Chromebooks are getting the Google Play Store and access to over 1 million Android Apps. I know, we’ve been saying it for months and even we were beginning to think it might be 2017 before this became reality.
Well, we have some good news.
According to a post on G+ earlier today, a user had received an update to the Developer channel of Chrome OS on their Dell Chromebook 13. We did a little checking and found that the owner of the Chromebook had not used the previous method of gaining access to the Play Store. A typical update to the Developer channel, a quick restart and BOOM! The Google Play Store was front and center.
Before publishing the news, we decided to check a device we had laying around the office. So, I grabbed the ASUS C301SA and made the move to the Developer channel.
Surprise, Surprise!
You guessed it. The image above is, in fact, taken from the ASUS. It appears that the Play Store is starting to find its way to more and more devices on the list.
To clarify, this did not require putting my Chromebook in developer mode or inputting any type of crosh commands. I simply moved from the Stable channel to Developer and the Play Store was there.
This is a very good sign that Android apps will be finding their way to a Chromebook near you very, very soon. If you want to try this out now and see if your device has access, all you need to do is switch your device to the Developer channel. You can do so by going to the settings menu in the bottom right-hand corner and clicking the gear icon. From there, click About Chrome OS>More info>change channel>developer.
Once your device restarts you should be met with the Play Store TOS screen. Once you click agree, you’re on your way.
The release of the Play Store to Chromebooks has been a staggered one. It is likely that some devices on the compatibility list may not have access with this update. The ASUS C301SA is using the Intel N3160 Braswell processor. This SoC is used in a large number of Chromebooks so there’s a good chance we will be seeing more and more reports like this.
