Android apps running native on macOS

Run Android apps natively on Apple Silicon Macs. No emulator, no virtual machine, no Linux underneath.

📱 Which apps work? See the compatibility list →#

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Alpha. Mac.apk is early software under active development. Some apps run beautifully, some run partially, and some do not run yet. It is stable enough to use and interesting enough to explore, and it improves with every build.

What it is#

Mac.apk runs Android apps directly on Apple Silicon. Apps launch as ordinary macOS processes, draw through the Mac's GPU, and execute on the CPU at native speed. They appear in your Dock, get their own windows with a back button next to the traffic lights, resize and rotate like any Mac window, and switch between light and dark along with your Mac.

There is no emulator here, and no virtual machine. Nothing boots Android in the background, there is no Linux kernel running underneath, and nothing is interpreted instruction-by-instruction. Mac.apk implements the Android application environment on top of macOS directly. How it works →

📖 Read the wiki →#

System requirements#

Quick start#

1. Download the disk image from the Releases page and drag Mac.apk into Applications. It is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens normally.
2. Open Mac.apk and click Install next to Runtime: in the top left.
3. Open Settings (the gear), find File types, click Make Default, and approve the macOS prompt.
4. Double-click any .apk (or .apkm, .xapk, .apks, .apkx), or drag it onto the Mac.apk window.

The first launch of any app is slow (up to a minute for a large one) while Mac.apk prepares it. Later launches are fast. Full details, updating, and the app stores are in the Installation and App stores pages.

Warning

An Android app's saved data lives inside its own .app. Dragging the app to the Trash deletes its saves; uninstall from the Mac.apk control panel instead. More →

Known issues in v1.0.2237#

See Known issues for this release, and the compatibility list for every app tested by hand.

Reporting problems#

Send the Mac.apk version, your macOS version, the app and where you got it, what happened, and the app's log from ~/Library/Logs/macapk/ to Kaleb@voltare.us or open an issue. Look the log over before posting it publicly. What to include →

Source code#

Everything that makes Mac.apk work is in this repository: the Android framework reimplementation, the native runtime, the arm64 loader and Bionic shim, the ARM32 recompiler and the macOS app. BUILDING.md explains how to build it, and CONTRIBUTING.md how to send a fix. App reports are just as useful as code.

Developers and publishers#

Mac.apk serves no ads and supports no in-app purchases, by design. If you publish an app that runs on Mac.apk and want to talk about a partnership, or would rather it not run here, email Kaleb@voltare.us. Details →

License#

Mac.apk is open source under the GNU AGPL v3.0, and a commercial license is available for companies that want to ship or offer it without the AGPL's terms. Using the official app is free. Details: COMMERCIAL.md. The Mac.apk name and logo are covered separately in TRADEMARKS.md.

Disclaimer#

Mac.apk is provided "as is", with no warranty of any kind. You are responsible for the Android apps you choose to load, and Voltare cannot test, audit, or vouch for any third-party APK. Voltare is not liable for damages, data loss, malware, security incidents, copyright disputes, or any other consequence of code that runs through Mac.apk.

Only install APKs you trust. An Android app running under Mac.apk runs as ordinary native code with your macOS user account's permissions. There is no phone-style app sandbox around it: it can read and write your files the same way any Mac app you run can. Treat an APK exactly as you would any program you download and run yourself, and get it from a source you trust.

Third-party software#

Mac.apk bundles several open-source components (ANGLE, MoltenVK and the Vulkan loader, Capstone, libpng, libvpx, stb_vorbis, Bouncy Castle, a JRE built from OpenJDK together with the libraries its font and image code uses, such as FreeType, HarfBuzz and GLib, and the Android platform resources built from AOSP source). Each is used under its own licence; the full notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt, and a copy ships inside the app at Contents/Resources/THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt.

Two of them, GLib and GNU gettext's libintl, are licensed under the LGPL. Their complete source for the exact versions in each release (upstream source, patches and build recipe) is attached to that release on the Releases page, with LGPL-SOURCE-README.txt explaining how to use a modified build.

Links#

• Project page: https://projects.voltare.us/macapk
• Wiki: https://github.com/kksimp/Mac.apk/wiki
• Commercial licensing: Kaleb@voltare.us
• Bug reports: Kaleb@voltare.us or open an issue