Chrome OS update automatically transfers photos from Android to your Chromebook

Google announced Chrome 103 on Thursday, making it easier to share photos from Android to Chromebook. The company also said that an update is being prepared that will make Bluetooth connections easier.

As detailed in a blog post by Alexander Kusher, director of software for Chrome OS at Google, the update builds on the Phone Hub app released for Chrome OS last year. It works with smartphones running Android 5.1 and later and allows you to view your phone’s text messages and battery life, and transfer tabs from your Chrome mobile browser to your Chromebook browser.

In Chrome 103, the photos you take with your Android phone will automatically show up in Phone Hub under a new Recent Photos section.

You can then download the images and save them to your Chromebook so you can edit them, email them, or do whatever you’d rather do on your computer than on your phone.

Google is also updating the Nearby Share feature in Chrome 103. Nearby Share uses Bluetooth Low Energy, WebRTC, or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi to share files over the air between Chromebooks and Android phones. Chrome 103 gives you the option to connect your Chromebook to a saved Wi-Fi network. The next time a new Chromebook connects to your network, you won’t need to look up the Wi-Fi password to set it up if your Android phone is already connected.

The process described by Kuscher seems simple enough. On an Android phone, you simply go to a Wi-Fi network, tap Share, then tap the Nearby tile below the QR code. You should then be able to see the Chromebook and connect it to the Wi-Fi network, the blog says.

“Nearby Share will provide the Wi-Fi credentials (such as network name and password) and the Chromebook will automatically connect to Wi-Fi. And, of course, it will also save it for the next time the Chromebook needs to use that Wi-Fi network,” Kuscher explained.

Kuscher also said that Chrome 103 will receive a Fast Pair Bluetooth update “later this summer.”This feature should allow you to connect Bluetooth devices like headphones without having to figure out which button to press on the product or do anything in your Chromebook settings other than turn on Bluetooth.

“Just turn on Bluetooth on your Chromebook and it will automatically detect when a new pair of Bluetooth headphones is on, nearby, and ready to set up. A pop-up notification will appear, and with one touch, your new accessory is connected and ready to go,” wrote Kusher. “No more digging through settings or trying to find the right button to press to pair your headphones.”

This feature will be different from similar technologies such as Windows Swift Pair, which presents a pop-up window on the PC when a Bluetooth device is detected, but only if the wireless device is in pairing mode.

Kuscher said the feature will work with “hundreds of different earphone models,”including, unsurprisingly, Google’s own Pixel Buds. Kuscher didn’t specify which Pixel Buds models will support the feature, but did share an image of the $99 Pixel Buds A series that came out in June 2021.

Finally, the Screencast video-editing app for Chrome OS that Google announced a few weeks ago will begin rolling out this week, Kusher said.