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You are here: Home / Apps / Chrome OS Adds Android App Shortcuts In Dev Channel
Chrome OS Adds Android App Shortcuts In Dev Channel

Chrome OS Adds Android App Shortcuts In Dev Channel

July 11, 2018 By Gabriel Brangers Leave a Comment

Chrome OS continues to evolve at a quickening pace with new features, greater capabilities and competitive hardware. While it is amazing to see our beloved OS come into its own, most days it’s hard to keep track of all that’s shiny and new.

Android apps, Linux apps, Material design and even more, Chromebooks are becoming increasingly robust and functional as the days pass by.

One of the latest tweaks to the Android side of Chrome OS comes to us by way of Chrome herald François Beaufort. In a recent update to the Developer channel, a new flag enables Android shortcut items much like you’d find on your mobile device.

arc: sort app shortcut items in context menu

changes:
This CL (paired with Android side CL) gets some metadata from Android
to sort the app shortcut items in context menu based on two rules:
(1) Static (declared in manifest) shortcuts and then dynamic shortcuts;
(2) Within each shortcut type (static and dynamic), shortcuts are sorted
in order of increasing rank according to getRank().

The flag, chrome://flags/#enable-touchable-app-context-menu, is disabled by default but flipping the switch and relaunching your browser will give you the ability to right-click or long-press Android icons on the shelf or in the launcher. You will then be greeted with a variety of shortcuts as they pertain to the specific app.

In the image above, I have the Hangouts Android app installed and just like on my phone, I can long-press and find shortcuts to make a call, start a chat or even uninstall the app. The new look is somewhat of a melding between Android shortcuts and the existing menu for Chrome apps. I would guess, in the future, Android and Chrome apps will share a very similar look with the Android apps having the extra features expected from mobile apps.


Source: Chromium repository via François Beaufort

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Filed Under: Apps, Chrome OS, News, Preview

About Gabriel Brangers

Lover of all things coffee. Foodie for life. Passionate drummer, hobby guitar player, Web designer and proud Army Veteran. I have come to drink coffee and tell the world of all things Chrome. "Whatever you do, Carpe the heck out of that Diem" - Roman poet, Horace. Slightly paraphrased.

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