Running Android apps inside Chrome is surprisingly easy. Getting the apps to run is a little harder. Fortunately, Chrome APK Packager can help turn your existing Android apps into Chrome-friendly packages.
Chrome APK Packager is a free application from a developer in XDA Community. Initially, the APK file was available only in the XDA Developer’s Community and later it was added to the Play Store. Seems like the app was removed from the Google Play Store, but still you can download the APK file from the developer’s page in the XDA Developers forum using the link below. It is a very simple application and the installation is pretty quick. Once you complete the installation, you will see a window as shown in the screenshot above. Using the app, you can convert the installed apps or an APK file on your device into a Chrome extension.
The Chrome APK Packager is currently in the alpha builds and you can expect few bugs in the app. The app seems fairly simple to use, all you need to do is install the app and select an installed app on your device from the list and click on the Generate button. The Chrome APK Packager will automatically create the Chrome extension package in the form of a Zip file and store it in the SDcard under the ChromeAPK folder.
Here are step by step instructions you can follow to run all Android apps as chrome extensions. For clarity lets break the process in two parts:
What you do on your Android Phone
- Download the Chrome APK Packager App from Playstore. This free App is still in Beta stage and still in nascent stages, so don’t expect anything dynamic.
- Open the App>>Next>> Select ‘Installed App’ (if the app is installed on your phone)
- Click next and give it a moment, you will see list of all apps on your phone, choose one.
- You can select tablet mode/ phone mode depending on the screen real estate you want for the app while running as chrome extension. Also set Portrait or Landscape mode according to your desire
- Next screen will read “Conversion is complete!” but if the ‘App Converted’ says Null, you won’t be able to launch it as chrome extension.
- Next you have to transfer the Zip file to your PC through USB cable or Airdroid or any other way.
- Extract the content of file to your PC. This marks the end of par
- Download Appropriate ARChon Run time from the linked source page depending onwhether you are using 64 bit or 32 bit system. If you are using a ‘not so dated’ Windows PC, you probably need the 64 bit Chrome version from the second row.
- The file will download as Zip file, Extract it to any know folder using WinZip, WinRAR or any other program.
- Open Google Chrome>>Settings>> Extension (left column)>> Tick the small developer option on top right
- Click on ‘Load unpacked extensions’ and browse to the extracted Run time file in above
- Click on the ‘Load unpacked extensions’ and load the file you extracted at the end of part 1 and you are done
To test everything is right; you can first try this test game, provided by ARChon. You can also try Candy Crush, Zomato and angry bird. Download the latest Chrome APK Packager app from the XDA developers page