Android is the biggest mobile platform, which is why developers make so many amazing apps for Android. You can easily run your favorite apps on your Android phone, but what if you could run the same apps on PCs as well?
With the appropriate tools, you can run Android apps on other operating systems as well, such as Windows or OS X Yosemite or chrome OS by running Android apps inside your Chrome browser.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to run your favorite Android apps on your Chrome browser (any platform).
Note: not all Android apps will run on Chrome. There might be some compatibility issues that make apps not work properly or not work at all. However, you can always try to install your favorite app and see if it works or not.
Get the APK File
Before starting using Android apps on Chrome, you need to get the app first. The simple method of downloading apps from Google Play Store will not work here. You need to get the APK file of your favorite app, in order to run the app on Chrome.
There are many websites that will let you download APK files of your favorite apps. However, the collection of apps is limited on these websites, when compared to the official Google Play Store. You can give a try to websites such as APKmirror or Android APKs Free to see if your required app is available there to download.
If you wish to download the APK file right from Google Play Store, then you can do that as well. Although, you will have to visit another website to turn the Google Play Store link into a downloadable APK file link.
For this purpose, you can use the website Evozi APK Download. The process is simple, go to Google Play Store on your PC and go to the page of the app which you would like to download.
Now, click on the Link of the page to highlight it and then right click on it and from the context menu click on “Copy” (you can also press Control+C to copy the link after highlighting).
Go to APK Downloader website and paste the copied link in the search field. You can right click on the search field and choose “Paste” from the context menu to paste it or press Control+V to paste.
When the link is pasted, click on “Generate Download Link” and after a short delay the link to download APK file will be generated. Just click on it to download the APK file.
Use ARC Welder to Run Android Apps on Chrome
To run android apps on Chrome you need to use a developer app, intended to be used by developers. The purpose of the app is to help developer port Android apps to Chrome before uploading. This is why, it cannot be an alternative to Android OS as some of the apps will not work.
For example, these apps work on ARC Welder:
And these are example apps that will not work on ARC Welder:
The mentioned apps should give a vague of idea of what kind of apps may work.
To get started you need download and install the app called ARC Welder from Google Web Store. Once installed, click on “Apps” located at the start of the “Bookmarks bar” or type chrome://apps/ in the search field and hit enter.
On the App’s page, you will see the icon of ARC Welder, click on it to launch the App. You will be prompted to choose a directory where ARC Welder will write files. Click on “Choose” to select the directory.
Now, click on “Add your APK” and from the window that opens up, navigate to the location where you downloaded the APK file and open the APK file. Before launching the app, you will be prompted to configure display settings.
You have the option to either choose Landscape or Portrait mode and you can also select form, including Tablet, Phone or Maximized. When you are done, just click on the Launch App button and the app should launch if it is supported.
You are only allowed to run 1 app at a time, unlike Android, where you can run multiple apps and navigate between them. If you will try to add another app, the first app will be closed to launch the new app.
Note: ARC Welder does not emulate hardware and key/proprietary software components, so apps that depend on such smartphone/tablet features will not work. The absence of Cameras, motion sensors or specific OEM software APIs could cause the app to fail.
If there are any questions or you know another reliable method to run android apps on chrome, let us know in the comments below.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Apps and Google Chrome.