Google ARC

The Google App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) allows google applications to be executed through android emulation in the Chrome Web browser. The recent release of ARC Welder allows many Android apk packaged apps to work on different platforms. Full Android emulation is not yet provided. The App Inventor MIT AI2 Companion app has been successfully executed on Windows 8.1. Below are the steps for installing and using the AI2 companion app under Chrome as am emulator for App Inventor live development.

1. Get Chrome
   
   Download and install the Google Chrome web browser.
   
2. Get ARC
   
   Open Chrome and click on the following link to access the Chrome web store ARC page. (You may need to use your Google Gmail account to establish a Chrome web store account.) Click on the Add to chrome button. Confirm adding ARC Welder.
   
   
   Wait for the installation confimation.
   
   
   In addition to launching Chrome apps from within the browser, ARC Welder allows Chrome apps to be launched from the desktop. A desktop launcher will be installed, (on Windows this occurs as a taskbar pinning of the Chrome App Launcher).
   
3. Launch ARC Welder
   The ARC Welder Chrome app can be launched in one of three ways:
   1. Click on the Chrome App Launcher icon and select the ARC Welder icon from the list of installed Chrome apps
   2. From within a new Chrome browser tab window, click on the  Apps toolbar button and then click on the  ARC Welder icon.
   3. Access your OS applications launcher list and then click on the ARC Welder icon.
4. Check for successful installation. If everything is ok you should now see the ARC Welder window:
   
   If the above window is not visible go back through the steps above very carefully to make you you did not make a mistake.
5. Click the ARC Welder Choose button and select a directory. I recommend creating a new ARC directory for this purpose.
6. Download the MIT AI2 Companion apk file
   An apk file is a package file that holds an Android application for installation purposes. The best way to get the latest version of the MIT AI2 Companion app apk file downloaded to your machine to install into ARC is to use an application to get it. Depending upon your operating system use one of the following links to download and install an apk download program:
   
   • Windows - Raccoon
      
   • Mac OSX - Real APK Leecher
      
   Once you have installed one of the above programs, use it to search for the MIT AI2 Companion app and then download its apk file. Be sure to note the directory/folder location of the downloaded MIT AI2 Companion app apk file.
7. If the ARC Welder program is no longer running go ahead and launch it. Click on the + Add your APK button. In the file dialog window browser to the directory/folder location of the downloaded MIT AI2 Companion app apk file and select it
8. After it has successfully installed you should see the following window:
   
9. Click the Launch App button to launch the MIT AI2 Companion app.
   
10. Start up MIT App Inventor. Open a project app. From the Connect menu select AI Companion  and enter the 6-character code from the connection window into the ARC launch of MIT AI2 Companion app.
11. Wait a few momnets for your app to appear.