Run Android apps in Windows Without Emulator Right Inside Chrome

Disclaimer: It will be ostensibly glitchy as emulation aims to run programs designed for one kind of system on another kind of system, and the programs that perform this process are called emulators. The details are a little more complex, but in the end, they all try and achieve the same thing: to make software runnable across different hardware. The emulator is software that tries to “act” like a piece of hardware. Usually, this means simulating all of the abilities of a hardware component as software components.

Every CPU instruction received by the emulator needs to be translated from one instruction set to the other instruction set, and this translation needs to be done on the fly.

Virtualization and emulation accomplish the same thing, but they go about it in slightly different ways.

So, whatever they may be, both emulation and virtualization are extremely complicated processes. So bugs are not egregious.

So let's get started.

ARC: The App Runtime for Chrome (or ARC) is the piece of software that allows Android apps to run in Chrome. In the same way that ART (and the older Dalvik) currently run Android apps in Android itself. By making a modified version of the Android runtime for Chrome, Google can allow developers to add support for Chrome without rebuilding their apps from the ground up.

ARChon Custom Runtime: ARC is officially only designed for Chrome OS at the moment. To get around this, developer vladikoff created the ARChon Custom Runtime, which not only allows Windows, OS X, and Linux to run Android apps, but also removes the limit on how many can be run.

Google Play Services: We've discussed what Google Play Services are in the past. As we've explained before, app developers can plug into these APIs to get pre-written functionality. Think of them as plugins that Google gives to developers for their apps. In the context of this article, we'll be talking about apps that may or may not be supported in Chrome based on whether or not they include functionality from Google Play Services.

Unpacked Extension: Extensions normally come from the Chrome Web Store or prepackaged in a .CRX file. For the purposes of Android apps, we're going to use unpacked extensions. These are folders that contain all the files for an extension (or, in this case, Android APK). They function the same as extensions, but are not wrapped up in a single file.


ARC welder tool operates via some special runtime implemented using Native Client (NaCl) in-browser binary execution tech.
Native Client is a Chrome sandboxing technology that allows Chrome plugins and apps to run at near-native speeds, taking full advantage of the system's CPU and GPU.
Google ported complete Android stack to Native Client, allowing Android apps to run on most major operating systems.
Google ARC welder tool is based on Android 4.4, but there are some limitations:
you can load only one app at a time
you have to select portrait or landscape layout
you need to choose, whether you want the app to run on phone- or tablet-style.

Let's get started...

1. Install the latest Google Chrome browser.
2. Download and run the ARC Welder app from the Chrome Store.
3. Add third party APK file host.
4. After downloading APK app file to your PC, click Open.
5. Select the mode -> "Tablet" or "Phone" -> in which you want to run your app.
6. Finally, click the "Launch App" button.

So, there you have it.  Have a nice time.