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I’ve just recently procured an HP Chromebook 13 G1 for the second time since its release. With a deal we covered a few days ago on refurbished units from Woot!, I couldn’t help myself. To make this deal even sweeter, this Chromebook has joined the company of Chromebooks to have Android apps available in the Beta Channel.
What’s better? There’s nothing you need to do to enable them.
In the past, there have been devices off and on that have had Android Apps available in the Beta Channel, but to get to them, you’ve had to jump through some hoops.
This time around, no CrOSH commands. No extra steps. Just change to the Beta Channel and the Play Store will be at your fingerprints.
I can confirm this works perfectly as I’m staring at a few open Android apps right now on my screen.
Get To Beta Channel
If you’ve never changed channels, it is quite simple. Go to settings > About Chrome OS > More Info > Change Channel > Select Beta Channel
Your Chromebook should start downloading the updated version, but if not, simply click ‘check for and apply updates’ and you’ll be off and running. A quick reset after the download will have you booted back to Beta, no powerwash required.
Keep in mind, if you switch back to Stable later, a powerwash will occur and all your local data will be lost.
It is also worth noting that there are other devices getting Chrome OS 58, but not seeing Android apps at this point. We still hold to the hope that Chrome OS 58 will see the release of Android Apps outside of the Beta moniker they currently carry and will see a much wider availability across more devices. Though we aren’t for sure on this, we would hope that more and more devices will see Play Store access in the Beta Channel as we ramp up to that release.
