Chromebook 101: how to use Android apps on your Chromebook

One of the strengths that Chromebooks give is the skill to operate lots of of your most loved Android applications along with Chrome OS home windows. For the most element, any Chromebook that was introduced on or after 2019 will operate Android applications if you have bought an more mature technique, Google has a lengthy listing of the Chromebooks that can run Android applications, but it is not tricky to see if yours is 1 of them by undertaking the following:

• Go to Options (simply click on the clock in the reduced-proper corner and find the gear icon).
• Simply click on the Apps url in the still left-hand menu.

• In the principal window, seem for Google Play Keep. (It ought to be near the top rated.) If it is there and invitations you to Install applications and video games from Google Play on your Chromebook, then you’re prepared to go.

Now, all you have to do is look for the familiar Participate in Shop logo in your Launcher, possibly by clicking on the Launcher icon in the reduce-left corner of the display screen or using the Launcher button on your keyboard just previously mentioned the remaining Change vital. That will just take you to the Engage in Retail outlet, where you can lookup for and put in your favored Android apps on your Chromebook.

Android apps you have mounted will also surface on the Launcher, just like any other Chrome OS app. For instance, when I set up the Android apps Terms With Good friends 2 and Elevate on a Chromebook, their icons appeared in the Launcher together with all the Chrome OS applications.

(Notice: the initially time you go to the Google Engage in Store, you could get a pop-up that asks you to Entire account setup by introducing a payment alternative. Really don’t stress. If you really do not want to insert any form of payment info, you really don’t have to. Just hit Skip.)

You can even find numerous of the very same possibilities for the Android apps that you would if they had been on your cellular phone. On the Apps website page, choose Google Play Retail store > Deal with Android choices, and you are going to see an Android-like menu that allows you select whether or not you want notifications.

A single warning: Android applications that have been optimized for use on a Chromebook — which signifies several of the most preferred apps — will glance and act like usual Chromebook apps. Nonetheless, applications that have not been optimized will generally surface in a cellular phone screen format, so they won’t be really as usable — even though they should, with quite possibly a handful of exceptions, however work.

Update June 10th, 2022, 11:30AM ET: This article was at first posted on Oct 9th, 2019, and has been up-to-date to account for modifications in the OS.