Chrome OS 86 may have issues lurking as many Chromebooks wait for the update

It’s been just over a week since Chrome OS 86 rolled out and there are still a large number of high-profile Chromebooks that haven’t been included in the mix. We wrote a post last week highlighting that list and really felt like it was a temporary issue at the time. After all, since the spring, Chrome and Chrome OS updates have been rolling out with precision and the utmost timeliness. While we used to be accustomed to staged/delayed roll-outs due to issues with Chrome OS, that simply hasn’t been the status quo for most of 2020.

There’s no official word yet from Google, but the fact that we’re now over a week into the arrival of Chrome OS 86 with no hint that a large list of current-gen devices will be getting it any time soon leads me to believe there is likely a core issue that is keeping the Chrome team from pushing this latest update out the door.

We’re hearing about a few issues in this latest update, but nothing prevalent enough to make us think that we may see a roll-back or warrant so many devices still sitting on Chrome OS 85. One such issue we’re tracking is the inability for some users to get their children’s Chromebooks logged into their school accounts when Family Link is active. It seems things were fine up to Chrome OS 85 for this setup (Family Link + School accounts), but Chrome OS 86 is causing some issues for some users. Based on the help forums, however, it doesn’t seem this is widespread enough to be the only issue holding back the 86 update as not many users are chiming in to echo their frustrations.

In the grand scheme of things, a week late for an OS update isn’t really the biggest issue in the world. In fact, I’d normally not think anything of it, but Google has been so coordinated with Chromebook updates for the past six months that this hiccup seems to be signaling some issues beneath the surface. We’re waiting for official word from Google or the update to just start rolling out to the devices still waiting, but I’m betting we’ll see the latter happen first. Either way, if you are still waiting on Chrome OS 86 to hit your device, know that you are not alone and that this isn’t normal for Chrome OS.