The idea of Phone Hub for Chrome OS is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, we’ve been monitoring this new Chromebook feature since July 2020 and watching it evolve along the way. As he acquired resources and became more fully realized, he also made progress on the Chrome OS development channels. Because it is almost completely available, I have been using the service on the Chrome OS 89 Beta Channel for over a week and I am enjoying it very much.
For those who don’t know, the Phone Hub feature bridges the gap between the Chromebook and the Android phone a little closer than we currently have, giving users the ability to mirror notifications directly from their Android devices (dismissing on any device removes them from both), call the access point feature, mute or locate the phone directly from a Chromebook. There are also some recent Chrome tabs to pick up where you left off from your last browsing session.
I thought about sharing the availability of the Beta Channel with everyone this week after actually using it and getting a better idea of what to expect from the Phone Hub, but while I was putting my thoughts together for this post, a member of our Patreon community shared it he is now seeing the Phone Hub available on his Chromebook on the Chrome OS 88 Stable Channel. Although he says that most of the features worked only irregularly, it is interesting to see this start to appear for some in the latest version of Chrome OS 88.
Telephone hub flags required in Stable
An important note is the need for flags for the phone hub to appear on the stable channel now. It doesn’t just appear out of nowhere: you’ll need to flip the flag found in chrome: // flags / # enable-phone-hub to begin. For what it’s worth, I’m on the Chrome OS 89 Beta Channel and the Phone Hub just appeared to me, with no other actions or flags required.
Although this is not a full-fledged arrival by any stretch of the imagination, it is a major update to the availability found only in the Canary and Developer Channels so far. As we are seeing the feature appear for some and not for others, I am inclined to think that, for now, it is being tested at the account level. This is the only way to explain multiple users with the same device, the same version of Chrome OS, and different availability of this feature.
Regardless of whether you have the new phone hub available to you now or are still waiting, the appearance of it for some users on Chrome OS 89 now, without the need for a flag, tells me that we will probably see this release for all users in the next version operating system, scheduled for release on March 9. This is just over three weeks from now, and I can say that this next update could be a big one. It looks like Phone Hub, Holding Space and maybe the new media player could appear on Chrome OS 89 along with some other updates. Anyway, we will know for sure soon.
