Last update: 12 March 2024, 08:30 IST
Windows supports Android apps through Amazon’s app store
Windows PCs support Android apps through Amazon’s app store, but a new update suggests that PC users will lose that option in the next 12 months.
Microsoft has announced that it will end its official support for the Windows subsystem for Android next year starting on March 5, 2025. The software giant announced bringing Android apps to Windows 11 in partnership with Amazon’s Appstore almost three years ago. Now, Microsoft has released an official statement on its website which reads: “Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android™️ (WSA). As a result, the Amazon App store on Windows and all WSA-dependent apps and games will not be supported starting next year.
According to the same announcement, users currently using Android apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore will be allowed to access them after the cut-off date. The notice reads: “Customers who installed Amazon Appstore or Android apps before March 5, 2024 will continue to have access to those apps until the termination date of March 5, 2025.”
However, users will not be allowed to download new apps after Microsoft ends the Windows for Android subsystem. Starting March 6 this year, Windows 11 users will also not be able to search the Amazon Appstore or related Android apps from the Microsoft Store.
This surprising move by Microsoft has shocked several users as the organization has continuously updated the Windows subsystem for Android over the past few years. Amazon also made an official announcement regarding Microsoft’s decision. That’s what Amazon promises to deliver to the Windows subsystem for Android users according to The Verge – “a smooth end-to-end support experience for developers and customers of the Amazon App store on Windows 11”.
They further mentioned that developers will not be able to submit new apps for Windows 11 starting March 5th. They said: “Developers will no longer be able to submit net new apps targeting Windows 11 after March 5, 2024, but developers with an existing app can continue to submit app updates until the Amazon Appstore is completely retired on Windows 11.”
Microsoft’s Windows subsystem for Android once seemed like an ideal competitor to Apple’s flexibility to allow users to run its iOS apps on macOS. This led them to partner with Amazon, but without official support for the Google Play Store, the experience wasn’t as seamless as Apple’s. This is probably the primary reason why Microsoft decided to end support for Android apps on Windows 11.