Five Built-in Chromebook Apps You Should Definitely Use.
One of the main advantages of a Chromebook is its simplicity: essentially, you have just a bunch of browser tabs running web apps, with minimal background activity, and all your data is instantly saved and synced to the cloud.
However, as Chromebooks have evolved, new features have been added to this basic Chrome platform. For example, they can now run Android apps , and they come pre-installed with several truly useful apps. Open the Launcher (the Google icon in the lower left corner) to see what’s available.
These are the best built-in apps you’ll get right now if you buy a new Chromebook Plus model—the slightly higher-spec series that can handle all the extra Gemini AI features Google has been rolling out in recent years.
Dictaphone
This is probably my favorite of the built-in ChromeOS apps. It’s a powerful voice recording and transcription tool, similar to the Recorder app on Pixel phones, and it’s incredibly easy to use: just tap the record button, start speaking, and you’re done.
You’ll need to download a few additional AI models to your Chromebook, but once you do, you’ll be able to instantly get text transcripts of your speech, as well as AI-generated summaries and titles for your videos.
What’s more, the app can recognize different speakers if you so choose and assign appropriate labels based on their speech patterns and style. All your recordings are easily accessible in the app, and you can share them with other users as needed.
Screen recording
Screencast is a great screen recording tool, and you can add webcam video and microphone audio if needed. Screencast lets you share anything you want to show on your Chromebook’s screen.
Recording is easy and convenient, using the icons in the toolbar at the bottom of the interface. There are also annotation tools if you need to draw on the screen. Once you’re finished recording, all speech will be automatically transcribed.
There are even some basic editing tools, so you can trim out unwanted parts of your presentation or training video (or anything else). You can also share your videos with others using customizable links.
Text
You don’t always need to create an entire Google Docs document or even a Google Keep note to capture your ideas, and that’s where Text comes in: it’s a simple local text editor, similar to Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on macOS.
The simple interface hides several useful features. You get syntax highlighting for various programming languages, customizable font and tab sizes, and a simple search function. You can also choose between light and dark modes.
Importantly, it can work completely offline, making it ideal for distraction-free writing or programming when you don’t want to keep dozens of browser tabs open (or if you’ve lost your Wi-Fi signal and need to quickly remember something).
Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are one of the best ways to increase productivity and get more done in less time, and the Keyboard Shortcuts app lets you see all the keyboard shortcuts available in ChromeOS, from opening notifications to zooming in and out.
However, this app isn’t just a list of keyboard shortcuts: you can customize many of them yourself using the pencil icon that appears on the right when you hover over them. Don’t like the keyboard shortcut for taking a full-screen screenshot? Change it.
You might find it difficult to use some of the keyboard shortcuts and dedicated keys (such as volume) available on your specific Chromebook model, but the Keyboard Shortcuts app gives you a lot of flexibility and serves as a handy reference.
Gallery
Last but not least, we have the excellent Gallery app. Here you can edit images and PDFs, watch videos, and listen to audio. Each component is relatively simple, but they all work well and all work offline.
For example, with the image editor, you can crop, rotate, and resize photos, as well as annotate them using various pen sizes, styles, and colors. Basic adjustments to exposure, contrast, and saturation are also available.
The PDF editor covers some of the basic operations you might need when working with such documents: adding text, annotating pages, and inserting signatures. You can also get PDF document summaries generated using artificial intelligence.