Google is working to get Android apps on Chrome OS, which means users may soon be able to run them on Chromebook.
The latest discovery comes courtesy of a Reddit user, who spotted a Chrome OS setting that said "Enable Android Apps to run on your Chromebook." The Redditor says that the feature appeared in version 51 of Chrome OS, which is currently in the Developer Channel.
Enabling this setting allowed users to open some Google Play Store apps along with a tutorial on how to get started. The option quickly disappeared, but reports suggest that the source code of Chrome OS version 51 hints that the option may be available for Chromebooks sooner than later.
Another Redditor spotted a user-facing dialog box, which describes the feature.
"Choose from over a million apps and Games on Google Play to install and use on your Chromebook," the dialog box states.
In 2015, Google released the App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) tool, which helps developers to port Android apps to Chrome OS.
The ARC tool includes a basic version of Play Services, which allows limited features such as Google sign-in, Cloud Messaging and more.
Full access to the Google Play Store means that Chrome OS will have access to millions of apps. However, this means that the company will have to develop a bigger and better ARC module or have to offer Play Services built into Chrome.
Google's move should be welcomed by Chrome OS users throughout the world as they will have access to a much bigger app store. Even though Google is planning to get Android apps to Chrome OS, Google announced in 2015 that the two operating systems will still remain as standalone.
Microsoft is said to be working to merge its desktop and mobile platforms, but Apple's CEO Tim Cook, said that the company has no plans to merge OS X and iOS.
Google's annual developer's conference called Google I/O starts mid-May. Normally, Google shares a lot of software related information during the conference.
Until now, Google has not revealed any details about Android apps for Chrome OS. It remains to be seen if Google will release more information about new features of Chrome OS and its version 51 during the conference.
