ChromeOS 126 arrives with more updates than expected

The latest ChromeOS 126 update is here and though we fully expected this one to be simple bug fixes and security updates, there’s actually quite a few changes on offer in M126 that – as they always do – will enhance the overall Chromebook experience. The ChromeOS team has explicitly said these updates will be rolling out progressively over the coming days, so if you aren’t seeing some of them, give it a bit of time.

First up, we have the introduction of digital zoom with Super Resolution in the built-in Camera app. This functionality enables zooming capabilities on cameras that lack optical zoom motors, including the built-in camera. Additionally, on high-performance Chromebooks, AI-powered Super Resolution technology further refines the images, ensuring exceptional quality. I’ve taken a few test images with this and see no difference in zoomed and non-zoomed photos at the moment, so we may see this update hit a bit down the road.

Next, ChromeOS is now making the process of setting up a new Chromebook even easier with the introduction of Quick Start. This novel feature utilizes your Android phone to establish a secure connection with the Chromebook, automatically transferring your Wi-Fi and Google Account login information. This eliminates the need for manual password input, streamlining the setup process.

We also have a few, new accessibility features, starting with a new feature that allows the Magnifier to follow Select to Speak. Now, when zoomed in with the Magnifier, your zoomed area automatically follows the words read aloud using Select to Speak, ensuring that users never lose their place while reading text at larger sizes. Enabling both Magnifier and Select to Speak in the settings allows users to personalize their reading experience further.

For users who would rather stop the blinking of the text cursor and instead prefer a static text cursor, M126 provides a new setting to disable the blinking text cursor. This setting can be accessed under Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard and text input > Text cursor blink rate.

The update also addresses the overscroll on pages behavior, offering a new setting to enable or disable this swipe gesture for navigation between pages. Out of the box on a Chromebook with touch input, you can swipe to the side of the screen to initiate a back gesture, but for some this feature can cause issues. To turn it off in ChromeOS 126, head to Settings > Accessibility > Cursor and touchpad > Use a swipe gesture to navigate between pages.

On the account front, parents will appreciate the enhanced control features for supervised accounts managed via Family Link. With M126, parental control over Permissions for sites, extensions, and apps has been separated, providing more granular control. Parents can now choose to allow extensions installation with or without approval, granting them greater flexibility.

Finally, M126 brings multi-calendar support, enabling users to view events from multiple selected calendars within Google Calendar. It’s a feature I’ve been using the flag for since it finally arrived, and I’m currently waiting patiently for it to show up on my current Chromebook without the flag. If you need it and don’t yet have it, head to chrome://flags/#multi-calendar-in-quick-settings to get it going until it shows up.

Overall, I’m surprised by the amount of new stuff in this latest update. Again, I have to stress that the team said some of these features will arrive over the next few days, so be patient if they aren’t there for you just yet. I’m still waiting on Tasks to arrive in my Quick Settings Calendar, so some of these features may get held up longer than intended for certain accounts.