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We reported in early November about a bug affecting users who wanted to adjust the default Android App display size settings. The issue that was discussed then is still an issue, but it seems that there is an official fix on the way.
The Current Issue
As a recap, the issue that is plaguing Chromebooks at the current time is the inability for Andoroid Display Size settings to actually stay in place when set by the user. All it takes is an orientation switch (landscape to portrait mode) and your Android Display settings will return to their default settings.
For some users like myself, this isn’t a huge inconvenience. For others (as we’ve seen in the comments to the original article and in the bug report), this is a pretty big issue.
Honestly, for anyone using an Android app that requires any length of reading, I can absolutely see the frustration, here.
What’s Happened Since The Article
You can look at the bug report and see what has happened since the original article was written. In a nutshell, the issue is getting attention and being actively worked on. As is usual in these situations, the feature in question (Android Display Resizing) has begun disappearing in the Beta and Dev Channels of Chrome OS. As it is being disabled and/or hidden behind a flag, users are getting anxious about what is happening. The developer active in the bug report has this to say about the feature’s disappearance and development:
The display settings is behind the developer flag. It’ll be re-enabled in m65 (temporarily) while we’re working on fixing issues and improving features.
Please understand that this isn’t the feature that we worked on. (and this option did not exist in previous version of Android)
While this may look working for you, that’s not necessarily true for others. (We’ve already found several issues). Our goal is better, smooth integration so that you don’t have to worry about the difference.
We have a (not finalized) plan how to make this available so please stay tuned.
So, in summary, it looks like this feature was exposed by mistake and a proper fix is on the way that will not use Android’s settings and instead will rely on Chrome OS’ native scaling to adjust all Android app display sizes.
So, if you are in Dev or Beta and have lost the setting from your Android Settings menu, don’t fret: it will return.
We don’t yet have a firm release date for the fix, though, so it is hard to say how long the current implementation will stick around. I hope to see it stay put until the proper fix via Chrome OS’ settings is in place.
For what it is worth, it seems there are some serious issues (more than just the lack of the setting sticking around after orientation changes) with the current state of things, so there is no work being put into fixing the current setup. Though it will take a little bit to get straightened out, for most users, a proper fix that gets users up and running as expected, out of the box is a much better long-term solution.
Now we wait.
