{"id":36980,"date":"2016-07-02T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-02T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=36980"},"modified":"2019-09-23T15:26:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T20:26:53","slug":"how-to-run-android-apps-on-your-chromebook-or-mac-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/36980-how-to-run-android-apps-on-your-chromebook-or-mac-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Run Android Apps on Your Chromebook or Mac…or Not"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A while back I showed readers of the Rocket Yard how to take an old MacBook and repurpose it as a Chromebook<\/a> — a computer that runs Google Chrome as a web-based operating system. Today I’m going to take the cross-platform fun one step further, by showing you how to run Android apps on your Chromebook or right on your macOS loaded Mac<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why on Earth would someone what to run Android apps when they probably have an iPhone or iPad? Well, there are still a lot of people who haven’t embraced iOS, and Android just happens to be the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. Perhaps you’re interested in seeing what the other side has to offer, or maybe you’re a developer who wants to dabble in both iOS and Android. Some people may want to be able to play Android games on their Macs or PCs, just because they’re plugged in and have “infinite” battery life. Whatever the reason, you can run Android apps on your MacBook-turned-Chromebook or on the Mac itself. However, you may not<\/i> want to for some very good reasons that I’ll divulge further on in this post.<\/p>\n

Running Android Apps on a Chromebook or the Chrome Web Browser on Mac or PC<\/h2>\n

To run Android apps on your former-Mac-turned-Chromebook or in the Chrome Web Browser on Mac or PC, you need to turn to ARC Welder<\/i>. No, this doesn’t mean that you’re going to be putting on a welding mask and firing up a generator to power your arc welder. The acronym ARC stands for App Runtime for Chrome, and it provides a way for developers or Android-curious folks to run one Android app at a time in either the Chrome OS or Chrome Web Browser.<\/p>\n

With Chrome Browser or Chrome OS installed, click this link to view ARC Welder in the Chrome Web Store<\/a>. Click the Add to Chrome button, at which time a dialog appears asking whether you wish to Add Arc Welder. Click Add App, and ARC Welder is downloaded and installed as part of the Chrome environment on your Mac. Finally, click Launch App to fire up ARC Welder.<\/p>\n

\"ARC
ARC Welder in the Chrome Web Store<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Chrome OS, you’re now free to take APK files (Android apps) and ARC Welder converts them into Chrome apps for “testing”. Did I mention that ARC Welder is a developer tool? It is…<\/p>\n

\"ARC
ARC Welder, attempting (unsuccessfully) to convert and run the Geocaching app.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Macs or PCs running Chrome Browser, ARC Welder displays a dialog helpfully reminding you that you’re using ARC Welder on a non-Chrome OS device. It will also ask you to select a directory (folder) on your Mac or PC where it can write files to the computer’s filesystem. Once you’ve selected that folder, ARC Welder asks you to “Add your APK” — in other words, give it the Android app file so it can be converted to a Chrome app and run on your computer. You’ll be asked to provide a device orientation (portrait or landscape) and type (phone or tablet).<\/p>\n

So, where do you get those APK files? Well, normally you’d get them from Google Play or another Android app store. However, at least with Chrome Web Browser, you can’t download those files directly to the Mac — instead, they want to be installed on an Android device. What you’ll need to do — and I don’t recommend it — is to get APK-Downloader<\/a>. Why do I not<\/i> recommend this? You need to have a Device ID for your Android device…and what if you don’t have an Android device? It’s a no-go situation. In order to get the device ID for my “Android” device in order to try this, I actually had to run a Device ID app in an emulator (see below) then paste that ID into APK-Downloader. Even after that, it wouldn’t run on Chrome Browser, only on actual Chrome OS on my “Frankentosh”.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, and much<\/i> more dangerous from a security standpoint, there are sites of questionable background that have APK files available for download. We don’t accept any responsibility for any issues that may occur if you use one of these sites to download free apps. I also suggest that you do your own searches for APK files as we will not recommend any of these sites.<\/p>\n

Running Android Apps on a Mac in an Emulator<\/h2>\n

In addition to running Android apps on a Mac-turned-Chromebook or in the Chrome Web Browser, there’s actually a way to run a pseudo-Android device on your Mac. BlueStacks 2<\/a> is a free Android emulator that runs on macOS and Windows, so no matter what kind of personal computer you have, you can try out Android apps. To run Android apps (.apk files) on your Mac:<\/p>\n