Google is removing this browser from its ChromeOS devices

Google has announced the end of support for LaCros, its experimental standalone browser for Chromebooks, as the company shifts its focus to integrating more of the Android stack into ChromeOS. The decision marks the end of a four-year project aimed at improving update speeds and performance for Chromebook users.

LaCros, short for Linux and ChromeOS, is designed to decouple the Chrome browser from the underlying operating system, potentially enabling faster updates and expanded support for older devices. Google began development in 2020 and made it available for testing in August 2023.

Despite its promises, Google decided to end support for LaCros in ChromeOS 128. The company concluded that using part of the Android stack would be a more effective way to accelerate innovation on Chromebooks.

“We believe this will be a more effective way to accelerate the pace of innovation on Chromebook,” Google explained in a post on the ChromeOS beta community forum.

The tech giant assures users that this change will not impact their Chromebook experience. Monthly releases and security patches for Chrome and ChromeOS will continue as usual.

Google believes the LaCros experiment provided valuable feedback that resulted in performance improvements on ChromeOS, including faster login times and improved battery life when playing videos.

The move comes amid significant changes to ChromeOS in recent years, including a move to a four-week update schedule and extended support for new Chromebooks up to 10 years old. Additionally, Google’s recent announcement that ChromeOS is being built on the Android Linux kernel aims to further align development between the two platforms.

While some users who use LaCros features such as account switching may be affected by this, most Chromebook users are unlikely to notice any changes in their day-to-day usage.