Support our independent tech coverage. Chrome Unboxed is written by real people, for real people—not search algorithms. Join Chrome Unboxed Plus for just $2 a month to get an ad-free experience, access to our private Discord, and more. Learn more about membership here.
START FREE TRIAL (MONTHLY)START FREE TRIAL (ANNUAL)
First spotted by Android Police, it seems that Google has gone and added a QR scanner to the built-in Chrome OS camera. Right now, if you open up the camera app on a Chromebook, you simply see all the controls that have been there for quite some time, like the options to go from photo to video to square photos. Also included are the quick buttons to flip the image on its vertical axis, add a grid overlay, and set an image capture timer.
Soon, however, you’ll have a new quick button for bringing up the QR code scanner and already the implementation is slick and attractive. Upon clicking this new button in the Developer Channel of Chrome OS 89, a slick animation fires and brings a UI hint that helps you line up the QR code you need to scan. Once you have the code in the frame, a URL pops up for you to click or there is an additional button that gives you the ability to quickly copy the URL to your clipboard.
Without any additional flags or updates, the new feature is already up and running in Chrome OS 89 and it seems that when this version of the camera app makes its way to the Stable Channel, the QR feature will follow. Sometimes when we see these new features, they are a shell of themselves in the Developer Channel. Not this time, however. The QR code scanner works perfectly already and we’ll be happy to see this helpful addition come to Chromebook users soon.
SUBSCRIBE TO UPSTREAM
Get Chrome Unboxed delivered straight to your inbox
Upstream is our flagship, curated newsletter with the top stories, most click-worthy deals, giveaways, and trending articles from Chrome Unboxed sent directly to your inbox a few times a week. Join 31,000+ subscribers.
