Google began rolling out support for Android apps to select Chromebooks in 2016. The list of supported models started pretty small, but it’s been growing month by month, and Google says that many models which don’t yet support Android apps will in the future.

Not sure if the Chromebook you already own or one you plan to buy is supported? Google has a handy list.

And as Android Police noticed, that list has been updated with an important new note: every Chromebook released in 2017 or later will support Android apps.

What this means is that recently unveiled devices like the Asus Chromebook Flip C302 and Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro convertible Chromebook/tablet devices will support Android apps, along with more traditional laptop-style models like the new Acer Chromebook 11 N7.

Right now only a handful of Chromebooks support Android apps if you’re running the Chrome OS stable channel. But you can enable the feature on many models by switching to Chrome OS beta channel in your device’s settings.

Once that’s done, you can reboot your Chromebook, login to the Google Play Store with your Google account, and wait a moment for setup to finish. Then you’ll be able to download many apps from Google’s app store… or even enable support for apps from unknown sources so that you can sideload apps like the Amazon Appstore.

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8 replies on “Every new Chromebook from here on out will support Android apps”

  1. I think that is really neat. There are some Android apps that I want to try on my Chromebook ChromeOS.

  2. It really bothers me that the original Chromebook Pixel isn’t supported.

  3. Microsoft tried going this direction with Windows 8, but did a wretched job of it. By the time they fixed it up in Windows 10, their mobile app space had withered up.

    Google has done a much better job of creating two successful operating systems. Leveraging the benefits of both makes sense, especially since Chromebooks don’t have a large number of native applications (unlike say MacOS).

  4. Is android app compatibility going to help ChromeOS popularity with home users? I just don’t see how this feature is going to help increase their user base. They need to capture the home market just like they did the k-12 market.

  5. “in the coming future” – from the site list of Chromebooks which will eventually work with Android. That’s a really odd turn of phrase. It hints at other futures which will not be coming. But that makes me wonder how exactly they are defining a ‘future’.
    Anyway I was pretty psyched when I first saw that list months ago and it had Chromebit on it. I thought it would be great to get to try it out before I bought a new Chromebook. I’ve come to realize that no time frame at all is attached to it though. So chances are looking good at this point that I’ll be wanting to buy new long before my little Chromebit ever sees the light of Android. Or so it seems anyway.

    1. It’s been speculated that chromeOS v56 will be the release when all the supported chrome OS devices will get android app support. I think it’s suppose to come out near the end of January/early Feburary?

      1. Yeah I’ve read that and I hope it turns out to be true. Currently I’d put no money down on that bet though.

  6. This is really great, Chromebooks will become way more useful with Android app compatibility. Even those which have no touchscreens.

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