Chrome OS could soon be getting its own “At A Glance” feature

One of the unique and exclusive features of Google’s Pixel phones is its “At A Glance” feature. For those who don’t own a Pixel phone, basically these are widgets designed to show users relevant information whenever they need it, like when an Uber ride is arriving, upcoming meetings/events, and so on. It is essentially a smarter widget of sorts.

The good news is that it looks like Google is apparently working to expand the feature where it won’t be exclusive to its Pixel phones, and that it could arrive for Google’s Chrome OS platform and the subsequent laptops that support it. This is according to a report from 9to5Google where they have discovered some of these incoming changes via a code update.

According to the code changes, it makes mention of “glanceable”, which sounds a lot like “At A Glance”. How it works is that on the Chrome OS home screen, there will be widgets aligned in a grid format and each “glanceable” will have its own place in the grid.

What’s interesting about this is as 9to5Google has pointed out, this will be one of those rare occasions where it will actually make use of Chrome OS’ desktop space. Unlike other computer operating systems like Windows or macOS where the desktop can house files and apps, the desktop space on Chrome OS is usually blank and only shows your wallpaper, so this could be a good way of making the desktop a lot more useful.

It might be too early to tell how exactly these “glanceables” will work and if it might sync with the Pixel’s “At A Glance” feature so you won’t have to keep checking your phone, but it could be an interesting feature that Chrome OS users can look forward to.

Source: 9to5Google