Chrome Remote Desktop update adds notch support in Android Pie and resize-to-fit

While Android smartphones and tablets have replaced desktop and laptop PCs for many functions, there are still many areas where it’s preferable to use a PC with a desktop OS. If you’re outside with only your smartphone or tablet and you need to urgently access your PC, you can use a remote desktop solution like Microsoft Remote Desktop, TeamViewer, or Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop. Google’s solution requires you to have Google Chrome with the Chrome Remote Desktop extension installed on your PC while on the Android side, you need to install the Android app to access your PC.

The Android app was last updated back in September 2017 with support Android 8.0 Oreo, but an upcoming update will bring support for devices with display cutouts (ie. notches) in Android Pie as well as a resize-to-fit option. Although the updated Android app hasn’t rolled out on the Google Play Store yet, we found the changelog for the upcoming update on the Chromium Gerrit.

<message name="IDS_PLAY_STORE_CHANGES" desc="List of what's changed in this release of Chrome Remote Desktop for Android. [CHAR-LIMIT=500] [NAME=play_store_changes]">
• Added support for Android 9.0 Pie.
• Support for resizing remote desktop resolution to match your Android device's screen.
</message>

Judging by the changelog and the other commits, Android Pie support means the app will allow the remote desktop area to extend into the notch area and allow the user to zoom and pan when interacting with the notch area. The other interesting feature that’ll make the remote desktop experience more enjoyable is the option to adjust the desktop resolution so that the screen contents fit better on your Android device.

Once the update rolls out, you’ll find it on the Google Play Store at the link below. I rarely use Chrome Remote Desktop, but I’m looking forward to seeing how well the resize-to-fit option works.