert to the old noise cancellation-only effect, they can select the appropriate option in Settings > Device > Audio. This feature is only available on Chromebook Plus devices.

   

• AI-powered Recorder app 

  ChromeOS 130 introduces the new Google AI-powered Recorder app to create transcriptions that can detect and label speakers, and provide a summary of recorded content. Our app goes beyond recording, offering speech-to-text, content summarization, and title suggestions, all powered by Google AI.

   

• Content scanning for Managed Guest Sessions 

  We are now enabling organizations to extend Chrome Enterprise Premium’s powerful scanning and content and context-based protection to local files in Managed Guest Sessions on ChromeOS. For example, a misplaced file containing Social Security numbers is instantly blocked when a user attempts to copy it to an external drive, safeguarding this confidential information.

   

• Additional URLs allowed in Kiosk mode 

  If a Kiosk app uses more than one URL origin, IT Admins can now enter the additional origins. All specified origins will get permissions automatically granted. Permissions will be rejected for any other origins not included in this list. 

     

   

• Appearance effects 

  Appearance effects have been popular among the products of cameras, virtual meetings, and short videos for a long time and launched on some Google products. In ChromeOS 130, we integrate this feature into Chromebook for video call controls. Available on Chromebook Plus devices only.

   

• More accessible privacy controls 

  In this launch, we are making OS-level privacy controls more available to users of Chrome browser. This aims to make users more aware that to make the camera or microphone work, they need to enable OS-level privacy controls.

     

   

• Enhanced keyboard brightness controls 

  Chromebook users can now easily adjust keyboard brightness and control the ambient light sensor directly from the Settings app. This new feature lets you set your keyboard brightness to the perfect level and turn the ambient light sensor on or off as needed. These updates make it simpler to use your device and help manage battery life. Meanwhile, if the Chromebook supports RGB, the Settings > Keyboard option now has a direct link to RGB color selection options. For more details, see Using gaming features on your Chromebook.

   

• Enhanced display brightness controls 

  Chromebook users can now easily adjust display brightness and control the ambient light sensor directly from the Settings app. This new feature lets you set your screen brightness to the perfect level and turn the ambient light sensor on or off as needed in Settings. These updates make it simpler to use your device and help manage battery life.

   

• Help me read on ChromeOS 

  Help me read on ChromeOS provides an AI-powered solution to help you quickly find the information you need in any text. Easily get to the heart of what you’re reading in the browser and in Gallery by right-clicking on an empty space to reveal the Help me read card above the existing contextual menu. The Help me read panel showcases a summary of the text and a freeform Q&A field where you can ask specific questions about the text. Available on Chromebook Plus devices only.

     

   

• Multi-calendar support 

  We are launching Multi-calendar support to allow users to view all events from multiple calendars that they have selected within their Google Calendar. 

   
   

   

• Picture-in-Picture windows 

  ChromeOS users can now enjoy greater flexibility with Picture-in-Picture (PiP) windows. PiP Tuck allows users to temporarily move PiP windows to the side of their screen, freeing up valuable screen space while keeping the video easily accessible. Additionally, you can quickly adjust the size of PiP windows with a quick double-tap, toggling between two sizes for optimal viewing.

     

   

• Improved ARC++ user experience 

  To improve ChromeOS and ARC++ user experience, we're moving ARC++ non-urgent background and error notifications to the system tray. This prevents these messages from unnecessarily popping up in the foreground and disrupting the user's journey. By moving these notifications to the system tray, we can ensure that users are still notified of potential issues but are not interrupted while using their Chromebook. For more information about ARC++, see this ChromeOS developer blog.

   

   

• New policy to control Access Point Names 

  For Chromebooks with cellular capability, Access Point Name (APN) policies allow administrators to restrict usage of custom APNs. By setting the AllowAPNModification flag in general network settings to restrict, they can prevent end users from adding or using any custom APNs.

   
   

   

• Microsoft SCEP SID update 

   

  Only for SCEP deployments using Microsoft NPS for RADIUS. If you are not using SCEP certificates in combination with Microsoft NPS for Radius for Chromebook network connectivity, you may disregard the remainder of these instructions. We expect this to be a setup more common in enterprise rather than in education.

  Microsoft has announced a security update that will add a new required field, a Security Identifier (SID), to SCEP certificates in environments utilizing NPS for Radius for network authentication. This addition is due to a security vulnerability on Windows devices where usable certificates with private keys can be exported from one Windows device to be used on any other device. Addition of the SID means that the certificate becomes linked to a device or user in your Active Directory environment so that an unknown device/user cannot use it. This is not a security issue for Chromebooks, as they do not allow the exporting of certificates with private keys in them and they are protected by the TPM. However, any certificate lacking this new field will fail to authenticate against a NPS for Radius server after the hard enforcement deadline of February 11th, 2025.

  What do you need to do?

  As soon as possible, verify if your deployment relies on both SCEP certificates and NPS for Radius for network authentication. This can be done by going into event viewer on your Domain Controller -> System, and searching for event ID #39. If you see this event ID:

   

  Actions to take if you see the event ID #39:

  1. Create a new object, or reuse an existing one, in your Active Directory environment for SCEP use
  2. Extract the SID for the AD object, for example, PS> (Get-ADUser username).SID.value
  3. Create a new SCEP profile with all settings duplicated from your current setup and add in the SID of the newly created, or existing, AD object from step 1.
  4. Under the Subject Alternative name section select the Custom radio button. Add a new Subject Alternative name using the + button with the type Uniform Resource Identifier from the dropdown. Under string, the value should be similar to: 

       tag:microsoft.com,2022-09-14:sid:S-1-2-3-4-5-6-8
  
       where S-1-2-3-4-5-6-8 is the SID of the AD object 

  
  5. Deploy this new certificate to all potentially affected Chromebooks in your fleet:
     1. Wait, AT LEAST ONE MONTH, to reasonably guarantee that all devices have picked up the new certificate.
  6. Relink any and all policies from the old certificate to the new one from Step 2.
  7. Verify functionality using the new certificate.
  8. Delete the old profile.

   

Upcoming ChromeOS changes

   

• AI wallpapers and backgrounds  

  As early as ChromeOS 131, we plan to introduce high-resolution, generative AI wallpapers and video call backgrounds on ChromeOS. With this feature, you can unleash your creativity and turn your Chromebook into a canvas of personal expression. Choose from a diverse collection of templates and, in just a few clicks, infuse your Chromebook with your unique personality, mood, or interest. 

  Two new policies will be available to control these features; GenAIVcBackgroundSettings and GenAIWallpaperSettings. This feature will be available on Chromebook Plus devices only.

   

• ChromeOS Flex auto-enrollment  

  As early as ChromeOS 131, ChromeOS Flex auto-enrollment will allow you to deploy ChromeOS Flex devices at scale. Similar to ChromeOS zero-touch enrollment, automatic enrollment embeds an enrollment token created by an organization's administrator into a ChromeOS Flex image. This will determine which customer organization and organizational unit a device will enroll into during initial device setup.

   

• Graduate data migration  

  As early as ChromeOS 132, a new Content Transfer tool will guide graduate students or other EDU-managed users who want to migrate their data through the updated Google Takeout Transfer process. This allows them to take their Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail content to a Gmail account of their choice. 

  This new application allows school administrators to pin an icon to the shelf, notify students and faculty on their Chromebooks, and set dates to trigger these nudges to encourage them to use the existing Takeout Transfer process.

   

• Chrome App support ending on ChromeOS  

  In 2016, we announced the deprecation of Chrome Apps in favor of web apps, and in 2021, we announced on the Chromium Blog that Chrome App support for ChromeOS Enterprise and Education customers and developers on ChromeOS would be extended until at least January 2025. With the majority of our customers having migrated off of Chrome Apps (including Legacy (v1) packaged apps and Hosted apps), we can confirm the following updates about Chrome App discontinuation dates.

  July 2025: End of support for user-installed Chrome Apps (scheduled for ChromeOS M138).
  • Chrome Apps that are force-installed through the Admin console will continue to be supported.
  July 2026: Last ChromeOS release with support for Chrome Apps in Kiosk Mode (scheduled for ChromeOS M150).
  • Devices on the LTS channel with Chrome Apps in Kiosk Mode will receive support until April 2027.
  February 2028: Last ChromeOS release with support for Chrome Apps (scheduled for ChromeOS M168), marking the end of life for all Chrome Apps.
  • Devices on the LTS channel can continue to use Chrome Apps until October 2028.
  • No exceptions will be granted.
   

  These deprecation timelines also apply to self-hosted Chrome Apps.

  While no new Chrome Apps can be added to the Chrome Web Store, existing Chrome Apps can continue to be updated through October 2028 when they will reach end of life on ChromeOS. After this date, Chrome Apps will be removed from the Chrome Web Store.

  If your organization has developed in-house Chrome Apps and you need assistance, please refer to Transition from Chrome Apps guide. You can also join us in the ChromeOS developer community on Discord, or reach out to us through the form at https://chromeos.dev/work-with-us. Refer to the ChromeOS release schedule for release dates and updates.

  In the coming weeks, additional detailed information will be sent to all remaining Chrome App developers and all ChromeOS Administrators.

   

• Native Client (NaCl) support ending on ChromeOS  

  In 2017, we announced the deprecation of Native Client (NaCl) in favor of WebAssembly. With the majority of our customers having migrated off of NaCl, we can confirm some important changes coming to ChromeOS.

  • January 2025: Native Client (NaCl) will be disabled by default from ChromeOS M132 onwards.
    • For unmanaged and consumer users, M131 will be the last ChromeOS release with support for NaCl.
    • For managed user environments, administrators who manage ChromeOS devices for a business or school already will have the option of extending the ability to use NaCl with a NaCl allow policy through the M138 release. Starting with M132, the policy will also be available for Kiosk sessions.
  • July 2025: ChromeOS M138 will mark the end of life for NaCl technology on ChromeOS.
    • For managed environments, M138 is a Long-term Support (LTS) ChromeOS release available to administrators who manage ChromeOS devices for a business or school. Devices that have been switched to the LTS channel and have the NaCl allow policy enabled can continue to use NaCl until LTS Last Refresh in April 2026.
   

  If your organization has developed in-house Chrome Apps with NaCl and you need assistance, please refer to Transition from Chrome Apps and WebAssembly Migration guides. You can also join us in the ChromeOS developer community on Discord, or reach out to us through the form at https://chromeos.dev/work-with-us. Refer to the ChromeOS release schedule for release dates and updates. 

  In the coming weeks, additional detailed information will be sent to NaCl developers and impacted ChromeOS Administrators.

   

Chrome version & targeted Stable channel release date	PDF
Chrome 130: October 9, 2024	PDF
Chrome 129: September 11, 2024	PDF
Chrome 128: August 14, 2024	PDF
Chrome 127: July 17, 2024	PDF
Previous release notes  →