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Screenshot from a Dell Chromebook 13 running Android Apps.
You read that right! Dell is next in line to see Android Apps arrive in the Beta Channel of Chrome OS. As the title implies, there are some caveats here and we are going to go through them quickly.
Those things aside, The Dell Chromebook 13 is very, very close to seeing The Play Store enabled and if you want to try it out right now, follow the instructions below.
The arrival of Android Apps in Beta for the Dell Chromebook 13 points to a full rollout on this very popular Chromebook very soon, but if you find yourself unable to wait, we’re going to talk you through the steps to get the Play Store up and running relatively easily. It takes two setup steps and 3 lines of code you can copy/paste.
Please do this at your own risk! If you are uncomfortable with the steps below, just wait for the official update. Make a restore USB before performing the steps below. If you don’t know what that is or feel uncomfortable with making a restore image, please just wait for the official update.
How To Get Android Apps
Now that we have that out of the way, here are the steps:
- Transition to Beta Channel (Settings > About Chrome OS > More Info > Change Channel > Beta) – a reset will occur and your local storage will be cleared.
- Transition to developer mode (if you don’t know how to do this, follow along here. It takes about 15 minutes.)
- Open a Crosh tab (CTRL+ALT+T), type ‘shell’ (no parenthesis) at the pompt, hit enter, and then enter the code below exactly as you see it
- Enter the code below exactly as it is written and hit enter after each line:
sudo sucp /etc/chrome_dev.conf /usr/local/mount --bind /usr/local/chrome_dev.conf /etc/chrome_dev.confecho "--enable-arc " >> /etc/chrome_dev.conf
After this is done, close the crosh tab and log out and back in to reset the UI (don’t reset or power down). You should see the Play Store option in your settings now.
If/when you actually fully power down your Chromebook, you will have to re-enter the second command line above to enable Android Apps again.
If you take the leap, let us know in the comments how your experience with Android Apps on the Dell Chromebook 13 is!
Source: Reddit
