Other Chromebook features making the jump into Flex include Phone Hub, which syncs with your Android phone to see the last couple of tabs you viewed on it, see its battery level and wireless connection strength and get notifications from chat apps, and you’ll have support for Google Assistant, too.Īlso, since Chrome OS Flex is primarily designed for enterprise and education, there are major updates for better management through the Google Admin Console and remote desktop access of kiosk devices. With Chrome OS Flex, you’ll now be able to convert a PC or Mac into a Chrome device for younger students and be able to manage their student accounts. “One of the things we heard in the pandemic that we really wanted to solve is supporting those Family Link accounts,” Smith said.

Another important addition is support for Family Link accounts. Features such as geolocation, which were done differently in CloudReady’s Chromium browser, will now be handled just as they are in Chrome on a Chromebook. “The biggest difference, but it sounds smaller than it is, is that the official Chrome browser is going to be built-in here,” said Forrest Smith, product manager for Chrome OS Flex. Chrome OS Flex fills in many of those gaps, starting with the browser. While CloudReady delivered a lot of the value of Chrome OS, the feel and some key features were still missing. And it’s still going to be free for home use.

On Tuesday it announced Chrome OS Flex, a rebuilt, more robust version of CloudReady. It turns out the company’s been busy, though. Google acquired Neverware in December 2020, but there didn’t appear to be any big changes coming for the OS. CloudReady is mainly built for businesses and education, but the OS is free for personal use, and it’s lightweight enough that it’s great for breathing new life into a computer that’s struggling from the demands of Windows or MacOS.

I stumbled upon it when I wanted to see if I could turn an old Windows laptop into a Chromebook for my kids to use for school. Google’s Chrome OS isn’t available to install on a laptop or desktop like Windows or Linux, but the next best thing is Neverware’s CloudReady OS. Goodbye CloudReady, hello Google Chrome OS Flex.

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