Chrome OS 101 will introduce a slick, new boot screen that ditches the blinding white theme

Chrome OS 98 is all the rage right now as it introduces new virtual desk shortcuts, Network-Based Recovery (NBR), brand new Unicode 14 emoji, screen capture improvements, and more. However, while most users live in the safe zone with the out-of-the-box “Stable” channel for Chrome OS, others walk the wild side and dive into the Chrome OS Dev or Canary channels.

We often do this and while you can find lots of exciting updates well before they reach most users, it also means you’ll face potential bugs that affect your experience – sometimes, in unbearable ways. C2 Productions on Twitter just discovered that on Chrome OS 101 Developer Mode, a new boot screen is being implemented upon startup!

@michaelperrigo @jojothetechie @robby_payne @GabrielBrangers @joehum @chromeunboxed @MishaalRahman
Just updated my Chromebook and look what I saw on the start screen,
A NEW CHROME OS STARTUP SCREEN!!

This update did break some flags like Dark Mode & Notification Revamp pic.twitter.com/bzqYmcXbCR

— C2 Productions (@cr_c2cv) March 4, 2022

At this time, the Dark Mode and new Notification Revamp flags are busted as a result of the update to 101, and it’s not clear whether or not this is because of the new boot screen, but regardless, all of this will be ironed out before everything rolls out across the board officially.

I’m also unsure of whether or not the boot screen will always appear dark with white text and a white logo, but since C2 states that Dark Mode is busted for them, I’m assuming so. We’ll keep this article updated when we learn more!

You can see an image comparison of the two mock-ups we created below by dragging the handle over the image. The old boot screen is blinding white with a colored Chrome logo, while the new one is a dark grey or black with a slick, white professional-looking Chrome OS logo.

Google’s operating system is growing up, and maturing in new ways. Overall, the boot screen update will serve as a nice cherry on top of the beautiful redesign across the Notifications Revamp, Dark Mode, the Productivity Launcher, new Personalization Hub, animated screensaver feature, and more. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below. I know pretty much everyone will be glad to no longer be blasted in the face with light the moment they turn their Chromebook on – something I’ve complained about before.