Android 11 Comes To Some Beta Chromebooks With Big On Board Patches

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You may or may not know it, but Chromebooks have been stuck on Android 9 for some time. In fact, we can trace the last major Android update on Chrome OS to February 2019. Yes, waiting over two years for an Android update is a bit excessive, but Google chose to skip it. Android 10 in favor of working on Android 11 since this version of Android has a much better way of handling windowed apps. Obviously, on Chromebooks, that’s a pretty big factor in how it all works together.

With this update to Android 11 finally arriving so that real users can try it out, it looks like Google is getting closer to some big changes in the way Chromebooks handle Android apps in the future. For now, this is only appearing for users of “ Hatch ” devices (10th Gen Comet Lake processors) in the beta channel, but it is expected to roll out more widely in the coming weeks. Let’s start with the big change under the hood.

ARCVM is finally a thing

If you’ve never come across ARCVM here on Chrome Unboxed before, let me quickly walk you through this one. Right now, almost all Chromebooks run Android apps in a container called ARC ++ (Android Runtime Container). This container was the first adaptation of what Google is now much more common with Chrome OS: containers of all shapes and sizes. When Android apps first launched they built the ARC ++ container and it worked well enough to say Chromebooks were running Android apps, but future work on things like Crostini (Linux containers), Parallels (Windows via PluginVM containers) and work in progress for Borealis (Steam via custom containers) have clearly caused Google to rethink how we should integrate Android apps on Chromebooks.

ARCVM was spotted a while ago and we have been talking seriously about its implementation for over a year at this point. We knew Google would eventually replace the old ARC ++ container with technology much closer to what they do with Linux apps, Windows apps, and Steam games (hopefully coming soon): we didn’t know just not exactly when the a big change would occur. While we are seeing signs that Google is leading the way for Android 12 on Chrome OS, it was initially rumored that Google was once again going to ignore the current version of Android in favor of the next one. We never bought into that idea, and I’m glad it wasn’t accurate, because Google’s fixes for Android apps this time around are really going to encourage a much wider use of them.

With Android 11 in place on the latest Chrome OS 90 Beta, Kent Duke of Android Police also noticed that not only is this an upgrade to Android, but ARCVM is the container that runs it. The screenshot of the build details of my Acer Chromebook Spin 713 is a little silly to include, here, but you can click this link to see the in-text reference if you need further proof. The Android apps I’m running on this Chromebook are in the new container and while I don’t really see a difference in performance – good or bad – it’s a big milestone as Chrome OS and Android continue to integrate more tightly. .

On the one hand, it should make it easier to troubleshoot Android issues on Chrome OS in the future. Second, it will likely make future versions of Android much more compatible with Chrome OS. And third, it finally allows users to load apps on their Chromebooks if they want to without putting the Chromebook in developer mode. Just like with Android, you need to enable developer mode in Android settings (repeatedly tap build info in Android settings) and you are ultimately responsible if things go wrong, but deleting downloaded apps on your Chromebook no longer requires the user. at put the Chromebook itself in developer mode and that means things are much safer than before when sideloading Android apps. And much simpler too.

Application scaling is fixed this time

Google attempted to implement uniform application scaling in October of last year, but things turned sour. The change caused all kinds of issues and in the end, Google ended up pulling the update and held it back until now. I guess the scaling issues are much easier to fix in ARCVM compared to ACR ++, but that’s just a guess at this point. Either way, the uniform scaling here is controllable (in developer’s settings for Android), and it makes Android apps on Chromebooks feel a lot more at home. Gone are the days of small texts, weird menus and undersized on-screen elements. Instead, Android apps feel incredibly native now and I have to say, I love this change. I mean, look at how well the text and menus in the Squid app now match system-level items in Chrome OS, and how much more native YouTube Music looks than the web version.

Squid is a great example of proper app scaling in action.

Apps like Gmail, Google Photos, and Netflix feel so much out of place on my Chromebook now with these changes, and I love the idea that I could actually start using certain versions of Android apps here and there. However, I’m mostly thrilled that all new users coming to Chromebooks for the first time can enjoy a much better version of Android on Chrome OS. Will there still be issues with the apps here and there? Sure! But at least when you launch a new app that you want to try out, you won’t painfully remember the locked-down nature of Android on your Chromebook. We feel so much more at home now.

Dark mode for Android apps is also here

As Chrome OS gets closer and closer to the arrival of system-wide dark and light themes, it looks like Android 11 will be up to the challenge as well. While not enabled by default, in Android 11 Developer Settings on your Chromebook, you can put your device in Dark Mode by flipping a switch. When you do, the apps will adopt their assigned dark theme just like they do on your phone. Until Chrome OS finally rolls out the system-wide dark and light themes, it won’t be very effective for most users as it is. However, here are a few shots in action:

For now, that’s about it with Android 11. I’m spending a lot of time with this right now and we’ll probably post a video on how to make it all work and include some other information we find along the way, but it’s safe to say this is the most up-to-date. Useful update for end users for Android apps on Chrome OS that we’ve seen so far. As a guy who tends to use web apps for just about everything, that’s a big deal when I want to try Android apps again. For years, they’re there as an added bonus, but it really feels like these latest changes bring Android apps one step closer to first-class passengers on the Chromebook train.

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