Google IO session confirms Android apps and Play Store are coming to Chrome

Google IO 2016 has proven to be full of goodies. We have been telling you all about them throughout the day, but sometimes there’s more to these events than meets the eye. Developers are learning the technicalities regarding the latest trends, so they may sometimes get an early glimpse at things that weren’t exactly announced in the keynote.

Such is the case with one of the sessions that was scheduled for tomorrow, and seems to have disappeared after the news started picking up steam. The developer session was titled “Bring your Android app to Chrome OS”.

The included description says the following:

Today we announced that we’re adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome! Come to this session and test your Android apps for Chrome OS. You will get hands on help from our friendly engineers on how to optimize your Android app for Chromebooks. Oh, and we will also be giving the first 50 developers to show up a free Chromebook so they can get a head start bringing their apps to Chrome!

The session was scheduled for May 19th at 4 PM, on stage 5. The same spot now reads “Optimizing Android apps for productivity”. That’s a whole other topic, so we aren’t exactly sure what Google is doing here. Maybe Google has simply put this one as a placeholder until tomorrow, when the news could be announced. Or they could have actually changed their minds.

Regardless, it is always nice to hear more about this topic. One of the biggest drawbacks of Chrome OS is its lack of applications. Last time we reported on this rumor we had heard, it was murmured Chrome OS would get over a million Android apps. Clearly, lack of apps would no longer be the issue, even if they are mobile-focused ones.

We will keep an eye open and see if there’s anything else we can dig out. We have two more days of Google IO, and plenty to tell you about. Keep it tuned for Android Authority for more details on this and all things Google!

What do you guys think? Is it a good idea to bring Android apps to Chrome OS? The Android experience is meant for mobile, touchscreen devices, so the experience will more than likely not be so intuitive. It’s always nice having a bigger selection of apps, though. Hit the comments to tell us where you side!