Gopher for Chrome Premium, as opposed to Basic, includes access to Gopher Buddy. The Gopher Buddy Chrome Extension partners with the Gopher for Chrome Add-on to boost your fleet’s OS health and offers high-resolution usage history and network IP reporting on Chrome devices, as well as a handy way for students and staff to access key device info.
Gopher Buddy:
- Extends the reporting powers of Gopher for Chrome to include user sessions that capture username, local & public IP address, start time, and session duration in minutes.
- Gives logged-in Google Workspace users permission-based access to recent session info and device metadata like SN and Asset ID from the logged-in context.
- Nudges users to help prevent Chrome devices from falling more than 3 versions behind in their OS updates.
How do I know if my domain has Gopher for Chrome Premium?
If you have Gopher for Chrome Premium, hovering over the license icon in the sidebar footer will display the word Premium.
How do I access Gopher for Chrome Premium Gopher Buddy features?
Once installed & configured, Gopher Buddy presents a toggle switch in the Load managed devices tab of the Gopher for Chrome Sheets sidebar. You have the option to include Gopher Buddy data when loading from Admin console and Device Cache.
How does it work?
To gain these new powers, the Gopher Buddy extension must interact with the Gopher Buddy Service, an Amplified Labs hosted API that must be installed and authorized by a Google Workspace administrator and have a valid trial or paid license. The Gopher Buddy Service is responsible for looking up Chrome OS version depending on the device model and looking up and logging and storing user session details in an external datastore.