Google Chrome Hack Lets Android Apps Run On Browser‏

Android apps have always been confined to the mobile, but what if users were to enable the 1.3 million mobile apps to work on Chrome, Mac and Windows OS? This is what one developer has been able to achieve, going under the alias of “Vladikoff.”

Vladikoff used App Runtime for Chrome and extended the possibilities. The official app only support a few apps on Chrome OS, but Vladikoff’s work supports all browsers, which are able to run Chrome 37 or above.

Users who want to try this out need to be able to download Android apps on Chrome, through a custom build of ARC called ARChon, allowing Native Extensions to be cross platform. This does require a bit of technical know-how, even though Vladikoff has worked on smoothing the process.

This custom program will allow Android apps to work on all devices. The apps appear to work as they would on a mobile, albeit without the touch-screen. Users of the program have said it crashes a lot, but other than that it can work and Android apps can be blown up to fit Chromebook screen sizes.

On Chrome OS, the program does work a bit better, thanks to Google’s optimisation of Native Apps. On Mac, it is still pretty good with the different APK packages, but on Windows it is almost impossible to run Android apps for more than 10 minutes, without a crash.

There has been some conversation on the idea of merging Android with Chrome OS. Google has had huge success with Android, but Chrome OS has been rather lacklustre outside of education.

Adding Chrome OS into Android would be an interesting idea, considering Android OS has been ported to larger tablets, over 18-inches, showing apps can run on larger displays, without the apps looking too “blown-up.