Android and Linux apps can be moved between Virtual Desks in Chrome OS 92

Ever since Chrome OS launched its Virtual Desks feature, you’ve only been able to shift chrome tabs and web apps around between them. For anyone utilizing Crostini for Linux applications or the Google Play Store for Android apps, the very experience of using desks has likely felt incomplete.

Neither of these could previously be moved between spaces, and have remained on the primary desk as a result. This has caused clutter and frustration, even if just a little. Google’s development team is now addressing this – as of Chrome OS 92, which is rolling out now, users will finally be able to move Linux and Android apps between virtual desks at will!

While I haven’t tried this out for myself yet, as I don’t use the Play Store or Crostini on my primary Chromebook at this time, Kent Duke over at Android Police has done his due diligence in covering this with the image found above. With that being said, I’m uncertain on whether or not the aforementioned application types will possibly be restored automatically after a crash or a restart as web apps have since Chrome OS 89. My guess is that Play apps may be, so long as Google Play Services launches right away (something it does nowadays), but Linux apps may not be. I’ll have to do some more testing before I can say for sure!

Once you receive the update to OS 92, make sure that you have at least two desks created and then just right-click on any window – regardless of its origin – select a space to move it to via the ‘Move window to desk’ option that appears on the context menu, and you’re done! If you’re anything like me, Virtual Desks are a Godsend, but even still, the combination of tab groups, virtual desks, and multi-user sign-in can add up quickly to be an overwhelming amount of over-organization. Are you going to utilize this feature, or have you already tossed it by the wayside in favor of standard browsing on a singular desk?