A smartphone and a laptop – many of us have these two devices in our lives. If it happens to be an Android phone and a Chromebook, the Phone Hub feature lets them work together. We will show you how it works.
The “Phone Hub” feature was introduced in Chrome OS 89. It allows you to move more seamlessly between your phone and laptop. This includes synchronized notifications and control of certain things on your phone of your Chromebook.
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First, you need to connect your Android phone to your Chromebook via the computer’s settings menu. To do this, click on the clock on the navigation bar of your Chromebook (known as the “Shelf”) to bring up the Quick Settings panel. Select the rat icon to open the Settings.
In the Settings menu, go to the “Connected Devices” tab in the sidebar.
You’ll see ‘Android Phone’ listed here. Click the “Setup” button to begin the process.
A new window will open with a menu containing the active Android devices linked to your Google Account. Select the one you want to use and click “Accept and continue.”
Enter the password for your Google Account and click “Done.”
If you communicate and verify devices correctly, the two will connect. Click “Done” to return to your Chromebook’s settings menu.
The name of your phone is now listed in the “Connected Devices” section. Select it to continue.
Here are all the settings associated with your paired Android device. First, make sure that ‘Phone Hub’ is turned on.
There are two switches under “Phone Hub” for additional features. Turn on the ones you want to use.
- Notice: Chat app notifications on your connected device will appear on the Chromebook.
- Recent Chrome Tabs: If you use Chrome on your Android device, your recent tabs will appear in the Hub.
When the above steps are completed, you will see a phone icon appear on your Chromebook shelf. Click to open the Phone Hub.
There’s a few things going on in the Phone Hub, so let’s break it up. Starting at the top, you can see the name of your Android device, the signal strength and the battery level. The raticon takes you directly to the settings we looked at before.
The middle section has some action buttons that can control your paired Android device.
- Enable hotspot: If your phone supports it, and you have turned on Instant Network on your Chromebook, the computer will be connected to your internet connection.
- Silent phone: Mute the ringtone and notification sounds on your Android device.
- Search phone: Call your phone hard so you can find it easily.
Finally, the bottom section shows the two most recent tabs you visited in the Google Chrome browser on your Android device. Choose one to open the page on your Chromebook.
That’s all there is to it! You receive notifications from your Android device on your Chromebook, and all of these tools are just a click away. The Phone Hub will hopefully help you not pick up your phone as often while using your Chromebook.
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