How to Set Up an External Bluetooth Dongle on a Chromebook (ARM Architecture)

Tested on:

• Acer Chromebook CP311-3H (ARM Cortex-A53, Model jacuzzi, Board juniper),

• Google ChromeOS version 142.0.7444.220 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Switching to the External Bluetooth Dongle

Step 1: Plug the USB Bluetooth dongle into a USB port.

This allows the Chromebook to detect an external Bluetooth adapter.

Step 2: Open Chrome and type chrome://flags in the address bar.

This page contains experimental system settings, including Bluetooth stack options.

Step 3: Find the flag “Use Floss instead of BlueZ”.

Floss is the newer Bluetooth stack; disabling it forces the system to fall back to BlueZ, which works better with external dongles.

Step 4: Set this flag to Disable.

Disabling the flag ensures ChromeOS won’t override the external adapter with Floss.

Step 5: Click Reset to reboot the Chromebook.

A restart is required for the Bluetooth system to reload with the new configuration.

Step 6: After a restart, open the Bluetooth menu near the clock.

This lets you confirm the Bluetooth system is active and ready to detect hardware.

Step 7: Turn Bluetooth off, then on again.

Toggling Bluetooth forces ChromeOS to reinitialize the adapter list.

If the dongle does not activate immediately, try restarting the Chromebook again. Some ARM-based Chromebooks require an additional reboot before switching fully to the external Bluetooth adapter.

Step 8: Click “Pair new device”.

Your dongle should begin glowing blue, indicating it has started scanning for Bluetooth devices. This confirms that the external dongle is now the default Bluetooth adapter.

Switch Back to the Internal Bluetooth Module

1. Unplug the Bluetooth dongle from the USB port.

2. Restart your Chromebook.

3. Open the Bluetooth menu near the clock.

4. Turn Bluetooth off, then on again.

5. Click “Pair new device”.

Your Chromebook will automatically return to the internal Bluetooth module if it is functioning properly.