If you’re a fan of Chrome OS, you may have heard of CloudReady. CloudReady is an operating system based on Chromium OS, the open-source version of Google’s Chrome OS.
It’s designed to be installed on older or budget computers that can’t run Windows or macOS efficiently. While CloudReady is a lightweight and fast operating system, it has some limitations when it comes to installing third-party apps. In this article, we’ll explore whether you can install APK in CloudReady.
What is APK?
Before we dive into the main topic, let’s first understand what APK means. APK stands for Android Package Kit.
It’s the file format used by Android to distribute and install mobile apps. If you have an Android phone, you might have noticed that whenever you download an app from the Google Play Store, it comes in the form of an APK file.
Can I Install APK in CloudReady?
The short answer is no; you cannot install APK in CloudReady directly. The reason for this is that CloudReady doesn’t come with the Google Play Store or any other Android app store pre-installed. Therefore, there’s no native support for running Android apps on CloudReady.
That being said, there are some workarounds that allow you to run Android apps on CloudReady. One popular method involves using an emulator such as Anbox or ARC Welder to run Android apps within Chrome OS.
Anbox
Anbox is an open-source emulator that allows you to run Android apps on Linux-based systems such as CloudReady. To use Anbox, you’ll need to enable Linux support on your CloudReady device first.
Once Linux support is enabled, follow these steps:
- Download the Anbox image from their website.
- Extract the downloaded file and navigate to the extracted folder.
- Run the following command in the terminal: sudo ./anbox-tool install
- Wait for the installation to complete.
- Launch Anbox from the app launcher.
- You can now download and install APK files within Anbox like you would on an Android device.
ARC Welder
ARC Welder is another emulator that allows you to run Android apps on Chrome OS. Unlike Anbox, ARC Welder runs within your Chrome browser, making it more accessible and easier to use.
To use ARC Welder, follow these steps:
- Install the ARC Welder extension from the Chrome Web Store.
- Launch ARC Welder from the app launcher.
- Select “Add your APK” and choose the APK file you want to install.
- Create a new instance of ARC Welder with your preferred settings.
- The app will now launch in a separate window as a standalone Chrome app.
Conclusion
While CloudReady doesn’t natively support installing APK files, there are ways to run Android apps on it using emulators such as Anbox or ARC Welder. These methods require some technical know-how but are relatively straightforward once you get the hang of it.
We hope this article has been informative and helpful in answering your questions about installing APK files in CloudReady.