Chromebooks are able to run Android apps, but mostly just ones from the Google Play Store — if you wanted to install something that’s not officially sanctioned, you’d generally need to flip your device into a far less secure Developer Mode and/or beam it over from a tethered phone. That won’t be the case with Chrome OS 80, though — that release will add a native sideloading option for Android app APKs, according to Google.
Just ask AboutChromebooks’ Kevin Tofel, who spotted the news at Google’s Android Dev Summit this morning: this is a feature that some have been waiting on a very long while. And while Google suggests it’s merely for developers who want to debug and deploy their apps without needing a second device, it might come in…