Chrome OS will soon be able to run Android apps in the background

One of the biggest shortcomings of Chrome OS, and a drawback to using a mobile and web-first operating system, is applications that don’t act like desktop software should. Google is working to remedy this, according to 9to5Google, with an upcoming update to Chrome OS that should make Android apps run smoothly in the background. Currently, these apps — part of Google’s broader push to unify certain aspects of Android and Chrome — will pause if you switch away from them, creating some issues for people who like to heavily multitask on desktop.

ChromeUnboxed first noticed the feature, called Android Parallel Tasks, within Chrome OS 64, which is currently only available on Google’s beta channel. We can expect the feature to make its way to the public version of Chrome OS some time in the near future, but it’s not clear exactly when. Still, it’s refreshing to see that Google is taking steps to make Android apps on Chrome OS more robust and desktop-like, especially after the buggy beta period earlier this year.