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Windows 11 brought a raft of new features to the venerable operating system, including the ability to run Android apps. Microsoft partnered with Amazon to deploy those apps on Windows, but the Amazon Appstore has only been available in preview mode since early last year. Now, Amazon is throwing the doors wide, offering Android developers the option to port their apps to Windows with minor alterations.
The Android app functionality in Windows is contained in the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), a virtual machine that runs Android apps side-by-side with your traditional Windows apps. You can sideload apps and even get the Google Play Store working with some tinkering, but the Amazon Appstore is the only “official” way to install Android apps on your PC.
At launch, the Appstore only included a subset of Android apps from Amazon’s store, and that was already a tiny fraction of all the Android apps in Google’s ecosystem. The latest update can only improve matters. Amazon says the Appstore is now “generally available,” and it has provided tools to help developers make their apps Windows-compatible. For example, the Amazon Input SDK allows developers to include overlays that explain the available mouse and keyboard controls for an app, which can help with software initially designed for handheld touchscreens.
Credit: Amazon / Microsoft
Amazon believes this move will lead to many more Android apps on Windows. It’s not a foregone conclusion that developers will be interested, though. Windows is a large user base, but WSA is not installed on systems by default, and you need to meet stringent system requirements to install it. You need at least 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended), a Ryzen 3000 or Intel Core 8th Gen or higher, and a solid-state drive. Loading WSA can be confusing even if your PC has the necessary specs, so only a segment of Windows 11 users will ever use Android apps on their machines.
If you want to see all the apps that (might) appear in WSA, you can get started in just a few clicks. Open the Windows Store and search for the Amazon Appstore. The store will install the subsystem, and the subsystem installs the Amazon client like some manner of software turducken. From there, you can install apps from Amazon or sideload your own if Amazon’s prediction of more Android apps does not come true.
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