Users will be able to run Android apps in the background

Dec 28, 2017 21:50 GMT  ·  By

Google is reportedly bringing support for running multiple Android apps simultaneously on supported Chromebook models via an upcoming update of their Chrome OS Linux-based operating system.

According to the ChromeUnboxed website, it would appear that the upcoming Chrome OS 64 operating system carries a new feature called "Android Parallel Tasks," which looks to let users run Android apps in the background on Chromebooks that support Google Play Store and Android apps.

At the moment, Chrome OS pauses Android apps when the focus is no longer on them, which means that it's not possible to run multiple Android apps at the same time. The latest stable release of Chrome OS is version 63 and was released on December 15, a day after Google promoted Chrome OS 64 to the Beta channel.

Android Parallel Tasks coming soon to a Chromebook near you

With Chrome OS 64, you can enable the Android Parallel Tasks feature in the Google Play store settings, but only if you enabled developer mode on your Chromebook. At least this is how it works in Chrome OS 64 Beta, as you can see in the video below, tested by ChromeUnboxed's stuff on an Acer Chromebook 15.

The feature is well hidden by Google for a reason, as only half of the available Chromebooks on the market support Android apps. However, it's good to see that they are making progress in improving Android support on Chromebooks, and multitasking is an essential functionality for modern operating systems.

With that in mind, we can't wait to see more Chromebook models getting Android apps and Google Play Store support in 2018. Meanwhile, if your Chromebook already supports Android apps and you need multitasking, check out our tutorial on how to switch between Stable, Beta, and Dev channels on Chrome OS.