Chrome OS has supported Android apps from the Play Store for ages, but even though the popularity of Chromebooks have surged in popularity in recent years, not all Android apps and games work well on them. Many apps are still primarily optimized for phone-sized screens and touch controls, not larger displays and keyboard controls. Thankfully, Google is now improving the experience of using unoptimized apps on Chromebooks.
The Android Dev Summit is full swing, and one of the presentations (“What’s new for large screens and foldables in Android and ChromeOS”) revealed a new feature coming to Chrome OS. A new Compatibility Mode will be available for Android apps, which adds a new button in the center of Android app windows. Clicking the button will let you switch between a phone layout, a tablet layout, or a resizable window.
The presentation described the feature as already available, but this seems to be the first time Google has talked about it publicly. Chrome Unboxed noted last month that the feature appeared as a flag in the Chrome OS Canary channel, and Google hasn’t rolled it out widely yet.
Google also mentioned that apps ideally shouldn’t display the Compatibility Mode menu, and that developers can avoid it by optimizing their apps for large screens and adding mouse/keyboard support. That sounds like the menu will only appear when Chrome OS detects the app isn’t properly updated to run on Chromebooks. The current flag in the Canary Channel adds the menu to all apps, but perhaps in the future it will only appear selectively (at least by default).
This new feature is part of Google’s efforts to improve Android apps on foldables, tablets, and Chrome OS devices. Android 12L was also announced today, which includes interface improvements for large screens, and will likely start appearing on devices starting in Q1 2022.
The post Chrome OS will soon have a Compatibility Mode for unoptimized Android apps appeared first on xda-developers.
source https://www.xda-developers.com/chrome-os-will-soon-have-a-compatibility-mode-for-unoptimized-android-apps/
