As expected, the Chrome OS Dev Channel has been updated to Chrome 68, a few days after Chrome 67 made its way into the Beta Channel for the platform. The new build is 68.0.3417.0 (Platform version: 10643.0.0) for those keeping score at home and is the first Chrome 68 build to make it to the Dev Channel.
For those that are new to Chrome OS, there are four primary development channels for the platform:
- Canary – Pre-Alpha testing and can only be accessed via a “jailbreak”
- Dev – Alpha testing
- Beta – Beta testing
- Stable – The production channel that the vast majority of users are in
The Chrome OS Dev Channel is not recommended for daily use and is aimed at testers only.
With Chrome 68, it is expect that Android apps will have access to USB drives on Chromebooks and native SMB File share support will be added too. Undoubtedly there will be other features that crop up during the testing of the platform but those are the two headliners right now. Also, non-HTTPS sites will be clearly marked in this update.
As for when we will see Chrome 68, that is still a few months out. According to the Chromium release calendar, it is expected to be released for Chrome OS on July 31, 2018. Assuming that holds, you can expect to see 3-4 Dev Channel builds throughout May to mid-June before it moves up to the Beta Channel for final testing.
