You’ve been able to run Android apps on a few Chromebooks since June, but up until recently only three Chromebooks were supported. Now Google is rolling out an update that lets you use the Play Store and install Android apps on other Chrome OS devices.
A number of people have reported that the Play Store is now available for Chrome OS laptops including the Acer Chromebook 14, Acer Chromebook 15, Samsung Chromebook 3, and Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015).
Google has promised that the Play Store is coming to dozens of devices, and it’s possible that other models on that list might be supported as well.
The only catch? You’ll need to be running the Chrome OS Canary channel and then jump through a few extra hoops.
That means that you’ll be running a pre-release version of Google’s operating system. The Canary channel tends to get new features before they’re widely available… but it can also be full of bugs and stability issues since software isn’t tested as thoroughly as dev/beta/stable channel updates.
Still, this is the first time the Play Store is available at all for Chrome OS devices that lack touchscreen displays, paving the way for a future when all Chromebooks and Chromeboxes can support Android apps.
When Google first started rolling out the Play Store for Chromebooks, the company began with the Asus Chromebook Flip — a convertible notebook with a touchscreen display and an ARM-based processor. Next up were the Acer Chromebook R11 and Google Chromebook Pixel, two devices with Intel chips and touchscreen displays.
Google Play is now available in the stable channel for those Chromebooks, but the Play Store and Android app support is still considered a beta feature.
via +Brent Sullivan