How To Run APK Files On A Windows 10/11 Device – Guide
If you are an Android user, you must have encountered a file format -APK files- sometimes and asked yourself a lot of questions about it, especially about its usability and security. An APK file is commonly seen when downloading and installing apps that are not on the Google Play Store. There are many reasons why you decided to download these apps on PC. Some Android apps do not have a web-based counterpart to the browser. Also, gamers prefer to play on a larger screen than on a smartphone, or the games may be out of date. In all these cases, the games must be taken from somewhere other than the Google Play Store and will most likely be in APK format. Downloading the APK file is only half the job. You need to know how to open APK files on PC and which tools to use to run them.
Running an APK file with an emulator
Emulation is an exciting notion. From the early days of relay and punch cards, people were excited about it. Although many years have passed since then, emulation has not yet become popular. There have been attempts, especially to “translate” console games into the “language” of the PC. With so many discrepancies between different devices, emulation was never performed correctly. While smartphones are by no means a simple piece of technology, they are literally smaller than PC devices. This definitely means a lot less power consumed, which further solves some other emulation issues. In short, emulation is finally more than possible and achievable.
Using the BlueStacks Emulator
While there are many APK emulators available, BlueStacks App Player is the most popular. Officially, BlueStacks is a way to make apps work. However, in essence, it pretty much runs a full and heavily modified Android OS. In fact, you can even access the Google Play Store through it and download the purchased content. In fact, BlueStacks disguises itself as an Android device and appears in your Google Play device list.
not ideal
Still, BlueStacks is not an official Android emulator. It’s not running a standard build that Android devices run. Many changes have been made to make APK apps work on a Windows 10 PC. Don’t expect apps to fail you, but don’t be surprised if they do either. This is why BlueStacks is not used in app development – things will simply render differently on BlueStacks compared to a real Android device.
PC ports
Ports aren’t exactly emulators; in others words, are not really “tools that let you use Android”. Ports essentially mean installing modded versions of Android on Windows 10 systems. There are two main options when it comes to Android PC ports: Remix OS and Android-x86 Project. Unfortunately, neither of them works perfectly. The UI here is not standard Android; instead, it works on x86 project code that has been modified to provide a desktop-like user experience. This is not a bad thing, as you will be using the system on a desktop. Alternatively, you can try running an Android OS using VirtualBox. This is faster than the official Android emulator but not as effective and fast as BlueStacks. Also, you won’t have Google Play integration with this.
Running an APK from Chrome
One of the coolest things about the Chromebook is that it can run APK files. It’s a very basic OS, not capable of much, but it works brilliantly with APKs. How does he do it? Well, the OS is based on Google Chrome, so it has to do something with the world famous browser, right? Point. In fact, Chrome has a tool that lets you test Android apps in the browser. But why would you run an Android app this way? Well, it’s simple, really. All advanced Chromebook users will tell you that they actively use Android apps on their laptops, for lack of a better alternative. But why would a Windows 10 user want to run an APK file? Well, there are some Android apps that don’t have a web-based equivalent for the browser. For example, Evernote and Snapchat. Then there are plenty of cool games you might enjoy running, even apps that are frustrating to use on the smaller screen. In fact, that’s why some people get Chromebooks in the first place. Don’t worry, you don’t need a Chromebook to get them. features. Fortunately, Google Chrome is perfectly capable of doing this on your Windows 10 operating system.
Downloading Arc Welder
Google Chrome does not allow you to run APK files from scratch. There is no apparent feature which lets you do it just like that. You will have to download the tool called ARC Welder. This tool is a Chrome extension that you will find by searching for it as you would when searching for any other extension. Add it to Chrome and you can run apps on it one at a time. The cool thing about ARC Welder is that it will work on non-Chrome operating systems (macOS, Windows 10 and Linux). However, it is specially designed for Chrome OS. Please note that bugs may occur on Windows 10 devices.
Getting your hands on APK files
Now that you’ve downloaded and installed the tool you need to run Android apps from Chrome, it’s time to get your hands on the APK files. There are several APK databases available online. APK files are not hard to find. So just use Google and pay attention to the reliability of the specific APK site you are visiting.
Running an APK file using ARC Welder
Using Android Studio to Run APK Files
If you’re not familiar with Android Studio, follow along to learn how to prepare up to run APK files on Windows 10. You will need to make sure the SDK Tools have been installed on your system.
Using Android SDK to Run APK Files
You can also use Android SDK to run APK files with minimal download. Make sure you download the Android SDK from the website.
Final note
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