ChromeOS 150 Rolls Out Gemini Class Tools and Triggers the Countdown for Legacy Kiosk Apps

Google is officially rolling out ChromeOS 150 to compatible Chromebooks, bringing powerful Gemini AI controls to classrooms and overhauling local authentication for enterprise users. However, this update also serves as a critical deadline for IT administrators, marking the final release before legacy Chrome Apps are permanently disabled in Kiosk mode.

The update is heavily targeted at managed education and enterprise environments. Alongside the new features, Google has outlined a strict deprecation schedule for older Chromebook Flex hardware and legacy applications, signaling a major shift toward modern web standards.

The standout feature of ChromeOS 150 is the introduction of Gemini in Class Tools, a suite of classroom management features deeply integrated with Google Classroom. Educators can now restrict student devices to a Guided Learning mode during class. This limits interactions with the AI assistant to a focused, educational experience rather than allowing open-ended queries.

Teachers can also lock student screens to Gemini Notebook (formerly known as NotebookLM) for research assignments, restrict device usage during test prep, or prevent students from navigating outside of Google Search. All of these controls are accessible directly through the existing Class Tools interface.

On the security front, ChromeOS 150 adds two new enterprise policies allowing local PIN and password authentication on managed Chromebooks. Administrators can customize complexity requirements via the Google Admin console to meet internal security standards. Notably, a small group of managed Enterprise and Education users who set up local PINs in late June 2026 are being automatically migrated back to standard online password authentication. These users will see a one-time informational screen upon signing in, with no loss of local files or profile data.

ChromeOS 150 is the final release that will support legacy Chrome Apps in Kiosk sessions. Starting with ChromeOS 151, these apps will cease to function entirely in Kiosk mode. Organizations relying on this feature must migrate their workflows to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) before the next major update.

While Kiosk mode is losing legacy support, force-installed Chrome Apps in Managed Guest Sessions and standard user sessions will continue to operate normally. To bridge the gap for specialized software, administrators can now allow users to manually install Isolated Web Apps. This is controlled by a new policy, IsolatedWebAppUserInstallationEnabled, which is disabled by default in the Google Admin console.

Additionally, Google has refined how ChromeOS verifies and retrieves token handles stored against user accounts, a backend change designed to significantly reduce unexpected re-authentication prompts on the login screen.

IT administrators managing ChromeOS fleets should complete the following steps before deploying updates to their devices. First, review all Kiosk sessions for Chrome Apps that must be replaced with Progressive Web Apps before ChromeOS 151 is released. Second, examine the new local authentication policies in the Google Admin console to decide whether to enable local PIN or password authentication, and set the appropriate complexity requirements.

1. Notify managed Enterprise and Education users who set up local PINs in late June 2026 that their authentication method will revert to online passwords and that they will see a one-time informational message at first sign-in.
2. Decide whether to enable the IsolatedWebAppUserInstallationEnabled policy, which controls user-initiated installations of Isolated Web Apps.
3. Confirm that documentation exists for deploying Managed Guest Sessions and standard user session Chrome Apps, as these workflows remain supported but are potential candidates for future deprecation.

Teachers using Class Tools should also verify that the Gemini restriction options appear in Google Classroom after devices update, as availability depends on the specific ChromeOS version installed on each student device.

Google's release notes provide a clear roadmap for upcoming versions. Starting with ChromeOS 151, updates will be permanently blocked on non-certified Chromebook Flex devices utilizing legacy graphics hardware. This strict cutoff applies to Intel and AMD graphics from 2010 and earlier, as well as Nvidia graphics from 2014 and earlier. Affected devices will remain on their current version and receive no further updates.

Looking further ahead to ChromeOS 154, Google is changing its version numbering system to increase by two every four weeks, aligning the OS more closely with the Chrome browser's rapid update schedule. A new accessibility feature - an inverted color mouse cursor to help users see content beneath an enlarged pointer - is also in development, though a specific release version was not confirmed.

The simultaneous rollout of Gemini tools and the aggressive deprecation of legacy hardware and apps in ChromeOS 150 and 151 is not a coincidence. Google is actively shedding technical debt to position Chromebooks as modern, AI-capable terminals rather than just cheap web browsers. Maintaining support for legacy Chrome Apps and decade-old GPUs on Flex devices requires engineering resources that Google clearly wants to reallocate toward its AI ambitions.

For enterprise and education sectors, this marks a fundamental shift in how ChromeOS must be managed. The forced migration to Progressive Web Apps and Isolated Web Apps standardizes the ecosystem, making it lighter and more secure - prerequisites for handling the overhead of integrated AI tools. IT admins who view Chromebooks as static, low-maintenance devices will need to adapt quickly to this faster, more demanding update cycle, especially as version numbers begin jumping every four weeks starting with ChromeOS 154.