Google seems to add SMS function to Chrome OS

Google appears to be adding a feature to Chrome OS to sync text messages from a paired smartphone. As a result, users could potentially reply to text messages from their laptop.

The function is not yet active, but a toggle appears in the settings menu who enables the option ‘multidevice’ in chrome://flags, writes Chrome Unboxed. The toggle can turn on, but turns itself off automatically and does nothing.

It is probably a placeholder for a future position. The site believes that the arrival of Google Assistant on Chrome OS will enable the SMS function. Google’s upcoming ‘Chromebook Eve’ would have a separate button for activating Assistant, but Google’s digital assistant now doesn’t work on Chrome OS.

Google wouldn’t be the first company to enable the synchronization of text messages via a digital assistant. Microsoft has been doing this for some time through the Cortana app. Google has not yet announced anything about the text message function or the arrival of Assistant on its operating system for laptops.