Google officially announced Fast Pair for Chromebooks in January 2022, and it’s now rolling out with ChromeOS 111.
Fast Pair was unveiled for phones in 2017, and sync capabilities were added a year later. It was supposed to arrive on Chromebooks in 2019, but that deadline came and went. At CES 2022, it was officially announced for ChromeOS. It was supposed to arrive last year, and we got another update on its status late last month.
On your Chromebook, you’ll see a notification like “Connect Pixel Buds Pro,” which includes an image and notes how “Your Pixel Buds Pro will appear on devices connected to (address)@gmail.com.” This matches the Android experience with a “Connect” button that lets you continue. Once paired, you’ll see a pill-shaped “Pixel Buds Pro connected” message in the lower right corner.
- If the device is new to your Chromebook: Once your Fast Pair device is found, click Connect.
- If the device has previously been connected to the Chromebook: Your Fast Pair device will connect automatically.
As of ChromeOS 111, Google says Fast Pair is currently “designed to work with supported Bluetooth audio devices and on Chromebooks that support background scanning.”
On the Bluetooth settings page, you can see a list of “Devices saved to your account.” This includes both headphones and smartwatches. But “Devices saved to your account are not available from the Quick Settings menu.” There is also a new “Scan for new devices: Quickly connect and set up Fast Pair devices nearby” settings.
ChromeOS 111 will launch in the coming weeks.
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