Offline Google Play Movies For Chromebooks Coming Soon

Google is adding offline playback support for Google Play movies in Chrome OS, allowing Chromebook users without WiFi to still watch the films and TV shows they've bought. The update, which is expected to roll out in the coming weeks, further unties Chrome OS from its dependence on the cloud, one of the initial complaints that reduced the flexibility of Chromebooks for some users.

Over the intervening months, however, Google has updated and enhanced Chrome OS with offline support for files and more. Access to document editing even when the Chromebook isn't connected to the cloud – and then seamlessly synchronizing when it is again – has helped make the platform more competitive with low-cost Windows notebooks.

Offline Google Play support, however, enhances Chrome OS' potential as an entertainment platform, too. Obviously the number of movies you can cache will depend on how much internal storage your Chromebook has, often in the region of 16GB.

It should also be particularly helpful for models like Lenovo's N20p Chromebook, which has a 300-degree hinge which allows the notebook to be switched into a more media-friendly form factor.

Google says that updates to Chrome OS are coming on average every six weeks, tweaking and adding features along the way.