Hooray! ChromeOS 136 brought back rounded window corners

It’s the little things in life, isn’t it? After the ChromeOS team reverted one of my favorite stylistic UI changes in a while for ChormeOS, I just noticed today that rounded window corners have made their return in the latest ChromeOS 136 stable update. If you’ve been following along with this on-again, off-again feature, you’ll know why this brought a bit of a smile to my face today.

I first got excited about this more modern look way back when it appeared in the ChromeOS 133 Developer channel. I kept the flag on and running at all times and it just made open windows feel so much more in-line with Google’s newer aesthetic.

Then, after rounded window corners finally landed in ChromeOS 134, ChromeOS 135 rolled around and – for reasons we couldn’t quite fathom – those beautiful rounded corners were suddenly gone again: reverted back to the sharper, more traditional window edges. And it really felt like a step backward after seeing how good ChromeOS could look.

However, with ChromeOS 136, your floating windows now sport those smooth, subtle curves that just make everything look a bit more refined and contemporary. It’s a visual detail that, in my opinion, aligns ChromeOS much better with modern design language we see across Google’s entire app and OS ecosystem.

So, if you’re on ChromeOS 136, take another look at your open app windows. Hopefully, you’ll see those subtle, beautifully rounded corners too. It’s a small change, but it’s one that makes a big difference to the visual appeal of our favorite operating system; and I really hope they don’t vanish on us again.