As awesome as Android and Chrome OS are, there's still one area where Apple dominates with iOS and macOS — a reason to use both of them together. Things like Universal Clipboard and Handoff make it clear why you should you use an iPhone and Mac together, and according to a new report, Google will soon offer something similar.
Spotted by Mishaal Rahman, the Chromium Gerrit has been updated with something called "Better Together." Better Together is a new program that'll allow your Android phone and Chromebook to talk to one another, and the latest nightly build for Chrome Canary already has a placeholder page for it.
It's said that there will be three main features for Better Together at launch, including:
- SMS Connect — Syncing of your SMS messages built directly into Chrome OS (likely different than Android Messages' new web client)
- Instant Tethering — Your phone will automatically pop up on your Chromebook's Network page so you can tether to it without having to manually enable mobile hotspot (something the Pixel 2 already does with the Pixelbook)
- Smart Unlock — You can unlock your Chromebook without entering your password if your phone is nearby
Along with today's report, this isn't the first time we've heard about proper integration across Android and Chrome OS. SMS Connect was actually first spotted way back in October shortly after Android 8.1 was released, and earlier this month, another commit in the Chromium Gerrit referenced "Android Messages integration."
It's expected that Better Together will first launch at some point next week, and as someone who's only been using Chrome OS since earlier this year, I cannot wait for this to come out.
What Better Together feature are you most excited for?
