Chrome OS 92 Stable update arrives: Here’s what you need to know (Updated)
After a few hiccups with Chrome OS 91 last month, Google released the Chrome OS 92 Stable Channel update on Monday. As is typical, not every Chromebook will receive the software update at the same time. So while you may not see it available on your Chromebook or other Chrome OS device today, it will likely appear this week. Lucky for me, my 16 GB Acer Chromebook Spin 13 already received it.
Google has an official blog post that highlights some of the updated features and fixes in Chrome OS 92 Stable, but as always, there’s more in the software. I’ll highlight the official updates and cover some of the others that may not have been mentioned.
Google Meet improvement and pre-installation
Chrome OS 92 Stable brings Google Meet along for the ride as the video conference application is now installed by default. So if you didn’t have Meet before, you will.
That might irritate some but I understand Google’s approach here. It wants to create and offer all of the online tools you might need for a full experience.
However, I noticed that Meet actually didn’t get installed on my Chromebook with the update. So… there’s that.
Additionally, Google Meet has been improved to offer new virtual backgrounds and better call quality. And the app is was made available as a PWA, or progressive web app, last week. This will become more important with Chrome OS 93 as PWAs can be registered to handle URL links; when clicking a Meet link in your browser, the Google Meet PWA app will open in lieu of a new browser tab.
New keyboard shortcuts including one for emoji
Upon updating my Chromebook to the Chrome OS 92 Stable Channel, I saw a notification about new keyboard shortcuts. I haven’t looked at them all but one is for the improved emoji picker. Just click the new keyboard shortcut (Search or Launcher key + Shift + Space) to bring up the compact emoji picker.
You’ll see recently used emojis and can search for any others in just about any text field on your Chromebook. ?
eSIM support but only for two devices right now
It’s nice to see eSIM support in Chrome OS but the reality is kind of meh. This feature allows you to change carriers, assuming you have a data plan, via an eSIM in your Chromebook. But as I outlined not long ago, there aren’t currently a ton of great Chromebook options with LTE, let alone LTE and eSIMs.
However, Google did give a shoutout to the Acer Chromebook Spin 513 and Acer Chromebook 511, which support eSIMs. Maybe this lack of support is why we can’t yet purchase the Spin 513 with LTE? If that’s the case, I’m sure we’ll hear something about availability shortly from Acer.
Other features (so far) that Google didn’t mention in its blog post
I haven’t gone through the full changelog for this release so there’s sure to be much more in this update.
Here’s a brief overview of some other features in the Chrome OS 92 Stable release, many of which people on the Dev and Beta channels have been enjoying for at least six weeks:
- Android and Linux apps can be assigned to a specific Virtual Desk or all desks.
- External pan-tilt-zoom cameras have PTZ support in the camera app.
- You can now use Dictation for continuous speech-to-text.
- Tote will show recently installed Android apps and saved PDFs from the browser. (But I still want to disable Tote!)
- Fix for a 2019 bug that broke Virtual Desk keyboard shortcuts on non-US keyboard layouts.
New flags to try
- A new experimental flag to show the “new tab” button in a tab strip instead of the toolbar:
chrome://flags#webui-tab-strip-ntb-in-tab-strip
- A new experimental flag to support “sub apps” or “multi apps”. This will enable installed PWAs to create shortcuts by installing their sub apps:
chrome://flags#enable-desktop-pwas-sub-apps
- A new experimental flag to enable the playback speed button on the media controls:
chrome://flags#playback-speed-button
- A new experimental flag to enable a full restore of tabs and apps from the last session:
chrome://flags#full-restore
. Here’s a full post on how to set up and use this feature in detail.
As I go through the super long list of changes and discover what else is in there, I’ll add more of them here. Don’t hesitate to comment with any new features or functions you find!
Update: Added a new feature/bug fix to the list at 1:17 pm EDT, August 3, 2021
Update: Added new experimental feature flags at 10 pm EDT, August 3, 2021
Update: Added new experimental feature flags at 1:30 pm EDT, August 12, 2021
8 thoughts on “Chrome OS 92 Stable update arrives: Here’s what you need to know (Updated)”
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1. Meet wasn’t pre-installed on my Hatch/Dragonair (HP x360 14c) either. My guess is that it will be included in one of the “minor updates” that generally rolls out after 2 weeks after the main update.
2. Also, Linux leaving beta, which was promised for ChromeOS 91 way back in April, still hasn’t released and hasn’t been mentioned.
3. Though consumers and businesses have been asking for it for years, Google is taking LTE and 5G support seriously on ChromeOS 18 months too late. Zoom, Meet, Duo, Classroom, Workspace, Stadia etc. over 5G during the lockdown would have been transformative. I guess beating Apple to the punch with this feature, which won’t launch on Macs and MacBooks till 2023 when their exclusive contract with Qualcomm ends, counts for something. But as Intel is working with MediaTek to emphasize including M2 5G cards on Windows 11 devices, it may be too late.
4. Related to 2, no news on Linux means nothing on Steam Borealis. Presuming that ChromeOS remains on the 6 week major release cadence for now, this leaves them once last shot to meet the “summer 2021” deadline that they gave last year. (Technically summer ends the 3rd week of September 22, and ChromeOS 93 would be scheduled to launch September 13.)
Anyone who has been using Linux beta knows it’s nowhere near ready for coming out of beta, stability hasn’t improved since it’s first release. Any release that takes it out of beta is either going to break it working for lots of users or decrease performance because of the size of update. Though normal Linux is not stable for normal users either so maybe it is nearly ready – try doing anything on Linux without using a terminal and then having to use terminal a day later to fix it.
Linux on Chromebooks is 2 years away from being usable in terms or stability or performance. You think AAA games are going to work on that ok, that’s funny.
No matter how excellent Google Meet may be, shame on Google for brazenly promoting a Google product.?
I upgraded and lost “Live Captioning” option. It disappeared from Setting. I had this in version 91 with flags to enable live captioning and to disable SODA. Using CTL Chromebox.
Now the Ctrl Search Period is moved to what ? Not working anymore in Chromebook / Remote Desktop.
I’ve got an Acer Chromebook 514 and i’m in France. This morning i was invited to update OS 92 and i did it. But since i updated i can get acces to my chromebook : it’s the same error message than July 21 for the lastupdate. What is your recomandation ?
That shouldn’t be. I’d open up a ticket with Google so they know. You can create a recovery USB for the older version and install that but it will likely wipe your data. Plus, the device will eventually upgrade itself to 92 again after a download and reboot.
Thank you for your answer. Unfortunatly english is not my language and i don’t understand : “I’d open up a ticket with Google so they know.” I try and tray and tray and try again to get acess but it’s exctaly the same problem than in july. The chromebook request my gmail and my passward, both are good but it does not work. I thought i was doing well by updating this morning, i thought i could trust. I bought this chromebook in march, i had no idear i could get such trouble with a computer. Its there any hotline in France i could call ? Thank you again