Extended Office for Android only free on smaller Chromebooks

Microsoft will continue to support the Office apps for Android so that they will continue to work on Chromebooks. Earlier these weeks, the apps were no longer compatible. However, the more extensive functionality of the Office suite only becomes free with 10.1 “Chromebooks and smaller.

Microsoft has announced 925Google is working with Google to broaden the availability of Office for Android apps on all Chrome OS devices that access the Play Store. Word, Excel and Powerpoint for Android were already available to install on the handful of Chromebooks with integrated Play Store, but earlier this week the compatibility suddenly stopped. There were fears that Microsoft did not want the suite to be usable on Chromebooks.

Those fears appear to be unfounded, but Microsoft does emphasize its policy that the Office apps for iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile can only be used completely without paying on devices with 10.1″ screens and smaller. To create documents, Editing and printing on devices with larger screens requires an Office 365 subscription, including Chromebooks with Play Store access.

At the time of writing, there is only one Chrome OS device with a 10.1″ screen in the Pricewatch: the Asus Chromebook Flip. This was also one of the first to have Chrome OS with Play Store.