How to install non-Google Play Store apps on your Chromebook
Sometimes an Android app you want to install on your Chromebook might just not be available on the Google Play Store. This can either be because it’s not compatible, or because the developer of the app marked it as such because the experience on your device isn’t exactly how they want it to be presented.
While it’s admirable, you might want the damn thing installed so you can use it—bugs and all. Today I’m going to show you how to install apps from outside the Play Store on your Chromebook without having to switch to developer mode.
A quick note on this – if you do this you may be putting yourself at risk from malicious app packages, so please use caution and only install apps you know from developers you trust! OK, let’s continue.
what you will need
To get started, you’ll need your Chromebook (obviously), and you’ll also need to have Linux enabled on your device. You can do this by following our short tutorial. Once you’re done with that, just get the app you want to install. We recommend going exclusively to APK Mirror as all their uploads have been scanned and approved for security reasons. However, if you’re trying to install Fortnite or similar, you can download other apps from their source website.
This is an incredibly useful thing to know as a Chromebook owner who wants to use different apps on your laptop, especially since many game developers just don’t scale their experiences to larger screens. We’re looking at you, Apex Legends! Unfortunately I tried installing Apex and it still wouldn’t run because the developers forced the game to check for the Play Store integration, so your mileage may vary.
Set up Android debugging
Okay, so you’ve got Linux support set up and you need to install your app as well. The first thing you should do is go into the Files app and rename it to something simple. Be sure to leave the “.apk” at the end as that is the extension. Then drag and drop this file into the Linux Files folder on the left sidebar of the Files app.
Go to the Settings app on your Chromebook and click on the Linux (Beta) section. Next, click on “Develop Android Apps” and press the blue button that appears in the pop-up dialog box. It should say “Restart and continue”.
Your device will restart and after that you will see the following screen confirming whether you want to “Enable ADB Debugging” or not. This is usually intended for developers who want to install early test versions of their apps locally before distributing them to the masses, but we’ll use it to force-install apps for our own needs.
Of course, tap the blue “Confirm” button to continue. Even if you see a red message at the bottom of your sign-in screen stating, “This device may contain apps that have not been verified by Google,” you can sign in as usual before we continue. Again, only install apps you know from developers you trust and that’s no problem!
Now to the technical part. Open the “Terminal” app from your Chromebook launcher and type “sudo apt install adb“. Press Enter on your keyboard and wait. You may be prompted to confirm the installation of ADB by typing “Y” and pressing Enter again.
The next thing you type after the ADB installation is complete is “adb connect arc“. This will connect you to the Android debugging tool so you can tell it to install your .apk file that’s currently lying in wait in your Files app Linux files folder.
You should get a brief pop-up window asking if you want to “Allow USB Debugging” and you’ll obviously say “OK”. Here’s the final step – back in the Terminal app, type the following, replacing what’s in brackets with your app’s name found in your Linux files (don’t add brackets either).
install adb [name of your app]apk
Enter this for ARM processor devices
Install adb -s emulator-5554 [name of your app]apk
Enter this for Intel or AMD processors
That’s it! You should get a message saying your app will be installed. Once it’s done, you’ll find the app freshly installed with its icon in your Chromebook’s launcher. I’d love to hear in the comments which app you had to install or chose and whether or not it had play store protection and wouldn’t run due to the need for a key. Again, Apex Legends clearly didn’t work for us, but I imagine many others will work just fine.
I just want the steps!
1. Enable Linux support on your Chromebook
2. Download whichever app (APK) file you want to install
3. Open the Files app and Rename the app file (leave “.apk” at the end!)
4. drag and drop the app file in “Linux files“
5. Open the Settings app and navigate to “developer“
6. Click on “Linux development environment”
7. Select “Develop Android Apps”
8. Drop your Chromebook start anew and allow ADB debugging
9. Sign in again and open the “terminal“App
10. Type “sudo apt install adb‘ and hit Enter
11. When prompted, type “Y‘ and hit Enter to confirm installation
12. Type “adb connect arc‘ and hit Enter
13. Type “install adb [name of your app]apk“
14. If that doesn’t work, type “Install adb -s emulator-5554 [name of your app]apk“
14 Open your new app from your Chromebook Launcher!
