How to connect your Android to your Chromebook (and why you should)

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Did you know that you can connect your Android device to your Chromebook?

Once you’ve made this connection, you will enjoy:

This should be considered a no-brainer for anyone who uses both Android and ChromeOS. The only caveat to this setup is that your Chromebook will be unlocked as long as your phone is nearby. Because of that, you’ll want to be careful as to where you leave your Chromebook. Warning aside, I’ve always found this to be a must-do for all of my Chromebooks.

Let me show you how it’s done.

Requirements

To make this work, you will need the following:

A Chromebook running ChromeOS version 71 or newer (I’ll be demonstrating with ChromeOS 103.0.5045.0).
An Android device running at least version 5.1 of the OS (I’ll be demonstrating with Android 12 on a Pixel 6 Pro).
A Google Account.

With those things at the ready, let’s make this connection.

Connect Android to ChromeOS

1. Open Settings

Log into your Chromebook and open the Settings app either from the launcher or the system tray. If opening from the Launcher, click the Launcher icon at the bottom right of your desktop and locate the Settings app. If opening from the system tray, click the tray and then click the gear icon in the popup window (Figure 1).

2. Add your Android device

Click Connected devices in the left sidebar of the Settings app (Figure 2).

The ChromeOS Settings window. — **Figure 2:** The ChromeOS Settings app is where you configure nearly all aspects of ChromeOS.
Image: Jack Wallen

In the resulting window (Figure 3), click Set up associated with Android Phone.

The ChromeOS Connected Devices section in the Settings app. — **Figure 3:** The Connected devices section of the ChromeOS Settings app.
Image: Jack Wallen

In the Select a device drop-down (Figure 4), you will see a list of all Android devices associated with your Google account.

The Android phone selection drop-down. — **Figure 4:** Select your phone to associate with your Chromebook.
Image: Jack Wallen

Select the correct phone and then click Accept & continue. You will then be prompted for your Google Account password. Type the password and click Done. Click Done again, and then, back at the Connected devices page (Figure 5), click the ON/OFF slider (associated with your new device) until it’s in the ON position.

Android connected to ChromeOS. — **Figure 5:** Enabling the connection between the newly-added device.
Image: Jack Wallen

You will, once again, be prompted for your Google account password. Type it and click Confirm.

And that’s it; your Android phone is now connected to your Chromebook. Once you’ve taken care of this, make sure to expand the entry so you can enable/disable any features you want and also connect Messages (by clicking Setup – Figure 6).