Mac.apk runs Android apps on Apple silicon Macs without an emulator, in a free public alphaMac.apk runs Android apps on Apple silicon Macs without an emulator, in a free public alpha

A new Mac app called Mac.apk, released as a free public alpha on 2 October, runs Android apps on Apple silicon Macs.

It is the work of developer Kaleb Simpson, under the name Voltare, and is distributed from a GitHub releases page rather than the Mac App Store. The first public build is version 1.0.1666. Simpson's documentation says it uses no emulator, no virtual machine and no Linux kernel. Instead, it implements the environment Android apps expect directly on macOS and runs their ARM code natively, converting it on first launch, which can take up to a minute.

Installed Android apps appear in the Applications folder and the Dock, open in their own windows and follow the Mac's light or dark appearance. Mac.apk installs ordinary .apk files and the split bundle formats sold by some download sites, and the open source F-Droid store and the Aurora Store client run inside it. It includes its own partial version of Google Play Services, so apps that check for a Play licence can do so against the user's own Google account. In-app purchases are blocked.

Which Macs can run Mac.apk?

• Apple silicon only, M1 or later. Simpson says Intel Macs are not supported and will not be.
• macOS 26.4 or later, because Mac.apk depends on a capability Apple added in that release for apps with native code.
• About 280MB of disk space.
• It is signed with a Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so Gatekeeper opens it normally.

It is free for personal use; commercial use needs a licence. It is not open source. The known issues list includes Among Us ignoring the keyboard, VLC crashing after setup and some full-screen adverts that cannot be closed. AppleInsider, which tried it briefly and found it smooth, adds that many things do not work yet, especially games with anti-cheat; that last detail is not in Simpson's own notes.

Our take

Running Android apps on a Mac has usually meant an emulator: a whole phone simulated in a window, with the battery cost and clumsiness that implies. Mac.apk's claim is more ambitious, closer to how Wine runs Windows software on other systems, and the native-window integration is what makes it interesting. If the approach holds up, an Android-only app becomes something a Mac user can keep in the Dock.

Two cautions. It is an alpha by one developer, and the Google Play Services piece is a reimplementation of Google's own software, which is exactly the kind of thing that breaks when Google changes something or objects to it. And notarisation means Apple scanned it for known malware, not that Apple endorses it. The apps it runs are a separate question: APPDOOK would install only Android apps from a source you would trust on a phone, because Mac.apk does not add Android's own store protections.

It also says something about the Mac. The macOS 26.4 capability it relies on is an Apple platform change that a third party has turned into a compatibility layer Apple would never ship itself. That is the Mac's open distribution working as intended, and the same openness is why Apple is tightening Full Disk Access for AI agents. Both are the cost and benefit of software from outside the App Store.