Recently, Google made the first batch of Android appsavailable for Chrome.

It was only a matter of time before some clever users gave that power to everyone.

Now that time has come.

Here’s how to install (nearly) any Android app on any operating system.

Obvious Disclaimer:This is still eight million kinds of broken and absolutely nothing here comes with a guarantee.

This process is the opposite of both those things.You will need Chrome 37+ for the following guide.

In the same way that ART (andthe older Dalvik) currently run Android apps in Android itself.

ARChon Custom Runtime:ARC is officially only designed for Chrome OS at the moment.

Google Play Services:We’ve discussedwhat Google Play Services arein the past.

As we’ve explained before, app developers can plug into these APIs to get pre-written functionality.

Think of them as plugins that Google gives to developers for their apps.

Unpacked Extension:Extensions normally come from the Chrome Web Store or prepackaged in a .CRX file.

For the purposes of Android apps, we’re going to use unpacked extensions.

They function the same as extensions, but are not wrapped up in a single file.

This means that it’s not an emulator or virtualization stack, but a proper runtime.

To begin, we’ll need to download the ARChon Custom Runtime.

This is necessary to run Android apps in Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Here’s how:

Download the ARChon runtimehere.

Select “Load unpacked extension.”

Choose the folder containing the ARChon runtime you unzipped earlier.

The ARChon runtime will now be running as an extension in Chrome.

You may see a couple warnings like the following on the extensions page.

However, these are normal and shouldn’t affect your ability to run Android apps.

Next, you’ll need some Android apps to run.

This is a little complicated, since Android APKs are not properly packaged for Chrome.

Whether they function properly is an entirely different matter.

Forums likethis subredditare already working on getting some functional.

However, this is a far cry from the 1.3 million apps on the Play Store.

Disclaimer:Distribution of modified apps is, generally speaking, some degree of copyright violation.

However, downloading a modified paid app is piracy.

c’mon support developers and don’t download modified versions of paid apps without paying for them.

You’re on your own here.

Some helpful internet users have created agrowing list of appsthat work in Chrome.

launch the Extensions page in Chrome.

Click “Load unpacked extensions.”

go for the folder with the modified APK you downloaded.

The app will now appear in your list of Chrome extensions.

Windows:

Download the node.js .msi file (notthe .exe) fromhere.

In a command prompt, fire off the following command: npm install chromeos-apk -g

That’s it.

you’re free to skip ahead to the section below on how to use it.

OS X/Linux:

The chromeos-apk tool was originally developed for Linux and OS X devices.

Unzip the tar.gz file you downloaded from the above link.

Per the README file, open a terminal to the unzipped folder containing node.js.

To use it, first you’ll need to acquire an APK.

you’re free to also usethis toolto get an APK from an app installed on your phone.

when you land your APK, it’s super simple to create a Chrome-friendly version.

This can usually be found in the URL of the Play Store listing.

For example, inthis URL, the portion after “?id=” is the package name.

In this case, “com.evernote”.

You now have a modified APK, ready for Chrome!

you’re free to install it using the same instructions in Step 2 earlier in this post.

At the time of this writing, the chromeos-apk tool still only gets the app working.

We’ll handle that in the cleanup section.

You’ll still need to download chromeos-apk from Githubhere.

Make a copy of this somewhere else (preferably near the APK you downloaded).

Copy the APK into “_template > Vendor > chromium > crx”.

There should be a README file in the correct folder that says “APK goes here.”

in the correct folder.

Rename the “_template” folder to the package name.

The package name can usually be found in the Play Store listing URL after “?id=”.

Modify the “manifest.json” file in the main folder of the package.

This is considerably easier to do with an app likethis.

Add the app’s package name (like “com.pandora.android”) to the “package name” field.

Add the app’s regular name (like “Pandora”) to the “name” field.

Download the app icon from Play Store.

On a Play Store listing pagelike this one, right-smack the icon image.

In the URL bar, change “w300-rw” to “w128”.

You have just manually modified an APK to run in Chrome.

You’ll also note that none of this process involves changing the app itself.

The APK sits inside an elaborate wrapper.

Either it works or it doesn’t.