Google has an ambitious goal: expanding the reach of Android applications and running them outside smartphones and tablets. To achieve this, it is developing ARC (Application Runtime for Chrome). Chrome OS users have had access to a preliminary version since last September, but now it is available on any desktop thanks to the ARC Welder extension, as long as you have Google Chrome installed.
ARC: Application Runtime for Chrome
We all know how much time and resources Google invests in Android. Its virtues as an operating system are accompanied by the master plan to make it the definitive platform for distributing applications and multimedia content. However, there are times when Android can become a prison, especially for developers. Manually loading each APK to test on a tablet is a real hassle, and as an alternative there are several official tools, including an emulator. In recent months, ARC has joined the ranks. It is a hybrid between a compatibility layer and a sandbox that enables running apps without interfering with the rest of the system. Google launched ARC for Chrome OS in September, and within days something appeared that would eventually become its next step: a hacked version that activates ARC in all versions of Google Chrome.
ARC Welder: An Official Extension with Limitations
Yesterday, Chrome developers decided to give ARC an official flavor outside Chrome OS through a Google Chrome extension called ARC Welder. In theory, all a developer or enthusiast has to do is install the extension in their browser (an updated version is recommended), open the Chrome App Launcher, click on ARC Welder, and load the APK. I say "in theory" because practice gave us a rather significant reality check. Anyone expecting something similar to a full emulator or virtualizer will have to keep waiting. Everything seems to indicate that ARC Welder will spend a long time in beta, and the list of compatible applications is quite limited. In fact, I tried with half a dozen apps, and all of them threw similar error messages, demanding Google Play Services or other dependencies.
Still, we should keep a close eye on ARC Welder. The possibilities that open up for Google Chrome and Chrome OS are huge if support improves. It would be a mistake for Google to ignore the potential of bringing Play Store apps beyond Android. Add to that several things that the rumor machine let out on the Web, such as the idea of definitively replacing Android with Chrome OS...
