Google brings Play Store with million Android apps to Chrome OS

Google has provided Chrome OS with a somewhat hidden option to run Android apps on Chromebooks. The functionality isn’t working yet, but users found a dialog box saying that the Play Store is coming to Chrome OS.

That dialog speaks of “choose between over a million apps and games from the Play Store that can be installed and used on your Chromebook.” The notification was found after Reddit users found an option in Chrome OS developer settings that read “Enable Android apps to run on your Chromebook”.

However, the ‘Android Apps’ section only appeared for a second, then disappeared again. Further clues were subsequently found in the source code. Google hasn’t announced the Play Store integration with Chrome OS yet, but May 18 kicks off Google I/O, Google’s developer conference, where the company traditionally makes announcements about Android and Chrome OS.

In fact, Google announced the arrival of Android apps to Chrome OS back in 2014. However, the project for the App Runtime for Chrome, or ARC, has been quiet for some time, and only a few apps made their way to the Chrome Web Store. The arrival of the Play Store to Chrome OS can make that operating system more attractive and, for example, provide an impulse for Chromebooks with touchscreens.