ChromeOS digital signage setup.

Google is phasing out Chrome apps in the Chrome Web Store, so we recommend using one of our player apps for other operating systems for your digital signage.

• June 2022: Chrome Web Store will stop offering Chrome App installations for Windows, Mac, and Linux users.
• July 2022: End support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• March 2023: Chrome Apps will no longer be launchable on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• January 2025: End support for Chrome Apps on ChromeOS.

Support for Chrome Apps on ChromeOS has ended, so for ChromeOS devices we recommend our PWA player. Follow the PWA setup guide and read more about the PWA player.

Chrome digital signage comes in two flavors:

• As an extension in the Chrome browser – great for testing, but for production we recommend our native Windows / Mac / Linux apps instead, as a native application can auto-start and recover from a crash.
• As an extension on a ChromeOS device – a device running an operating system developed by Google. ChromeOS devices can be configured to run in Kiosk mode so that they can launch our app on device startup and keep it running. ChromeOS devices can also be remotely managed (restart, take a screenshot, etc…) from Google’s Admin Console.

Working with Chrome Device Management

If you want a higher level of management and monitoring, look into Google’s Chrome Device Management. Among other features, adding your devices to Chrome Device Management enables kiosk mode on all your Chrome devices.

How to set up Chrome Device Management.

Below you will find hints and instructions on how to set up and manage your devices.

• You need to be a super admin to add devices in Google Admin
• You need to wipe the device before trying to add the device

Follow Google’s instructions on how to add your Chrome devices to your account.

Managing and monitoring your Chrome devices

When your Chrome device has been added, you have tools for managing and monitoring your devices directly from your account.

• Reboot the device
• Take a snapshot
• Set the volume
• Disable the device

In addition, you will find hardware and health information for all your devices.

Adding Play Digital Signage in KIOSK mode

To add Play Digital Signage to your devices, you need to add our app and set it as the default kiosk app.

• Click Apps & extensions in the upper menu bar
• Then click Kiosk (Users & Browsers, Kiosk, Managed Guest Sessions).
• Hit the add button in the lower right corner
• Click Add from Chrome Webstore.
• In the top right search for Play Digital Signage and hit enter.
• When you’ve found our app, click Select.
• After adding the app, choose it in Auto-launch app, and you’re good to go.

When you’re done, you should be able to reboot the device from your account. The device will not ask for a username and password, and the app will auto-launch. In fact, you don’t need to do anything.

In case you’re not already using Chrome, you can download it from the official website.

Find the Play Digital Signage extension in the Chrome web store and click Add to Chrome. The extension will be available in the Apps drawer after download.

If you’ve purchased a ChromeOS device, you can set it up using a regular browser extension as described above. However, we recommend setting it up in kiosk mode instead. Setting up a kiosk may take slightly more time, but it is worth it, as kiosk mode starts the player app on system start and will ensure that the extension is always running.

1. Wipe the device and set it to development mode

Before starting you need to wipe your device. See per device instructions here.

IMPORTANT! Keep the device in developer mode (don’t go back to verified mode after wiping).

2. Turn on kiosk mode

After the wipe is complete, connect to a network and accept the terms, but DO NOT log in yet.

Press CTRL + ALT + K to enable kiosk mode.

3. Login and install our extension

You can now log in (you might need to create a new Google account). Install the player app from the Chrome Web Store.

4. Enable on-screen keyboard (optional)

Go to device Settings -> Accessibility and tick the ‘On-screen keyboard’ option if you plan to use this device with a touch screen.

5. Enable auto-play (optional)

If you plan on displaying content from YouTube, there’s one additional setting to change. You’ll find the instructions in the YouTube plugin FAQ.

6. Turn on developer mode and set app to auto-launch

Open your browser and go to the extensions page from the settings menu (you can also type chrome://extensions in the address bar):

• On the extensions page, tick ‘developer mode’ on the top right.
• Copy the extension ID (you may need to scroll down a bit).
• Scroll back to the top of the page and click ‘Manage kiosk applications’.
• Enter the copied extension id and click ‘add’.
• Click the newly added row (or hover to highlight it) and click ‘Set to auto-launch’.
• Reboot your device.

After rebooting, you will be asked to confirm that the extension should automatically start when the machine turns on. Click ‘confirm’ and you’re done.

Options can be accessed directly by the player or in settings for your player.

• Show top menu bar - Toggle this ON if you want the top bar to appear when moving the mouse or using the remote for your player. Toggle this OFF if you want a kiosk experience where users can’t exit the app by clicking the exit button on the top menu bar. You can still access the menu with the “Ctrl + O” command.
• Optimize for touchscreen - Toggle this ON if you are planning on using our app on a touchscreen. This setting will make small adjustments to how our app works in conjunction with a touchscreen.
• Analytics - Toggle this ON if you need analytic data from this particular player. Read more about Analytics
• Display Orientation - This option should only be used if your player operating system does not support changing the orientation, as we recommend the adjustment on an operating system level instead. You have the option of portrait (Clockwise) and portrait (Counter-clockwise).
• UserAgent - UserAgent is a piece of text that browsers use to identify themselves to the web server. Certain websites will render a mobile view, although the site is displayed on a big screen. With this option, you can work around this issue and spoof a desktop computer’s UserAgent. The UserAgent lets you pick Default, Mobile, Desktop, or Custom.
• Reload player every day at - It is good practice to clear the cache on the player once every 24 hours. Here you can set a convenient time, for example at night when no one is watching your TV.
• Tags - If you are using tags, they are listed here. You can also find and add a tag.
• Clear cache - If you need to clear the cache manually, you can do that here. For example, if you are changing your content continually and you experience something not working as expected, clearing the cache should help, as it removes any old data stored on the players’ storage.
• Transfer Screen - Move screens between teams without deleting or relinking them. Learn more about Transfer Screen
• Reload - Reloading your player is similar to clearing the cache. In addition, reloading will close and start the app.
• Status - Status tells you if the app is connected to the cloud. Green means you are connected, and red means you are not connected. If you see a red status, you should check the internet and wifi connection to your player.
• Device Time - The device time tells you the player’s time and date. If the device time is wrong, it will also be wrong in our app and thus all time-related scheduling will be off, so make sure to correct the time on the player operating system if you are having problems.
• Resolution - The resolution is the resolution according to your player’s operating system. If the operating system on the players tells us it’s running HD, your content on the TVs will be optimized for HD. Please note that many devices that are advertised as 4K can only decode video in 4K but run apps in a lower resolution. This means you may see a lower resolution reported by our app, but any 4K video that you use will still be played as 4K. If you are seeing a lower resolution, you can install a 3rd party “resolution checker” app on the device to confirm the resolution from another app as well.
• Version - This is the version of our app.
• Screen ID - Also called UID: the unique ID of your player.
• Disc Usage - Disc usage will tell you how much data has been used on the player’s storage. We recommend using no more than 80% of the storage.
• Screen edges - If you have an LED screen, a video wall or an older TV, you might have to adjust the edges so that they match your TV and the content.
• Browser - Here you can easily access the browser used by the app to check content, connectivity, etc.
• Reset - If you need to unlink your player or link it to another account, you can use reset.

Exiting kiosk mode

If for some reason you need to exit kiosk mode (e.g. to connect to a new wifi network), you can do so by pressing CTRL + ALT + S during device boot (Press this combination several times when the device boots so you don’t miss the short time window).

Why is the kiosk mode recommended?

Kiosk mode ensures that our app (extension) is launched on system startup and is kept running. This means that if the system restarts (due to power loss, crash, etc…), kiosk mode launches our extension again whereas without kiosk mode, you’d have to launch it manually every time the system starts up.

Google is shutting down Chrome apps, what happens then?

Google ended support for Chrome Apps on ChromeOS in January 2025. Our successor is the PWA player, a Progressive Web App that runs on ChromeOS. See the PWA setup guide and the PWA player.

I got my screen linked, what next?

We recommend checking out our Getting Started video.

Design your content

How do I set up the display in portrait mode?

See our portrait digital signage guide.

My device is connected to the Internet but the app can not connect.

This issue is actually in ChromeOS and is extremely rare – try reloading policy registration. If this does not work, try resetting the device to factory defaults.

How do I update Chrome digital signage?

Chrome digital signage updates the extensions automatically; however, it is also possible to trigger the update process manually:

• Launch Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions (paste this address into the address bar).
• Turn on developer mode in the top-right corner.
• When developer mode is turned on, additional buttons are shown. Press the button “Update”.
• If there’s an update, it will be downloaded and installed in the next few minutes.

How do I access OPTIONS if I disabled the top menu bar?

In the app options, you can hide the top menu bar, for example if you are running a touch screen. To access the top menu bar when it is hidden, you can use CTRL + O for options or CTRL + Q to close the app.