Your Chromebook already has everything this needs: Chrome and a webcam. Open a tab, allow the camera, and draw in the air with your hand — no app store, no install, no stylus and no account.
Free · runs in the browser · nothing to install
The same page works on a Mac or Windows laptop, too.
Chromebooks range from school budget models to fast ones, so rather than promise, here is a check you can run. It reads what your browser supports — camera access, graphics, WebAssembly, the processor — without switching the camera on and without sending anything anywhere. It works on any computer, not only a Chromebook.
The check starts on its own when this panel comes into view.
What this cannot see: how smooth tracking will feel on your hand and in your light. The canvas itself is the real test — it takes about ten seconds.
Four steps, and the first time takes about a minute. After that it is one tab.
Any tab will do. There is nothing to get from the Play Store or the web store.
Chrome asks once for this site. Tracking runs on the Chromebook itself; the video is not uploaded.
Hold up an open hand for two seconds, then pinch for one. It fits the pen to your hand.
Thumb and index finger together, and move. Three fingers pinched together pan; thumb and middle zoom.
Want it on the shelf with your other apps? Chrome can install AirVA as an app, the same way it does on Windows and Mac — the install page shows how. It still needs an internet connection to open.
School Chromebooks are set up by an administrator, which usually means the Play Store is limited and nothing can be installed. That is exactly why a web page is the easiest way to draw on one: websites open like any other tab.
Students open a tab. There is no account to create and no app for IT to approve.
Administrators can control which sites may use the camera. If AirVA says the camera is blocked, that setting is why — not the Chromebook.
Hand tracking runs inside Chrome on the Chromebook. The video is not uploaded, and there is no account to attach it to.
To pre-approve camera access for AirVA on managed Chromebooks, add https://getairva.com to the VideoCaptureAllowedUrls policy — Chrome describes it as the list of "URLs that will be granted access to video capture devices without prompt."
Teaching with it? The virtual whiteboard page covers lessons, and there are seven classroom air-drawing games ready to use.
There is no single best drawing app for a Chromebook — there is the best one for the hardware you have and the drawing you want.
| Way to draw | What you need | Install? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touchscreen + finger | A touchscreen Chromebook | No — use any web drawing site | Quick sketches and colouring |
| Stylus | A stylus-compatible Chromebook and a pen | No | Detailed drawing and handwriting |
| Chrome Canvas | Chrome — it is Google's own drawing web app | No | Simple sketching with touch, pen or mouse |
| Web drawing sites (Kleki, Sketchpad, AutoDraw) | A browser, plus a mouse, trackpad or touch | No | Painting and doodling |
| Android apps (such as Sketchbook) | Play Store access, if your Chromebook and administrator allow it | Yes | Tablet-style illustration |
| AirVA | The built-in webcam | No | Drawing with your hand — big, expressive strokes, and video of it |
For fine illustration, a stylus wins. For drawing with no extra hardware and nothing to install — or anything you want to record — the webcam route works wherever Chrome can use the camera.
Hand tracking runs on the Chromebook itself, so a little headroom goes a long way.
Hand tracking is real work for the processor. Fewer tabs and apps leave more for it.
Face a light source; a bright window behind you turns your hand into a silhouette.
Your upper body in frame gives your arm room to move without leaving the picture.
If the graphics path is not available, AirVA falls back to the processor. Slower, but it works.
School devices get handled a lot; a smudged camera blurs the fingertips the tracker is looking for.
Snapshot or record to your Downloads. There is no cloud account, so the files are the save.
Still stuck? Open the canvas and try it — the thing answers faster than reading about it does.
Try it FreeIt depends on how you want to draw. For touch or a stylus, Chrome Canvas and web drawing sites such as Kleki need nothing installed. If you have no stylus, or you want a video of your drawing, AirVA lets you draw with your hand through the webcam — free, in Chrome.
Yes: with a finger on a touchscreen, with the trackpad or a mouse, or with no contact at all — AirVA reads your hand through the built-in webcam, and a pinch of your thumb and index finger is the pen.
No. AirVA is a web page. Open it in Chrome and allow the camera; there is no app, extension or account.
It runs in Chrome like any website, with nothing to install. The one thing a school can control is camera access for websites — if the camera is blocked, an administrator can allow getairva.com.
Either the camera was declined for this site — click the camera icon in Chrome's address bar to allow it — or, on a managed Chromebook, your administrator's settings block it.
No. Hand tracking runs inside Chrome on your Chromebook, and the frames are discarded there. Nothing from the camera is uploaded.
No. AirVA needs an internet connection to load, even when it is installed as an app.
Take a snapshot for a full-resolution PNG of the current view, or record a video, including a 2x, 3x or 5x timelapse. Files download like any other download in Chrome. Exports carry a small getairva.com mark in the corner.
Chrome, a camera and your hand — everything else is already on your Chromebook.