Amid all the announcements during yesterday's Google I/O 2023 event, Google announced that Chrome OS is getting some new features as well. Among those features is the ability to stream apps directly from a paired Android smartphone. This feature was revealed back in 2021 but is only now making it to the beta version.
The ChromeOS 114 update, which is rolling out in beta form to all Chromebooks, brings (via Android Central) the ability to stream apps directly from a paired Android smartphone. An Android app will be visible in a dedicated window that appears on the desktop, and this feature can be accessed through the Phone Hub section. You can use the app as you do on your smartphone. However, there are some caveats to this feature right now. It is available only on Pixel (Pixel 4A or later) and Xiaomi smartphones running Android 13.
Unfortunately, the feature is unavailable on Samsung smartphones. Usually, Google releases some new ChromeOS features that work exclusively on Pixel and Samsung smartphones. However, this time, the company chose to offer early access to Xiaomi smartphones. Does this display signs of a rift in the Google-Samsung partnership? We are not sure. However, we would like to see this feature work on Galaxy smartphones.
This feature only works when the Chromebook and the paired Android smartphone are on the same Wi-Fi network and are close to each other. It is a really useful feature, and it offers the ability to use your phone's apps that aren't available on the Chromebook.
