Google Play Store

Google Play Store and Google services

Mac.apk can run Google's real Google Play Store, Google Play services and Google Services Framework as apps of their own. With them on, the Play Store works: you sign in, browse, install and update free apps, and uninstall them again, and your other Android apps use the real Play services instead of Mac.apk's built-in ones.

This is off by default and optional. Mac.apk doesn't include Google's apps; you install them yourself (steps below). Without them everything else in Mac.apk works as before, with its own built-in Play services (see Google Accounts and Play Services).

Note

Still not possible: buying apps in the Play Store (paid apps and in-app purchases), and Play Integrity, which needs a certified phone's hardware. Apps that insist on either will still refuse to run.

What you need

• Mac.apk installed and working.
• Android Studio (free from developer.android.com), only for its emulator.
• About 15 GB of free disk space while you collect the three apps. You can delete the emulator afterwards.

1. Make an emulator with Google Play

1. In Android Studio, open Device Manager, then Create virtual device.
2. Pick any phone, then a system image whose Target says Google Play and whose ABI is arm64-v8a.
3. Start the emulator and let it finish booting. You don't need to sign in.

2. Collect the three apps

Open Terminal and run this. It saves each app, with all of its parts, as one file in a google-apps folder on your Desktop.

ADB="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb"
OUT="$HOME/Desktop/google-apps"; mkdir -p "$OUT"
for pkg in com.google.android.gsf com.google.android.gms com.android.vending; do
  dir="$(mktemp -d)"
  for p in $("$ADB" shell pm path "$pkg" | sed 's/^package://' | tr -d '\r'); do
    "$ADB" pull "$p" "$dir/" >/dev/null
  done
  (cd "$dir" && zip -q -j "$OUT/$pkg.xapk" *.apk)
  rm -rf "$dir"
  echo "saved $OUT/$pkg.xapk"
done

You should end up with com.google.android.gsf.xapk, com.google.android.gms.xapk and com.android.vending.xapk.

3. Install them in Mac.apk

Drag the three files onto Mac.apk, in this order:

1. com.google.android.gsf.xapk (Google Services Framework)
2. com.google.android.gms.xapk (Google Play services)
3. com.android.vending.xapk (Google Play Store)

Install all three before you open the Play Store. It checks that the other two are there and tells you if one is missing.

4. Turn on Use Google GMS

Open Mac.apk's Settings, find Google services, and turn on Use Google GMS. The section shows a check mark next to each of the three apps once it's installed.

You never open Google Play services or Google Services Framework yourself. They have no window; Mac.apk starts them in the background when you open an app, the way a phone does at boot. The first time you open an app after turning the switch on, Mac.apk adds a background item named Mac.apk under System Settings > General > Login Items, and macOS may ask you to approve it. Approve it. Here is why: Google Play services and the Services Framework need to keep running behind your apps, and macOS only lets an app start a background helper that you have allowed in Login Items. Without that approval the helper can't start, so the Play Store has nothing to talk to and won't work. The item doesn't open any window or run at login on its own; it only runs while an Android app is open, and it goes away when you turn the switch off.

If the approval is still waiting, the Settings section shows an Open Login Items button that takes you straight there.

The change applies the next time each app opens.

5. Sign in and use the Play Store

1. Click the person icon at the top of the Mac.apk window, choose Sign in with Google, and finish Google's sign-in page. See Google Accounts and Play Services.
2. Open Google Play Store from Mac.apk like any other app.
3. Find a free app and tap Install. When it finishes, the app appears in Mac.apk and in your Applications folder like any app you install yourself.
4. To remove an app, uninstall it from the Play Store or from Managing Apps.

How it behaves

• First launch after an update is slow. Each Google app re-optimizes its code once after Mac.apk updates. The Play Store is usable in about 10 seconds, but the whole Play setup takes roughly 30 to 40 seconds. The Play window stays up and shows it loading. Later launches are fast.
• Google services only run while an Android app is open. About a minute after you close the last one, they stop, and they start again when you open an app. While they're stopped, closed apps get no push notifications (Google holds them until you open an app) and Google's background sync pauses.

Turning it off

Turn off Use Google GMS in Settings. This also removes the background item. Apps go back to Mac.apk's built-in services the next time they open. You can remove the three Google apps like any other app.

Good to know

• These are Google's apps. Collect them only from an emulator image you downloaded yourself and don't share the files; Google's license terms for the Android SDK and its system images apply.
• Keep all three apps from the same emulator image so their versions match.
• If an app says Google Play services is out of date, collect the apps again from a newer emulator image.