Mac.apk v1.0.1732 (alpha)

Mac.apk v1.0.1732 (alpha)

Mac.apk runs Android apps natively on your Mac: no emulator, no virtual machine. This release brings
location services, online play in Rocket League Sideswipe, a playable Asphalt Legends, and fixes for
both issues reported here on GitHub.

Requires macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon. macOS 27 is supported.

New

• Location. Apps that ask for your location get the Mac's location from macOS Location Services.
  Mac.apk asks you first for each app, the way Android does, and macOS asks once for Mac.apk as a
  whole. Apps that use Google's location service get it too.
• Controls menu. A new Space Bar Taps Center mode turns the space bar into a tap in the
  middle of the screen (hold it to hold the tap), for one-button games. The menu now lists the modes
  first and each game's key-binding profiles below them.
• Tilt Control now steers games that read the tilt sensor from native code (Unity games such as
  Temple Run 2, and Asphalt Legends). While it is on, a game controller's left stick tilts too.

Fixed since v1.0.1702

• Make Default works on Macs where another app (such as Keka) has also claimed the .apk file
  type, and Mac.apk now shows up in Finder's Open With menu. The File types row in Settings shows
  whether it took. (#1)
• Blank login pages inside apps built with Jetpack Compose, such as mGrađani's NIAS login, now
  show and respond to clicks. (#2)
• Rocket League Sideswipe: Sign in with Epic Games works, online matches connect, and the game no
  longer shows as Not Responding or ignores clicks when it starts.
• Asphalt Legends is playable. It runs on Vulkan, reaches Gameloft's servers, and no longer
  freezes for up to a minute after launch.
• Temple Run 2 no longer crashes while loading.
• Apps opened from the Mac.apk window now show their permission requests, open as their own app
  (the same as from the Dock), and take keyboard focus. Clicking a game window that didn't take
  focus now gives it focus.
• A sign-in link coming back from Safari goes to the copy of the app that is already running instead
  of opening a second one.
• On macOS 27, installed apps take less disk space again.
• Material-style round buttons size their icons correctly (Organic Maps' map buttons, for example).
• The Screen size and Orientation pickers are gone from Settings. They never applied to installed
  apps; windows resize like any Mac window and View → Rotate (⌘R) turns them.

Known issues

• Rocket League Sideswipe: in a match the ball shows as a pink shape.
• Asphalt Legends can sit on its logo for about half a minute the first time it starts after
  macOS clears its graphics cache (after an update, for example). It is preparing its shaders, not
  frozen.
• Geometry Dash Meltdown: its full-screen ads play, but the game still breaks after one.
• Controller vibration is not supported yet.
• Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals graphics mode is not available: the game only offers it for GPUs on its
  own list of Android phones.
• Mindustry's public multiplayer servers turn away the F-Droid build of the game; that is the
  servers' choice, not Mac.apk.

Install

Download macapk.dmg, open it, and drag Mac.apk to Applications (replace the old copy if you have
one). The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Full instructions: the README.

Source code for the two LGPL libraries Mac.apk ships (GLib and GNU gettext's libintl) is attached to
this release below, with LGPL-SOURCE-README.txt; all third-party notices are in
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in the repository.

SHA-256 of macapk.dmg: 6bdf7853c15e65c029d6346994441d5d635db6002693a346da32c3d4ed45ba28

Mac.apk v1.0.1702 (alpha)

Mac.apk v1.0.1702 (alpha)

Mac.apk runs Android apps natively on your Mac: no emulator, no virtual machine. This release makes
Unity games work on macOS 27.

Requires macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon. macOS 27 is supported from this release.

Fixed since v1.0.1700

• Unity games on macOS 27. Subway Surfers, Crossy Road and other games built with Unity froze on
  an empty window at startup on macOS 27, because the memory range Mac.apk sets aside for them is now
  taken by macOS itself. They start and play again. If you are on macOS 27, update to this version.

Known issues

• Rocket League Sideswipe is slow to start (macOS shows it as Not Responding until its first
  frame), and in a match the ball shows as a pink shape. Sign in with Epic Games fails when Safari
  hands you back to the game; play offline for now.
• Geometry Dash Meltdown: its full-screen ads play, but the game still breaks after one.
• Asphalt Legends starts but its screen stays black.
• Fortnite does not run: it stops at Epic's anti-cheat, which Mac.apk does not and will not get
  around.
• Controller vibration is not supported yet.
• Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals graphics mode is not available: the game only offers it for GPUs on its
  own list of Android phones.
• Some apps still run only partially or not at all; the compatibility list has the details. Known:
  Efteling shows its welcome screen but parts of it are missing; Telegram's animations are not yet
  smooth; Signal's typing issue on its setup screens is still open; some AnkiDroid screens draw with
  visual glitches; Aegis can't use the camera or import a picked photo; the Clock app can't add a new clock.
• The first launch of each app takes longer while Mac.apk prepares the app's code; this happens
  once per app, and once again after each Mac.apk update (so after installing this version too).
• Mindustry's public multiplayer servers turn away the F-Droid build of the game; that is the
  servers' choice, not Mac.apk.
• Play Billing (purchases) and Play Integrity are not supported, by design.

Install

Download macapk.dmg, open it, and drag Mac.apk to Applications (replace the old copy if you have
one). The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Full instructions: the README.

Source code for the two LGPL libraries Mac.apk ships (GLib and GNU gettext's libintl) is attached to
this release below, with LGPL-SOURCE-README.txt; all third-party notices are in
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in the repository.

SHA-256 of macapk.dmg: 78cf42229749a7d864c61cb89adb66a8677faad7c909835b85e97d767a450e87

Mac.apk v1.0.1700 (alpha) -- game controllers, Controls menu, v1.0.1666 fixes

Mac.apk v1.0.1700 (alpha)

Mac.apk runs Android apps natively on your Mac: no emulator, no virtual machine. This release adds
game controls and fixes every known issue listed for v1.0.1666.

Make sure to open Mac.apk and click update runtime at the top left - Requires macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon.

New

• Game controllers. Controllers connected to your Mac (Xbox, PlayStation and others macOS
  supports) show up in Android apps as real game controllers, with buttons, sticks and triggers
  (tested with an Xbox controller across several games, Rocket League Sideswipe included).
• Controls menu. Each app window has a Controls menu in the menu bar that picks one input mode
  at a time, remembered per app:
  • Tilt Control: the arrow keys tilt the "phone" for games you steer by tilting.
  • Arrow Keys as D-pad: the arrow keys become a controller's d-pad, for games that move with a
    controller but not a keyboard.
  • None, or a key-binding profile when an app has one.
• Rocket League Sideswipe runs: menus, touch and sound (see Known issues for what is still off in
  a match). Games built on Android's NativeActivity, like this one, now start at all.

Fixed since v1.0.1666

• Among Us moves with the keyboard: turn on Controls → Arrow Keys as D-pad, then use the arrow keys.
• Full-screen ads from AppLovin (seen in Geometry Dash Meltdown) now play instead of showing an
  empty black page.
• VLC runs, and can open your files once you grant it All file access.
• AnkiDroid asks for file access correctly.
• .apkm bundles install from a USB drive or other slow disk, and one failed read no longer breaks
  the other installs in the same session.
• Big installs from app stores (Aurora Store, F-Droid) no longer fill your disk: Mac.apk keeps one
  copy at a time while installing, and refuses up front, as Android does, an install that will not fit.
• Graphics: 3D textures and texture copies now work in games that use them (Rocket League
  Sideswipe's field draws all the way to the back wall).

Known issues

• Rocket League Sideswipe is slow to start (macOS shows it as Not Responding until its first
  frame), and in a match the ball shows as a pink shape. Sign in with Epic Games fails when Safari
  hands you back to the game; play offline for now.
• Geometry Dash Meltdown: its full-screen ads play, but the game still breaks after one.
• Asphalt Legends starts but its screen stays black.
• Fortnite does not run: it stops at Epic's anti-cheat, which Mac.apk does not and will not get
  around.
• Controller vibration is not supported yet.
• Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals graphics mode is not available: the game only offers it for GPUs on its
  own list of Android phones.
• Some apps still run only partially or not at all; the compatibility list has the details. Known:
  Efteling shows its welcome screen but parts of it are missing; Telegram's animations are not yet
  smooth; Signal's typing issue on its setup screens is still open; some AnkiDroid screens draw with
  visual glitches; Aegis can't use the camera or import a picked photo; the Clock app can't add a new clock.

Install

Download macapk.dmg, open it, and drag Mac.apk to Applications (replace the old copy if you have
one). The app is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Full instructions: the README.

Source code for the two LGPL libraries Mac.apk ships (GLib and GNU gettext's libintl) is attached to
this release below, with LGPL-SOURCE-README.txt; all third-party notices are in
THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in the repository.

SHA-256 of macapk.dmg: fa9efbe5f875be83f790dfda8ca89fe900138fac3bd23e69708abf98a2ba1d4e

Mac.apk v1.0.1666 (alpha) -- first public release

Mac.apk v1.0.1666 -- first public release

Mac.apk runs Android apps natively on your Mac: no emulator, no virtual machine. Java and Kotlin
run on a real JVM, native code runs as native Apple Silicon code, and graphics go through Metal.
It is alpha software; see "Known issues" below and the README's Compatibility section.

Requires macOS 26.4 (Tahoe) or later on Apple Silicon.

Highlights

• App stores work. F-Droid and Aurora Store browse, install, update and uninstall apps
  (installs and removals ask for Touch ID or your password), and a store can open the app it
  just installed.
• Copy and paste both ways between Android apps and the Mac: Cmd+C / Cmd+X / Cmd+V / Cmd+A.
• Your files and photos. Android apps' shared Pictures, Movies, Music, Download and Documents
  folders are your real Mac folders, and gallery apps can view your Photos library
  (read-only) once you allow it. File managers get Android's "All files access".
• Google sign-in: add your Google account once in Mac.apk's Accounts panel, and apps' own
  "Continue with Google" buttons use it (you pick the account; the app gets a sign-in made for
  that app alone). Sign-in through a web page returns to the app afterwards (for example
  Thunderbird's "Sign in with Google"). Disclaimer: outside the Mac.apk account, Sign in with Google does not work on Mac.apk: apps that only offer it
  when Google Play Services is signed by Google (Mac.apk's is honestly its own) show nothing or an error, as on a phone
  without Google's Play Services. Use their email/username sign-in instead. Reddit is one of these: sign in with
  your email or username.
• Trackpad gestures: two fingers act as two fingers on a phone screen (pinch to zoom,
  two-finger holds).
• Privacy: Mac.apk's logs never record what you type (key presses and text-box contents are redacted, password
  fields always), and a runaway app can no longer fill your disk with log output (each run's log is capped and
  rotated; repeated lines are collapsed).
• Video and audio: YouTube videos play in NewPipe at 720p with hardware decoding; podcasts
  play in AntennaPod.
• Apps close instantly (about 50 ms, was up to 2 s for some games), show their plain name in
  the Dock and Launchpad, and get their real icon.
• Games: smoother Minecraft (frame hitches over 50 ms down from 788 to 13 in a measured run), and it no longer
  freezes after a few minutes or crashes when signed in online; full-screen ads in free games (for example Geometry
  Dash Meltdown) now show on screen instead of hiding behind a game that looks frozen; Jetpack Joyride
  runs without a stray quit dialog; Flappy Bird responds to taps in its normal window; plus fixes for Plague Inc, Jetpack 2, Frozen Bubble, Simple Solitaire, Anuto
  (drag-and-drop turret placement), OpenTTD and more.
• Apps: Reddit no longer crashes after about 45 seconds and its buttons respond; Telegram draws about 3x faster;
  Efteling gets past its splash to its welcome screen; Organic Maps downloads and draws country maps, Mastodon's
  date-of-birth picker and Open Sudoku's number pad work, Wikipedia's pop-ups no longer get stuck, and Instagram no
  longer leaves a process running after you quit it.
• Sign-in prompts: when an app asks at startup for a Google account you have already used with it, Mac.apk now
  checks with Google the way a phone does and offers your account.

Known issues

• Some apps still run only partially or not at all; the compatibility set grows every release.
  Known: Efteling shows its welcome screen but parts of it (the hero image, some buttons) are missing; Telegram is
  faster but its animations are not yet smooth; Signal's typing issue on its setup screens is still open;
  AnkiDroid's permission setup still fails, Aegis can't use the camera or import a picked photo, and the
  Clock app can't add a new clock.
• The first launch of each app takes longer while Mac.apk prepares the app's code; this happens once per app,
  and once again after each Mac.apk update.
• Among Us does not respond to the keyboard in this version; move with the on-screen joystick (click and drag).
  A fix is planned for the next version.
• Some full-screen ads (seen with AppLovin in Geometry Dash Meltdown) show an empty page with no close button and
  ignore Back; quit the app (Cmd+Q) to get out of one.
• VLC still does not run: it crashes once its first-run setup is done.
• Installing an .apkm bundle (APKMirror) straight from a USB drive or another slow disk can fail with nothing
  installed: Mac.apk gives up reading the app's name after 5 seconds, and after that one failure the other installs
  in the same Mac.apk session fail too. Copy the .apkm to your Mac's own disk first, then quit and reopen Mac.apk and
  install it again. A fix is planned for the next version.
• Mindustry's public multiplayer servers turn away the F-Droid build of the game; that is the
  servers' choice, not Mac.apk.
• Play Billing (purchases) and Play Integrity are not supported, by design.

Install

Download macapk.dmg, open it, and drag Mac.apk to Applications. The app is signed with a
Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Full instructions: the README.

Source code for the two LGPL libraries Mac.apk ships (GLib and GNU gettext's libintl) is attached to this
release below, with LGPL-SOURCE-README.txt; all third-party notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt in the
repository.

SHA-256 of macapk.dmg: 7ef1aa0e4a2508908be5eb7b51b869460f11fb971ff5f3883affab24564c6398