Released on oktober 1st, 2024; ChromeOS 129 brings several new features and improvements.
- Live Translate and Live Captions: ChromeOS 129 introduces a new feature, Live Translate, which translates captioned content into a language of your choice. This is particularly useful for those with hearing impairments or for those attending virtual meetings. Live Translate works with conference calls, videos, and YouTube, ensuring you don’t miss a beat.
- Peripheral Welcome Experience: Connecting to peripherals just got easier. ChromeOS 129 offers a welcome experience for your peripherals, providing a high-quality introduction and making it clear that your device is successfully connected.
- Select-to-Speak Keyboard Shortcut: No more needing to enable Select-to-Speak through Settings first. With ChromeOS 129, you can now turn on this feature with a simple keyboard shortcut (Search + s). A dialog box will confirm your action.
- Keyboard and Display Brightness Controls: Easily adjust your keyboard and display brightness levels directly from the Settings app. This new feature gives you control over your Chromebook’s ambient light sensor, ensuring your screen and keyboard are perfectly lit for any situation.
- Toolbar Icon Customisation: Pin and unpin icons on your toolbar for quick access. This feature will be rolled out gradually, so you may not see it right away.
- Google Password Manager Passkey: Passkeys are now saved in Google Password Manager and can be used across devices, making it easier to secure your accounts.
- Battery Icon Update: The battery icon has been improved to show the battery state without covering the level, giving you a clear idea of your device’s power remaining.
- PIN as Authentication: PINs are now an authentication factor across all ChromeOS surfaces, adding an extra layer of security.
- Educators Appreciation Wallpaper: A new wallpaper collection celebrates educators around the world, showing appreciation for their hard work.
- Chrome Enterprise Premium Enhancements: Organisations can now extend Chrome Enterprise Premium’s protection to local files on Managed Guest Sessions, ensuring data security. Screenshot protections are also available for admins to block sensitive data from being shared or screenshot.
- Android Sync Improvements: Starting with ChromeOS 129, enterprise accounts added as secondary accounts on Android will no longer be automatically synced. This enhances data security for all users.
- Automatic Sign-In Screen Reload: The sign-in screen will now automatically reload, avoiding timeouts with 3P identity provider logins, making the login process more reliable.
- CSE Workspace File Support: ChromeOS now supports CSE file types in the Files app, allowing for basic encryption and decryption of files with customer-provided keys.