Admin Tips & Tricks

Chrome OS version 123 now available

See the changes that truly matter, and our guide for admins on all of the latest policies.

Last updated April 2, 2024

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Rollout tracker

X / YYY Chromebook models are on version ZZZ exactly
X / YYY models are already on a later version and X / YYY models are still on a prior version
XX models have already received their final update and are not included

Here's what you need to know

The latest Chrome release notes include 53 updates. These are the 2 that are worth your time to dig into.

Google now recommends blocking Android on Chrome OS for unaffiliated users for security reasons (explanation of affiliated users vs. unaffiliated). Google is changing the default setting for new customers, but existing customers will need to set it manually in the Admin Console device settings (UnaffiliatedArcAllowed).
Chrome OS now lets you swap keyboard shortcuts, e.g. changing Ctrl for Alt or Backspace for Search. We don't see this as a security risk, but for the sake of avoiding pranks, we'd recommend turning it off. You'll need to configure all of these policies: ShortcutCustomizationAllowed, DeleteKeyModifier, HomeAndEndKeysModifier, PageUpAndPageDownKeysModifier, F11KeyModifier, F12KeyModifier.

Many more smaller changes

As always, Google is releasing dozens of smaller features in the latest version of Chrome OS. You can see the full list here.

New settings & recommended configuration

Isn't it annoying to find and configure each of these new policies one by one in Admin Console? We're building a tool that will instantly audit these policies for you and provide a 1-click button to set all of them at once. Get in touch to try a beta version

Name	Recommended setting
ShortcutCustomizationAllowed	Disabled
DeleteKeyModifier	Disabled
HomeAndEndKeysModifier	Disabled
InsertKeyModifier	Disabled
PageUpAndPageDownKeysModifier	Disabled
F11KeyModifier	Disabled
F12KeyModifier	Disabled