If you thought Chrome was already perfect, you were wrong. Google continues to add more and more features to Chrome and Chrome OS. Earlier today, Google announced their newest Chrome Beta build, which features a new feature. Called “Supervised Users”, which is available in the Chrome browser on Windows, Mac and Linux. It basically allows user accounts that can be access restricted.
However, supervised users will not be required to sign in with a Google account, and the administrator is able to gran or deny access to any site. They can also allow browsing to only white-listed websites. Making it very easy to deploy Chromebooks or other Chrome devices in educational institutions. The entire admin panel is available at chrome.com/manage, which as you guessed it, it’s entirely web-based. There are rules that can be set and browsing history can be peeked at by the authenticated administrator. These new tools and website will be part of the latest Chrome Beta channel update which will be available later this week.
This is great for those that want to use Chromebooks for kiosks, or for kids, or just as a public computer. It’s definitely working to bring Chrome into more places. Especially with Google’s recent push for Chromebooks in Education. Hopefully we’ll see more Chromebooks and Chrome devices coming soon and an even bigger push in Education. Google announced back at Google I/O that there will be an education store for apps and extensions. Which is going to be pretty huge for getting Chromebooks in the classroom.
How many of you are on the Chrome Beta channel? Are you excited about this Supervised Users feature? I’m excited to see how well it actually works, although I’m sure Google will be working on making the feature even better over the next few updates. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.