Chrome OS Settings adds Bluetooth battery levels, ‘Family Link’ parental controls

Ben Schoon | Jul 1 2019 - 9:34 am PT

As Chrome OS continues to mature, it’s adding features and tweaks that make it a better platform for everyone. Now, Google is adding two new features to the Chrome OS settings menu with Bluetooth battery indicators and better parental controls.

Chrome Story pointed out recently that two new features are being added to the Chrome OS settings menu. Firstly, Google appears to be bringing support for Bluetooth battery levels to Chrome OS.

A new flag that first showed up a couple of weeks ago is now live. Testing in the latest Canary release shows the battery level alongside your connected Bluetooth devices. This is something Google delivered in Android a while back, and should be handy for connected headphones and peripherals such as a keyboard or mouse. It’s not clear just yet, though, if this feature is actually working properly.

chrome://flags/#show-bluetooth-device-battery

Enables showing the battery level of connected and supported Bluetooth devices in the System Tray and Settings UI. — Chrome OS Show Bluetooth device battery

Further, a new section for parental controls has shown up that ties into the Family Link app from Google. Of course, the functionality here is not entirely new, as Google has supported Family Link on Chromebooks for quite some time through the Android app. This change simply places that into the settings menu itself. The functionality is also fairly early in the Canary channel, so things aren’t working quite right just yet. A brief description does mention the ability to “set website restrictions & screen time limits” for those using the machine, too.