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Chrome OS testing new wallpaper picker and system tray dark theme, you can try them now

With its various beta and development channels, Google is constantly testing new features for Chrome OS. Now, we’re getting a peek at two new changes in the pipeline — a redesigned wallpaper picker and dark theme.

First, let’s take a closer look at this new dark theme. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem system-wide, but it’s great to see nonetheless. As ChromeUnboxed shows off, the system tray in Chrome OS now has an optional dark theme. Enabled through flags, you can activate this feature to toggle on a dark theme for the tray and the quick settings within. Unfortunately, it doesn’t extend to any other parts of the OS, but that’s just for now…

To try this out for yourself, you’ll need to be on the developer or canary channels for Chrome OS, and then head to chrome://flags and search for “new system menu.” Then toggle the dark mode, and reboot to apply.

At the same time, a new wallpaper picker is also in development for Chrome OS. Currently available in the canary channel (via ChromeUnboxed), you can enable this new picker with the flag chrome://flags/#enable-new-wallpaper-picker.

From an early look, it really seems like Google is pulling from the wallpaper app on its Pixel devices for this new one on Chrome OS. It has a cleaner design with some familiar and some new wallpapers, at least from what we’ve seen so far.

Interestingly, it supports a “Daily Refresh” feature and splits wallpapers up into categories similar to the Wallpapers app on Pixel. It’s a great new look that we can’t wait to see roll out to devices in the coming months.


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