ChromeOS just copied one of Windows 11's best features

Google is rolling out a new ChromeOS update that makes it easier to keep your on-screen apps organized, copy text from images, and adjust camera and microphone settings on Chromebook devices.

One of the most notable features introduced in ChromeOS 128 is Snap Groups - a feature similar to Windows 11's Snap Layouts that allows you to easily group apps together in a variety of fullscreen layouts. The feature is triggered by hovering over the Maximize App button, just like Microsoft's.

The ChromeOS Camera app now supports optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from captured images of letters or other documents. This allows users to copy or search text in images, convert images into easily searchable PDFs, and have the built-in ChromeOS screen reader speak image-based text. Google says its OCR supports both horizontal and vertical recognition in 77 languages and is disabled by default in photo mode.

Additionally, the Magnifier tool will now work with ChromeVox – allowing Screen Magnifier to automatically follow words when text is read aloud, helping visually impaired users stay in place. This is also disabled by default, and requires enabling both Magnifier and ChromeVox in device settings. The Chromebook camera and microphone are also getting some quality-of-life improvements – using these previously required turning on privacy controls and app permissions in two separate places, but now Google has simplified this by adding software permissions to the Apps section of the ChromeOS settings menu. There's also a new Auto Gain Control (AGC) feature that allows apps like video calling software to automatically optimize microphone volume