Chromebooks will Soon Support Native Android Apps

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Published 19 May 2016

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Chromebook Android apps

Google I/O‘s keynote wrapped up yesterday, but the developer conference is still going on, and news is still trickling out.

And that includes some pretty big news for Chrome OS and Chromebooks. As reported by The Verge one of the most requested features is landing on Chromebooks later this year: support for fully native Android apps. Google is currently in the early stages of developing and testing support for the feature, but even with an early look at how it all works, the publication walked away pretty impressed with what they saw.

Getting access to those Android apps is going to be straightforward on Chromebooks, too: The Play Store is arriving on Chrome OS this fall. According to the publication, developers will need to have either a Chromebook Pixel 2, ASUS Chromebook Flip, or Acer’s Chromebook R11 to get started developing and testing Android apps on a Chrome OS-equipped computer. However, Google confirmed that support for more Chromebooks is coming down the line, and even Intel- and ARM-based Chromebooks will be able to run these native Android apps.

One of the benefits for Chromebooks is the fact that many of the Android apps that these machines will be able to run are designed for phones, and optimized for devices that might not have a lot of RAM or processing power. So, even the low-end Chromebooks out on the market should be able to run native Android apps, and run them well, too.

“Maybe the best example of the tight integration between Android and Chrome OS that I saw is the “share intent” feature. On Android, most apps have a “share” button that pops up a list of apps you can send a link or a photo to. On Chrome OS, hitting that button on an Android App brings up a Chrome OS dialog box, where you will get your list of apps — including the Android Gmail app.”

The Play Store is going to work on Chromebooks exactly the same way it does on an Android device, meaning when you start up the Chromebook for the first time with the Play Store installed, your previously downloaded apps will be restored onto the Chromebook, just as they would on a new phone. And the native Android apps will appear in the built-in search function, showing both the Chrome OS and Android apps side-by-side.

It’s probably one of the biggest announcements Google has made at I/O this year, and an oft-requested feature, so it’s good to see it finally arriving.

If you have a Chromebook, do you think this is good news?

[via The Verge]