Acer’s new R13 Chromebook now supports Android apps in the Chrome OS beta channel

After going on sale about a month ago, Acer’s new 13-inch R13 Chromebook is now starting to ship to customers, but it doesn’t come out of the box with Android apps. Luckily, the functionality is right around the corner…

As first reported by Chrome Unboxed, the R13 now has full support for Android apps in the Chrome OS beta channel, specifically, Chrome OS v55. Its appearance in that channel means that support on the stable channel is coming up quick. Odds are the functionality will his the R13 “officially” within the next few weeks, but at the latest, it will probably hit when Chrome v55 hits the stable channel in December.

For those who have already picked up the Acer R13 already, you can check out this functionality by upgrading to the beta channel through Chrome OS’ settings. To do that, head to Chrome settings, click on “About Chrome OS” toward the top of the display, hit “more info,” and “change channel.” From there select beta, give the Chromebook a few minutes to download the update, restart, and you’re good to go. Once the functionality hits stable, you can downgrade with the same process (although a reset will be required).

More Chromebooks should be launching over the coming months with Android app functionality, so Google’s fairly quick turnaround in getting Android apps working on the R13 after launch should give promise that things will get even faster with other new Chromebooks. Of course, other Chromebooks will be getting this functionality over the coming year and you can even enable it now on any Chromebook…