May 13, 2017 How to Install Android Apps from APK Files on Chromebook – Android apps coming to Chromebooks might thoroughly be the defining moment for Google’s Chrome OS platform. In our utilization of Android apps on Chromebook, we’ve observed Chromebook’s functionality to have multiplied innumerably. Sep 03, 2020. Sep 22, 2014 First, install one of the four official Android apps—like Kids Sight Words—from the Chrome Web Store. Try the app and ensure it works on your Chromebook. Try the app and ensure it works on.

Android Apps for Chromebook has made Chrome OS devices much more valuable as a Windows or MacOS alternative.

There’s a good chance your Chromebook or the Chrome OS device you are considering supports Android apps.

Read on, and find out what devices are supported, how to setup the device, and how to add Android apps to your Chromebook.

Which Chromebooks Support Android Apps

While it had some excellent utility for a low-end price tag, the list of Chromebook apps initially was limited to Chrome extensions and apps specifically designed for Chrome OS.

The lack of a thriving app ecosystem hindered the overall adoption because critics often compared it to a Windows-based or MacOS-based computer.

However, with a vast number of apps on Google Play and a similar device in terms of internal hardware, supporting the Android ecosystem was able to add a lot of functionality for a relatively low cost.

The initial attempts failed and didn’t work well with Android apps. After a scrapping the project for a more promising implementation, Chrome OS officially began supporting Android apps on limited devices in 2016.

Since the hardware and operating systems aren’t the same, there couldn’t be 100% support, but the people behind Chrome OS have continually added support for additional devices.

Chromebooks created after this feature was announced for the OS most likely included the necessary components. If your device was made in 2017 or after, it should come with this feature built-in.

If you have an earlier model, there is still a good possibility that your device supports Android apps. A list of devices that supoort Android apps can be found on the Chromium Projects Website.

How to Check if Your Chromebook Supports Android Apps

If you want to be able to check from your device, first check to make sure you are running Chrome OS 53 or higher. This is done by clicking on the time in the bottom-right corner > Settings > Menu > About Chrome OS.

If the device is running Chrome OS 53 or higher, you can check if the “Google Play Store” section is available in Settings. If it is, congratulations! Your device supports Android apps.

You can “Turn on” the “Install apps and games from Google Play on your Chromebook” option. In the window that comes up, you will need to agree to the Terms of Service. Once you click “I Agree”, you are ready to install some Android apps.

Additionally, an organization’s or school’s security policies may prohibit this feature. Supported devices would not have access to Android apps for Chromebook, in this case.

While in most cases, this is a great feature, some organizations may not want to expose their devices to the Android ecosystem.

If you need any additional help on your Chromebook setup, leave a comment or head over to Chromebook Help Center.

How to Install Android Apps

The process from here is rather simple because it basically mirrors what happens on an Android device. Here are the basic steps:

• Open the Google Play Store app or navigate to play.google.com
• Search for the app you want, or browse the recommended apps
• Click on the desired Android app
• Click on the Install button (or it will have a price listed if it’s a paid app)

Once downloaded, Android apps can be used and managed like your other Chromebook apps.

What to Expect from Android Apps

Generally, you should have a very nice experience with the news apps. However, most Android Apps were designed with a touch-screen smartphone or tablet in mind.

This means that some apps may not be very easy to use with a mouse and keyboard. With some Chromebooks not having touchscreens, these apps may be more trouble than they are worth.

Fortunately, this case should be few and far between, and with some of these having browser-based web apps, few users should run into this issue, if at all.

Want to run Android apps on your laptop or desktop, but you don’t have a Chromebook? Don’t worry, you can still do it. You might not know this, but Chrome has a tool that lets you test out Android apps in-browser.

Certainly, it makes sense to put some Android apps on your laptop. We’re talking about those that have no web equivalent like Snapchat or Evernote. Not to mention games. Any app that’s frustrating to use on a smaller screen, will probably work a lot better on the laptop or desktop.

The tool you need to use in order to be able to run Android apps on your device is called ARC Welder. Originally ARC, which stands for App Runtime for Chrome was an experiment specifically designed for app developers, but now almost anyone can take advantage of it.

However, keep in mind that ARC Welder is based on Android 4.4 and comes with a few limitations including:

• You can only load one app at the time
• You need to select whether you want the app to launch in Portrait or Landscape mode
• You have to opt for tablet- or phone-mode

With that being said, let’s see how you can install the tool.

Install ARC Welder

Open the Chrome browser on your laptop or desktop computer, head on to the Chrome Web Page for ARC Welder and add the extension to your browser. After the short installation process, you should be able to start using Android apps on your desktop.

All desktop systems are supported including Windows 10, MacOS, and Linux. So the extension should work regardless of whether you’re using a Windows laptop or a Macbook.

Install Android Apps On Your Chromebook

However, we need to note that ARC Welder has been specifically designed for Chrome OS. The tool will highlight that saying that “You are using ARC Welder on a non-Chrome OS device. Platform-specific bugs exist.” This is a warning that not everything will work smoothly.

Find and download APK files

ARC Welder works with APK files, so in order to get Android apps to run on your PC, you will have to find and download the APK files of the apps you want to get on desktop.

Chromebook Install Android Apps On Sd Card

We recommend you give a try one of these APK databases which offer a large selection of apps and games:

Use ARC Welder to run them

Once you’ve downloaded an APK, simply click on the “Add your APK” button to start testing. It will take a few seconds for it to load, but once it does, you’ll need to do a few additional things. Like select the orientation, form factor or whether the app should the resized.

Next, press test and wait for the app to load. It will do so in a separate window. We have to warn you that some of the apps will probably fail to load, as we found out in our testing. Some simply crash for inexplicable reasons.

For example, Instagram did not load for us, while Messenger Lite and Twitter worked just fine. Although the animations were a bit slow to load, the overall experience was pretty decent.

The majority of the games we tried to test didn’t work. Some did load the first screen, but then crashed afterwards, so this is a hit-and-miss kind of deal. Unfortunately, those who would like to test out games that are frustrating to play on a small smartphone screen, won’t have too much luck to do so.

Nevertheless, some app will work just fine, so if you’re patient enough you’ll find some that do.

If you tried out ARC Welder before, let us know in the comment section below which apps or games worked for you.