Best ways to run Android apps on Windows PC

Although Microsoft has removed support for Android apps from Windows 11, there are still ways to run Android apps on your PC if you want to. Here are the best ways to do it, whether you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 11.

What happened to the Windows Subsystem for Android?

When Microsoft introduced Windows 11, one of its big features was support for running Android apps with the “Windows Subsystem for Android”.

That feature was delayed, and Microsoft eventually launched it quietly. You can install Amazon Appstore from Microsoft Store on Windows and then you can install Android apps from Amazon Appstore on your Windows PC.

But most Android apps aren’t available on the Amazon Appstore — instead, they’re on Google Play. Neither Microsoft nor Amazon spent much time pushing or advertising these Android apps.

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Hobbyists have filled the void with tools that let you install (or “sideload”) Android apps from elsewhere in APK form and ways to install Google Play Services on the Windows Subsystem for Android so it can run more apps. (Many Android apps expect Google software and won’t work properly without it.)

These third-party developers essentially did the work that Microsoft and Google refused to do to make the software more usable.

This month, Microsoft quietly announced that it was removing the Windows Subsystem for Android from Windows 11. It wasn’t a huge loss since not many people used it. And while the software worked well, Microsoft never worked with Google to provide the full support for the Google Play Store on Windows that Chromebooks offer. Android apps may have been a boon on Windows tablets, but Windows seems to be taking aim less than ever these days. In a world focused on laptops and desktops, Android apps are not a top priority.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

The best way to run Android apps on Windows: BlueStacks 5

BlueStacks was the best way to run Android apps on PCs before Microsoft started supporting Android apps in Windows 11. Now, with Microsoft giving up on Android apps, BlueStacks is more the best way to run Android apps on Windows.

BlueStacks gives you full access to the Google Play Store, making it easy to install Android apps. It’s also completely free, though it has ads for mobile games and stuff, and it works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Those ads are a little annoying, but that’s the price you pay — did I mention it works well and it’s completely free?

In general, you should install and run BlueStacks 5. BlueStacks offers two versions: BlueStacks 5 is a traditional application that runs Android applications on your computer. BlueStacks 10 is completely different: it is an application player aimed at running demanding mobile games “in the cloud”. If you want to run a particularly demanding mobile game on a low-end PC, BlueStacks 10 might be a better choice. But for wide compatibility of Android apps, choose BlueStacks 5.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

BlueStacks 5 is easy to set up — you can install it and run “BlueStacks 5” from the Start menu to get started. In the BlueStacks app player window, you can click or tap “System Apps” and then select “Play Store” to launch the Google Play Store. Sign in with a Google account, and then you can install and use Android apps on your computer window.

Although BlueStacks is easy to use, it is quite a mature option packed with powerful options. For example, BlueStacks has a multi-instance feature so you can run multiple Android apps at once. Many competing similar apps are nowhere near as polished.

Other ways to run Android apps on Windows

While BlueStack is the best solution for most who want to run some Android apps, there are other options, including:

• Google Play Games: Google offers a beta version of Google Play games for PC. It’s designed to run mobile games on Windows PCs and supports “more than 100 games” as of March 2024, according to Google’s website. This can be a good solution if you want to play a certain mobile game on your PC, but it’s not a way to run any Android app.
• Google’s Android Emulator: Google offers an official Android emulator built into its Android Studio software. But this software is aimed at developers, it’s not easy to set up and in my experience it doesn’t work as well as BlueStacks.

• Other app players for Android: There are a number of other BlueStacks-style apps for running Android apps in a window. Many do not have the Google Play Store built in, may not provide the same level of performance as BlueStacks, and do not have the long history that BlueStacks offers. I recommend sticking with BlueStacks.

These solutions run Android apps in a player window – for example the BlueStacks App Player window – instead of running individual apps in own app-specific windows, like Windows 11’s built-in Android support. It’s unfortunate, and the lack of taskbar integration is annoying, but there’s no good solution for it.

Use Phone Link to use Android apps on your computer

But there is another solution. This includes using an Android phone — if you have one.

Basically, you can run an Android app on your phone and see it on your computer desktop, interacting with it using your mouse, keyboard, and even a touch screen if you have one. But the hard work is done on your phone.

Windows 11 and Windows 10 have built-in support for this. It’s available in the Phone Link app — assuming you have a compatible phone. It’s one of the many useful features included in Phone Link. You must use a phone that comes with “Connect to Windows (pre-installed)”. Microsoft provides a list of phones that come with this software, and it includes various Samsung Galaxy phones as well as phones from OnePlus, HONOR, Asus ROG and others.

However, it seems not turn on Pixel phones — I’m using a Google Pixel phone, so I don’t have access to this feature. (If there’s one theme here, it’s that Google and Microsoft don’t seem to be cooperating very much!)

If your phone supports this feature, all you need to do is launch the Phone Link app — the first time you launch it, it will guide you through the setup process — and look for Apps in the Phone Link window. You can even pin an Android app to the taskbar or Start menu for easy access.

If you have a phone without this software installed, you don’t have the same level of refinement in the available options. There are tools like AirDroid (screen mirroring) and Vysor to run Android apps on your PC and view them on your desktop, but I’m not sure there’s much demand for them.

Chromebooks still have support for Android apps

With Microsoft’s support for this feature, one thing is clear — if you want an operating system with first-rate integrated support for Android apps, ChromeOS might be your best bet. Chromebooks have built-in support for Android apps.

But Windows is still powerful and flexible, and even with Microsoft abandoning the Windows subsystem for Android, there’s still a lot you can do with third-party software.

More importantly, Android apps are much more necessary on Chromebooks because ChromeOS isn’t compatible with as many apps. Between powerful native apps and high-quality web apps, Android apps just aren’t that important on Windows. It might have been different if Windows had succeeded on touch-first tablets. But that first-touch tablet dream is in the rearview mirror.

Microsoft and the PC industry are now all about computers with artificial intelligence.

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