Chrome OS Instant Tethering Now Officially Supported On Dozens Of Phones And Chromebooks
Just a week ago, we brought you news that support for Instant Tethering on non-Google phones had been added to the latest developer build of Chrome OS. Previously, the feature had been exclusive to Google Nexus/Pixel smartphones paired with Google-branded Chromebook and Pixel Slate devices.
Today, however, Google has officially announced broad support for Instant Tethering for over a dozen Chromebooks from third-party OEMs and nearly three dozen compatible smartphones. With Instant Tethering enabled, you can quickly and easily access the data connection of your smartphone for use on your Chrome OS device.
To get started, both your compatible Chrome OS device and Android smartphone will have to be signed in to the same Google account. You will also need to pair your Android smartphone with your Chromebook within Settings. Once those two actions have been taken care of, you will find the option to enable Instant Tethering in "Connected Device" in the Settings menu.
With all of that preliminary work out of the way, you can then access Instant Tethering whenever you need it by pulling up the Quick Settings panel and selecting your Android phone from the list. Not only will you see the signal strength of your paired smartphone, but you will also see its current battery status. To save battery life on your smartphone, the tethered internet session will disconnect after 10 minutes of inactivity.
Here is a list of the non-Google Chromebooks that are currently supported:
- Acer Chromebook 13
- Acer Chromebook 14
- Acer Chromebook 15
- Acer Chromebook R11
- Acer Chromebook Spin 13
- ASUS Chromebook C423
- ASUS Chromebook Flip C302
- Dell Inspiron Chromebook 14
- HP Chromebook 11 G5
- HP Chromebook x2
- HP Chromebook x360 14
- Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630
- Samsung Chromebook 3
- Samsung Chromebook Plus V2
- Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 LTE
And here's a list of the non-Google Android smartphones that are supported:
- HTC U11, U11+
- HTC U12+
- Huawei Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro
- Huawei Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X
- LG G7 ThinQ
- LG V30, V30+, V30S ThinQ, V30S+ ThinQ
- LG V35 ThinQ
- LG V40 ThinQ
- Motorola Moto Z
- Motorola Moto Z2 Force
- Motorola Z3
- Nexus 5X
- Nexus 6, Nexus 6P
- OnePlus 5, 5T
- OnePlus 6, 6T
- Pixel, Pixel XL
- Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL
- Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL
- Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Active, S7 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+
- Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+
For more information on Chrome OS Instant Tethering, or of you have any problems getting connected, bet sure to check out Google’s handy “How To” guide right here.
