How to

    Dark themed Android P-like system tray settings menu available for Chromebooks

    Kevin TofelBy Updated:1 Comment1 Min Read

    The “merger” of Android and Chrome OS continues with a new Chrome system tray settings updated that borrows some visual aspects from Android P.  Reddit user JebusCL reported the change which has a dark, modern theme and looks like this:

    You can also tap the top right down arrow to show a condensed, compact view. I’m using this on my Pixelbook running the Chrome OS Dev Channel but this works on the Beta Channel as well per one of our readers (Thanks, Randy!). To enable it, type chrome://flags in your browser and turn the following flags on:

    • Enable #enable-system-tray-unified

    • Enable #enable-message-center-new-style-notification

    • Enable #enable-new-app-menu-icon

    Google could change this new look-and-feel before the feature arrives on the Stable Channel, of course, but I like the style. And it’s likely that the final presentation on Stable won’t require any flag setting modification; it will simply be a part of native Chrome OS.

    Share.

    After spending 15 years in IT at Fortune 100 companies, Kevin turned a hobby into a career and began covering mobile technology in 2003. He writes daily on the industry and has co-hosted the weekly MobileTechRoundup podcast since 2006. His writing has appeared in print (The New York Times, PC Magazine and PC World) and he has been featured on NBC News in Philadelphia.

    1 Comment

    1. Sean on

      It seems that if you click on one of the new icons such as Bluetooth or wifi, the old menu structure overlays this new one. After making the setting change in the old menu and clicking back on the old structure, it remains in place over the new one and you have to click outside to get it to go away.