Google Quickly Fixes Android App Entry Bug in Chrome OS 87

This story was originally published 28/11/2020
1:45 p.m. PSTNovember 28, 2020 and last update 11/30/2020
6:27 p.m. PSTNovember 30, 2020.

Android apps have had a tough history on Chromebooks since Google first introduced them in Chrome OS in 2016. From a lackluster app ecosystem to nasty bugs like the app scaling issue that failed. to make Chrome OS 86 Stable, Google tried to create a convincing system. Android app experience for users, but with little luck. With Chrome OS 87 just a few more days away, Google’s operating system finds itself in yet another predicament that makes the experience of typing in Android apps incredibly frustrating.

As recently reported in the latest Chrome OS beta channel, a keyboard typing bug slows down typing speed significantly when typing in an Android app. The other day I had to put a block of text in a homework assignment using the Squid Android app. About thirty seconds later, while typing, the responsiveness of the keyboard slowed down considerably. Thinking it was a Squid issue, I tested typing in the Telegram app, and it had the same issue. Here’s a quick rundown.

Keyboard response time is incredibly slow when typing into Telegram.

As you can see, typing is slow and is well below my actual typing speed. Instead of typing in my content, I constantly have to wait for the input to catch up before typing again, which often breaks my train of thought. In fact, the input lag is so terrible that I find myself pulling out my phone to text Telegram instead of using my Chromebook. So far this bug has affected four of my devices on Beta, Dev and Canary channels, with no fixes in sight.

Some of you might be wondering why I am talking about this if the issue is not showing up on the Stable channel. Think of it this way: we only have three days until Chrome OS 87 releases on the Stable channel (unless Google delays it, but that’s unlikely with the lack of post blockers on the bug. tracker). The clock is ticking and Google is running out of time to fix it before the big update rolls out.

Restarting your Chromebook will temporarily fix the problem, but if you need to work properly in Android apps again, you’ll need to reset your Chromebook (or factory reset) to return to the Stable channel. I’m not the only one experiencing this issue either – several users have sent me a message saying their typing experience is crippled. Not good, Google.

Hopefully the developers at Google will be able to fix this nasty keyboard input latency bug. As of now, typing in Android apps is a frustrating ordeal, which has a significant impact on users who depend on Android apps. I filed a bug report on the Chromium bug tracker, and I hope the developers will step in and fix the issue quickly before it hits the Stable channel.