The search giant Google is fulfilling its promise when it said the company is going to deliver Android apps to Chrome OS.
In September 11th, 2014, Google announced its first set of Android apps that can be run for the first time on Chrome OS. The apps are: Duolingo, Evernote, Sight Words and Vine.
This is the start of a potentially huge change for Chrome OS, which should ultimately make the operating system far more powerful and filled with a much richer selection of apps.
Apps work on Chrome OS just like regular Chrome apps, with full functionality and no missing features from their Android counterparts. By running on Chrome OS, Android apps can be run and operated using mouse and keyboard.
The only difference is that the app runs as a window on top of Chrome OS when used on a Chromebook or other Chrome OS device. And of course the resolution difference.
With the ability to run Android apps natively, Chrome OS can run apps on-screen in their own windows. Notifications from mobile devices can also be synced as well without third-party apps. .
These first set of apps are the result of a project called the App Runtime for Chrome (Beta), which was announced at the 2014 Google I/O conference. Google is not opening the gates and flood the full Play Store with every Chromebook; instead, the company is manually bringing over certain apps.
"Over the coming months, we'll be working with a select group of Android developers to add more of your favorite apps so you'll have a more seamless experience across your Android phone and Chromebook," said Google in its Chrome blog post.
Google's Chrome and Android Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai first revealed the company's initiative to get Android apps running on Chrome OS back in its I/O conference. Google said that the company would ultimately like Android developers to be able to bring their apps over to Chrome OS with "little to no engineering effort".
Android is trying to eliminate the need for the Chromebook crowd and app developers to port any apps or services that are missing from the Chrome Web Store. The Android Runtime project allows for Android apps to run in Chrome just as any other Chrome app.
This means that developers can make their apps work on Chrome OS in less amount of time. However, Google allows developers to optimize for the platform if they choose to.
During the project's announcement, Pichai said that App Runtime was "working on bringing our experiences across both Android and Chrome." And these four new apps are a glimpse at that promise.