ARChon Emulator For Chrome System Requirements & Features

ARChon Android Emulator is the first Android emulator that works on Google’s Chrome browser. It is quite different from other Android emulators we reviewed so far. It can be used on Chrome across various platforms including Windows, Linux, MAC OS.

Moreover, it works on Chrome OS and Chromebooks. It runs Android APKs on Chrome! It supports a number of games and applications though it doesn’t claim to support all.

In order to be able to run it, you need;

Google Chrome browser connected to the Internet.

You also need ARChon Runtime Package / Extension installed on Google Chrome.

And for testing, A Modified .apk Android App package…

ARChon Android Emulator

How to install ARChon for Chrome?

Run Chrome, and download ARChon addon. Now you’ll have a big sized ZIP file. Go to Chrome Menu. Click extensions. Here, you’ll see a list of your Chrome extensions. Activate the developer mode by marking the small box on the right above.

After the activation of the developer mode, click on the ‘load unpackaged extension’ button above. From the popping window, choose the extension folder you downloaded, and click OK. It will be loaded on Google Chrome now. Now you need the APK files of the application you want to run. You can transfer this from your mobile device or download it from various websites.

From the official Chrome store, go to the “Twerk” page and click on “Free” on the upper right side. Allow loading of the extension to the Chrome browser. When the installation is complete, type “chrome://apps” on the address bar and press Enter. Now, run Twerk from the extension’s interface. Drag and drop your APK file on the Twerk window.

Read More: KoPlayer Emulator Android Player System Requirements & Featuers

On the next window, configure settings as you wish and click on the icon below. You need to type the name of the application to the box above. Determine the desktop as the output directory. When the conversion process is over, click on the ‘Load unpackaged extension’ button as in phase 2, and select the file from the desktop Twerk extension converted for Chrome. Now the application will be loaded on your browser just like a Chrome extension.

Installation in Steps

  1. Download the ARChon.zip file and unzip it.
  2. Open Google Chrome Browser
  3. You should see the options key located at the browser’s top right corner, click it.  You should then choose Tools > Extensions.
  4. Another way to go is to type “chrome://extensions/” in the address bar.  This will also open Extensions.
  5. From the Extensions panel, enable Developer Mode.  You should see that option on the top of the panel (Right-Center).
  6. Select Developer Mode, then click on “Load unpacked extension”. Select the unzipped ARChon folder.

Run any Android Application in Google Chrome

ARChon Android Emulator For Chrome

It’s an extension that allows us to run Android applications in our browser. For such purpose, we have to unzip the file, install it on the latter by accessing the extension manager from the address bar by typing Chrome://extensions. Once there, we have to enable the developer options. Now, from this extension management menu, we can load the folder by pressing the Load unzipped extension. The extension will be immediately installed on the browser.

Thanks to the latter, we can run any Android application in our browser. However, it might give us a few stability problems that will demand certain advanced knowledge that’s not at all user’s reach. Due to this reason, if you don’t want to complicate yourself too much, you might be better off sticking to BlueStacks to run mobile apps on your computer as you only have to download the APK and drag it and drop it on the interface.

Read More: MEmu Emulator Android Player System Requirements & Features

ARChon Custom Runtime

ARC is officially only designed for Chrome OS at the moment. To get around this, the developer created the ARChon Custom Runtime, which not only allows Windows, OS X, and Linux to run Android apps but also removes the limit on how many can be run.

Full Features of ARChon Software

  • Very lightweight because it is integrated with Google Chrome.
  • It can be used for all operating systems.
  • Supports the latest android system to date.
  • It can be used for all applications and android games.

System Requirements for ARChon Android Emulator

  • Minimum operating system requirements: Windows 7.
  • Requires a 64-bit operating system.

Load Additional Files

  • Put any additional files into /vendor/chromium/crx/, those would be accessible within the app environment
  • OBB files, one way: enable the enableAdb flag in manifest.jsonadb push /<package>/<some.obb> /storage/sdcard/Android/obb/<package>/<some.obb>

Convert Older Apps Created with chromeos-apk a Tool to ARChon Runtime.

  • Remove the "key" parameter from manifest.json.

Tweak Apps

Add "resize": "scale" to "arc_metadata" in manifest.json.

How to adjust the font size

  1. Modify the two files (gen_index.min.js and gen_main.min.js).
  2. Search a.prototype.computeValues_.
  3. Change the value of a.prototype.computeValues_.
  4. Let the value c double. Just like the following codes.
a.prototype.computeValues_ = function (a) {
    var c = 2*window.devicePixelRatio / getCurrentZoom() 
    .....
}

Read the manifest guide for more advanced tweaks.

Uninstalling ARChon

  • Remove the component and all applications that depend on it from chrome://extensions using the “Remove” button.
  • Chrome OS: Reinstall an app such as Evernote to get the official runtime.

ARChon Latest Releases

  • Download the runtime that is appropriate for your system:
Runtime Download
ARChon 1.2 – Intel x86 Chrome 64-bit / Chrome OS 64-bit BitBucket :: Mirror MD5:d77b468339cc512e121c003cc97715db
ARChon 1.2 – Intel x86 Chrome 32-bit / Chrome OS 32-bit (Win7 32-bit: Use something like Chrome Beta 38.0.2125.77 beta-m) BitBucket :: Mirror MD5:9c9844e2591a27d952098581011a2bce
ARChon 1.2 – ARM (i.e ARM-based Chromebooks) BitBucket :: Mirror MD5:3d6955c7702baf1e1d16a000d9f67b10

Old Versions of ARChon

Runtime Download
ARChon 1.1 – Intel x86 Chrome 64-bit / Chrome OS 64-bit (OSX: Use this in Chrome Canary) BitBucket :: GitHub MD5:d409801cac97cdff9ea6aad468ddc927
ARChon 1.1.1 – Intel x86 Chrome 32-bit / Chrome OS 32-bit (OSX: Use this in Chrome Stable) (Win7 32-bit: Use something like Chrome Beta 38.0.2125.77 beta-m) BitBucket :: GitHub MD5:5780637446ba941bd2969756f56f9671
ARChon 1.1 – ARM (i.e ARM-based Chromebooks) BitBucket :: GitHub MD5:d0a69d822399545ff67292b50f8c4047
ARChon 1.0 – Intel x86 64-bit BitBucket MD5:3bd2e6014a0cba0b1ee3c69462a9b46d
ARChon 1.1 – Intel x86 Chrome 32-bit / Chrome OS 32-bit (OSX: Use this in Chrome Stable) BitBucket :: GitHub MD5:873c4d116eabd1a5ebedec65d11d6d8a

ARChon Android emulator FAQ

How do you use an ARChon?

If you want to use an application on your Android device, you can use the ArChon Packager.
  1. Download ArChon Packager from the Google Play Store.
  2. Tap “Next”.
  3. Select “Installed Application”.
  4. Select the app from the list that you want to use.
  5. Tap “Next”.
  6. Make sure the settings are right, and then tap “Next”.

How do I use ARChon in Chrome?

Adding ARChon to Chrome
  1. Open Chrome.
  2. Click on what is often referred to as the Overflow Menu (three horizontal bars in the top right corner)
  3. Select More tools > Extensions.
  4. Click to enable Developer mode.
  5. Click Load unpacked extension… (Figure 3)
  6. Navigate to your home directory.
  7. Select archon.
  8. Click Open.

Which is the best Android emulator?

BlueStacks
BlueStacks is probably the best known Android emulator among Android users. The emulator is preferred for gaming and is ridiculously easy to set up. Other than the Play Store, you have the option to download BlueStacks optimized apps from its own app store.

How do I install ARChon?

Install ARChon on a Google Chrome browser
  1. Download the ARChon. zip file and unzip it.
  2. Open Google Chrome Browser.
  3. You should see the options key located at the browser’s top right corner, click it.
  4. From the Extensions panel, enable Developer Mode.
  5. Select Developer Mode, then click on “Load unpacked extension”.

Which Android emulator is best for low-end PC?

Seven Lightweight Android Emulator to Use on Your Low Spec PC!
  • Droid4x Emulator. The first on the list is an Android emulator named Droid4x.
  • BlueStacks 3. Next on the list is an emulator called Bluestack version 3.
  • MuMu Play.
  • BlueStacks 4.
  • GameLoop.
  • MEmu Player.
  • Nox App Player.
Which Android emulator is best for 2gb RAM?
Here’s a rundown of some of the best Android emulators on Windows.
  1. BlueStacksBlueStacks is one of the best emulators with which to play Android games on PC.
  2. Andyroid. Andy Android emulator will run any app on your Windows PC provided you have a decent rig.
  3. AMIDuOS.
  4. Jar of Beans.
  5. AMD AppZone.
  6. YouWave.
  7. GenyMotion.

What is the lightest Android emulator?

Just download and install these Lightweight and Fastest Android Emulators and tell us in the comments area below that which one is the best.
  1. Nox Player. The Nox Player is one of the best lightweight and fastest Android Emulator tools.
  2. Jar of Beans.
  3. Remix OS.
  4. Manymo.
  5. BlueStacks.
  6. GenyMotion.
  7. Droid4x.

What is the fastest Android emulator for PC?

Fastest Android Emulator for PC – Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP and Mac
  1. Nox App Player Emulator. Nox App Player is the best Fastest & smoothest Android Emulator for PC.
  2. AmiDuOS. AmiDuOS is the easy & Fast emulator for PC.
  3. Remix OS Player. Remix OS Player is one of the most and popular Android Emulator for PC.
  4. Bluestack.

What is an android emulator?

An Android emulator is an Android Virtual Device (AVD) that represents a specific Android device. You can use an Android emulator as a target platform to run and test your Android applications on your PC. Using Android emulators is optional.