Android Apps In Chrome Mac
- Aug 29, 2018 Install Rokucast on Google Chrome on your Mac. It’s not available on the chrome store, so you’ll have to sideload the CRX file from Github, unzip it and drag and drop it to the chrome extension page i.e. If it’s not working, make sure developer mode is on. Go to Mac, click on the Roku cast extension icon, click on the.
- Apr 03, 2015 After launching a limited App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) back in September, Google is expanding its beta project to allow Android apps to run on Windows, OS X.
- Here you can find links to download and run android apps on chrome without having to make changes in the.apk files yourselves. Please do leave comments in the comments section, if you are interested to know the process to convert the.apk files of applications that are not available in the list provided.
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.
Jul 15, 2020 Google, for instance, started replacing Android apps with PWAs on its Chrome OS platform back in April. And the apps are supported on every major platform. Most users won't notice a difference.
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.
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.
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.
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Android and Google Chrome are getting closer together. Google expanded its App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) so that not only Chrome OS users, but also Mac, Windows and Linux users can run Android apps on their machine. Although ARC is directed to developers, this is a huge step forward for the integration of Android into Chrome. This paves the way for developers to work on their apps and create fully functional versions that you can download in the Chrome Webstore and run inside your browser.
If you cannot wait and want to try out some of your most used Android apps right now, all you need to do is download the ARC Welder app and get some apk files from Google’s Play Store.
How to download APK files directly from Google Play
Since Google doesn’t really want you to download APK files from their Play Store any other way than from an Android device (might be against the Play Store’s terms and conditions), you need to use a third party tool to download an app’s files.
Besides, you probably use your Mac for photo editing because working on a large screen makes it possible to adjust the slightest details.1. Apple’s Photos (Built-in app)Apple’s Photos app is included for free on all recently released Macs. Photo editing software free mac.
I recommend using Evozi’s APK Downloader, an extremely easy online tool that generates direct download links from an app’s Play Store link. Simply copy the Play Store URL and paste it into the sites text field, select “Generate Download Link” and then click the green download button.
Insert and run Android apps using the ARC Welder app
Using the ARC Welder app is pretty easy and straightforward. Launch the app from your Chrome App Lauchner and select the big orange plus-button.
Go to the directory with your downloaded APK file(s) and select the one you want to run. In the next step, you can select different settings such as portrait or landscape as well as tablet or phone mode. You can leave the OAuth Client ID and Metadata field as is. After choosing the settings, select Launch App.
Run Android Apps On Chrome
After going through the process you might have already understood that you can only run and test one app this way.
Since all of that is still in the beta stage, a number of apps won’t be compatible with ARC Welder. One reason is that not all Google Play Services are supported yet. I tried several apps and could run Instagram and Candy Crush Saga without problems. Others like Crossy Road and Clash of Clans didn’t work, but I’m confident that they’ll run eventually.
Android Apps In Chrome Mac Pc
I hope that developers will get busy testing their apps on their computers and work on the compatibility with Chrome. This way, we might see Android apps popping up in the Chrome Webstore in the near future.