Android and Chrome OS. Chrome and Android operating system. Has there ever been a more enigmatic and question-producing couple in the world of mobile technology?
From the very beginning, Google's two main platforms have been the subject of endless ridicule and speculation. People who don't actually use a Chromebook and haven't experienced ChromeOS since its debut have long been convinced that the platform is useless and doomed. For centuries, the popular narrative revolved around the idea that Google would somehow "merge" the two into a single consolidated entity.
The real story, of course, turned out to be much more nuanced. For years, Google has been slowly but surely bringing its two platforms together and aligning them to make them more connected, cohesive and compatible. The goal, it seems, is less of a binary, one-or-the-other kind of decision, and more of a two-way street, the best of both worlds.
And now it looks like the road is about to take a remarkable new turn, one that could seriously alter a core part of the user experience on both sides of the Android-ChromeOS equation.
It all comes down to the apps and how we discovered them. And if some recent signs on Android and ChromeOS are any indication, things are about to get interesting.
The ChromeOS App Challenge
Our story begins on the ChromeOS side of the mobile technology divide. In the land of Chromebooks, for anyone paying attention, the question has changed over time from a sarcastic "What can you do with these things?" to a "What can't you do about it?"
Namely: Today's Chromebooks offer a complete web browsing environment for desktop computers. They allow you to install Progressive Web Apps, Android apps, Linux apps, and even Windows apps, if you really want to go crazy. You can use them as laptops, tablets, or anything else. ChromeOS may have started out with sheer simplicity as its defining feature, but it has done very well in 180 and has morphed into the "everything" platform.
In practice, it turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. Today's Chromebooks are incredibly capable, as anyone who uses them can really tell, and offer many compelling advantages over more traditional desktop setups. But at the same time, all these possibilities made it practically impossible to know where to start and what type of application to look for for what purpose.
For example, if you want to use the Todoist task management app on a Chromebook, you can:
Head spinning again? Mine certainly is. It's a ridiculous maze that regular users have to work through, and even people who don't explicitly realize that all of these options exist often face bewildering limitations when installing any kind of app that isn't quite optimal for it. the intended use.
Two years ago, I first reported clues revealing a slowly being implemented strategy to fix this flaw, which I called Google's "big ChromeOS plan" at the time. The idea was painfully simple: Google would position the Play Store not just as a place for Android apps, as it always has been, but as a broader one-stop-shop for multiple types of apps on Chromebooks—the store itself, even determining what type. app makes the most sense for a given purpose, then it automatically installs the right option for you.
We saw the first signs of this plan appear on Chromebooks at the time, and Google later confirmed to me in an interview that it was, in fact, working on such an effort. The goal, two ChromeOS execs told me, was to turn the Play Store into a versatile discovery tool where Chromebook owners could find all the apps they needed, including even Linux apps, under certain circumstances, without having to think about technology. underlying.
Several months have passed since this unassuming beginning. But this summer, we're seeing tantalizing signs of progress that could further the plan and lay the groundwork for a much more intuitive app discovery experience on ChromeOS and, more importantly, Android too.
The Android-ChromeOS app connection
So there you have it: you'll be forgiven for not realizing it, but in the ChromeOS 104 update that rolled out earlier this month, Google quietly added the ability to find apps in the Play Store by simply searching the Launcher on your Chromebook. : The new redesigned window that appears when you press your Chromebook's All button (also known as the Search or Home key).
One tap and boom: You can find and install any app you need right on the actual OS, without having to figure out which source is appropriate, then open and search for that specific store.
JREasy. Simplified. Consolidated. It's such a sensible change that the only puzzling thing is why it took so long to happen.
True, the work here is far from over. The Play Store itself has yet to intelligently support and present all these different types of apps, in a way that makes sense for the Chromebook environment. (For now, that only happens with a very limited set of specific programs.) But now, at least, the focus is on the foundation, and the idea of ChromeOS becoming the app discovery mechanism and removing the need to interact with any particular app store is starting to take shape.
Now for the really intriguing part: In Android 13 on its self-made Pixel phones, Google is also now experimenting with Play Store surface app results as part of the main home screen search system, once more directly into the actual operating system. It's the same basic concept, in other words, just translated into Android terms. And that also has the potential to lead to an even broader overhaul of what the Play Store stands for and what even an "Android app" is.
When I first wrote about Google's big ChromeOS plan, I ended up with a somewhat speculative "what if" style scenario. Come on, come on, Gadget Quote Machine:
Consider this: Google has been experimenting with the idea of progressive web apps on Android for some time. The company already allows developers to embed such programs into traditional Android app frameworks and then integrate them into the Play Store. How important would it be to start offering standalone progressive web apps directly instead of Android phone apps as well, in circumstances where this would be optimal?
I'll tell you this: I have standalone Progressive Web Apps on my own phone and…they're surprisingly nice to use, in a way that almost makes you forget you're not using a standard native Android app. . Just say.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Once again, fascinating things are happening at the intersection of Google's two main platforms. And now, inspiration flows freely both ways: from Android to ChromeOS and from ChromeOS to Android.
The only real question is how long it will take for this final piece of the puzzle to fall into place, and how long it will take for Android and Chromebook folks to adjust to a new way of thinking about apps. .
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