How to change the zoom levels in Android apps on a Chromebook for easier reading – About Chromebooks

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I’ve been a little frustrated using some of the Android apps installed on my Chromebook lately due to small font sizes. A few of them support in-app font size modification, presumably because the developer included such functionality. But some don’t. Even when resizing the Android apps, not all of them have fonts or interface elements that are easily readable. Here’s how to change the zoom levels in Android apps on a Chromebook for easier reading.

The main culprit for me has been the Android version of Discord since we’re relying on it (and Slack) for school. So I’ll be using that as an example.

Here’s a version with really small text to show you a starting point of my frustration, although I made the text smaller than normal for this example.

Note that you won’t have to follow the below process for each Android app. The one-time workaround for this problem will apply to all Android apps on a Chromebook. Once you follow these simple steps, you’ll be change the zoom levels in Android apps, or zoom out, using the ctrl and + or – keys.

To enable zoom support, you’ll need to enable “Developer options” in the virtual Android instance on your Chromebook.

Don’t panic: Developer options for Android aren’t as scary as Developer Mode or the Dev Channel in Chrome OS. You’re not going to make your device insecure by enabling this. It’s simply a set of extra features to help Android developers debug and test their apps.

First, you’ll go into Settings on your Chromebook and search for “Android”. The first search result should be “Android preferences”. Choose that result and then click on the “Manage Android Preferences” option.

Doing so will open up what appears to be the standard settings of an Android device, although not every option is shown on Chromebooks.

Note too that it may open in a full screen. I’ve resized mine below to appear like a typical Android phone but the process is the same, regardless.

Scroll to the bottom of the list and choose the System option. That will open up another set of options

See the About Device menu option? It doesn’t matter that the device name of your Chromebook may be different than mine.

I’m using my Acer Chromebook Spin 13, which is built on the Nami baseboard. If you’re using a different Chromebook, the baseboard for your device will appear here. You’ll want to tap “About device” to see information about Android on your Chromebook, such as this:

See that last menu option titled “Build number”? You’re going to want to tap it quickly and repeatedly. As you do, you’ll start seeing a message saying you have a few more taps before …….

Source: https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/how-to-change-the-zoom-levels-in-android-apps-on-a-chromebook-for-easier-reading/


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