The solution is not officially supported by Google

Sep 25, 2014 07:59 GMT  ·  By

If you own a Chromebook but you wouldn't mind taking advantage of what Android has to offer, you probably know by now that a bunch of such apps have already made an appearance in the Chrome Web Store.

The first wave of Android apps for Chromebook usage includes the language-learning app Duolingo, online notebook app Evernote, short-form video app Vine and the kiddie-friendly app Sight Words.

ChromeOS-APK is a solution to getting Android apps to work on Chrome

If this is not enough for you and you want to fully plunge into the full goodness of Android, you can now do that.

Thanks to the unofficial ChromeOS-APK tools, users can now convert just about any Android app into a “mutant” that will be able to run on the Chrome OS and implicitly on your Chromebook.

You can make the same Android apps compatible with Windows, OS X or Linux PC. However, be warned that not all apps will work, but thankfully most of them will.

Anyway, now you don’t even have to make use of a PC to manually convert Android apps into Chrome-friendly apps, because you can now take advantage of a better way of going about things.

Android to Chrome app conversion done from the comfort of your phone

Developer bpear96 has released an Android app called Chrome APK Packager that aims to simplify things for you as much as possible (via xda-developers).

Users will have to install the new app on their Android phone and once this process has terminated, the app will produce a list of Android apps installed on that particular device.

You’ll then have to check the box of the apps you want to install on your Chromebook and simply hit the “Generate Chrome APK” button.

Note that you will have to have the ARChon runtime for Chrome installed for this to work. If this is the case, the software will just go ahead and generate an Android app that’s compatible with Chrome.

Be advised that the Chrome APK Packager is an unofficial tool and is NOT supported by Google. If you want to remain on the safe side of things, we have already detailed above the applications which have been granted the green light by the search giant.

So, don’t be surprised if some apps don’t work at all. However, the application is a work in progress so you can expect more apps to be added to the list soon.

This is a nice and easy-to-use solution even for those of us who aren't too tech-savvy but still would like a little Android action on their Chromebooks.

Screenshot of the Chrome APK Packager app running on an Android phone
Screenshot of the Chrome APK Packager app running on an Android phone

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Android apps are coming to Chrome
Screenshot of the Chrome APK Packager app running on an Android phone
Open gallery