App Stores

App Stores

Android app stores run on Mac.apk, and they can install apps. Install a store once and you can browse and install from it the way you would on a phone.

F-Droid

F-Droid is the open-source Android app catalog. Install the F-Droid APK, open it, and everything in its catalog is a tap away.

Aurora Store

Aurora Store is an open-source client for the Google Play catalog, so it gets you the same apps you'd find on a phone.

Important

Aurora won't download anything until you give it a device profile. It's a one-time step inside Aurora.

Mac.apk tells apps it's a Mac.apk device. It doesn't pretend to be a certified Android phone. Google only serves downloads to devices it recognises, though, so Aurora needs to be told which device to ask as. Aurora has a setting for exactly this:

1. Open Aurora Store in Mac.apk.
2. Tap More (top right of the catalogue), then Spoof manager, then Device.
3. Select Pixel Tablet.
4. Restart Aurora Store when it asks.
5. Sign in again. Don't skip this. Aurora only sends the device profile to Google when you sign in, so changing it without signing in again does nothing. We test with the Anonymous sign-in; Aurora's Google sign-in works too.

Use Pixel Tablet and not one of the other profiles. Its chip type matches Mac.apk, so the app builds Google sends you are ones that run here. It's also the profile we test with, and the first thing we'll ask about if you report a problem with an app from Aurora.

Touch ID for every install

When F-Droid or Aurora installs or removes an app, macOS asks for your Touch ID or password first. No Android app should be able to put software on your Mac, or take it off, without you approving it, so the check happens outside the Android app where the app can't get around it. You can't turn it off.

What stores can and can't do

Stores can browse, download, install, update and uninstall. An app a store updates keeps its saved data, and a store can open an app it just installed. You can't buy anything; For Developers and Publishers explains why.