Making device sharing easier with Chrome Enterprise

From training new employees to offering clients self-service assistance and entertainment, shared devices can be invaluable to businesses, and we want to make it easier than ever for IT and users to access them. With the release of Chrome 73, we’re launching managed guest sessions, making it possible for multiple users to securely share the same Chrome device. This means users can access the browser on a shared device without needing to sign in, and administrators can configure and manage the session.

Managed guest sessions offer admins more features than previously available functionality (known as “public sessions”) and gives them greater control and visibility. New features include support for:

• Chrome apps and extensions
• Network certificates
• Available enterprise policies

In addition, with Chrome OS’s data encryption on every level, and additional layers of built-in security, IT and users alike can have peace of mind that their data is private, and sessions are more securely protected from harmful attacks.

Managed guest sessions are a good solution for giving employees, customers, patients and other users temporary or shared access to Chrome devices. And because of Chrome OS’s flexibility, organizations can use the same devices for both managed guest sessions and for sessions where a user is logged in with an identity. Use cases include:

• A shared pool of training devices: Keep employees informed and up to date no matter where they’re located with a pool of stationary devices or Grab and Go Chromebooks that can be easily shared for training.
• Browsing and entertainment: Give guests, patients or other users the ability to freely and securely access information and entertainment from Chrome devices.
• Self-service: Reduce administrative burden by giving customers, patients and employees readily available access to devices for tasks like check-in and check-out or filling out paperwork.
• Back office: With a back office device for shift workers, you can give employees secure access to HR-related content, information on store promotions and other business-critical communications.

Current users of public sessions will be automatically upgraded to managed guest sessions with the launch of Chrome 73. This means all certificates you’ve applied to the Chrome devices in your organization will be applied to managed guest sessions—no manual changes necessary.

To learn more, read our help center article.