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Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11 with Amazon's
Appstore

New, 96 comments

A surprise addition to Windows 11

By Tom Warren@tomwarren Jun 24, 2021, 11:37am EDT

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[7JTO7hJ]

Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11. The software giant
revealed its surprise Windows 11 addition during its special Windows
event today. Android apps will run natively on Windows 11 and will be
downloadable from Amazon's Appstore, via the new Windows store that's
included in the operating system.

Microsoft says it's using Amazon's Appstore to bring Android apps to
Windows 11. Apps will be listed in the new Windows store, and can be
pinned to the taskbar or snapped alongside traditional Windows apps.
Microsoft is also partnering with Intel to use its Intel Bridge
technology to make this a reality, although the Android apps will
still work with both AMD and Arm-based systems.

[lcimg_9abb] Android apps in the Windows store.

Android apps on Windows 11 are an obvious answer to Apple's progress
with its M1 chips and running iOS apps on macOS. While there are many
web equivalents to mobile apps, they're often lackluster, and certain
apps like Snapchat, Ring, Venmo, Roomba, and the majority of home
automation apps aren't available on the web.

Microsoft demonstrated apps like TikTok running on Windows 11 today.
The Windows store that Microsoft showed lists Ring, Yahoo, Uber, and
others, so we'll likely see full access to Amazon's Appstore. It's
not immediately clear how many existing devices will support Android
apps with Windows 11, as hardware will need to support Intel Bridge
technology.

[androidapp] Android apps on PC.

This surprise announcement follows Microsoft's original plans to let
Windows developers rework their existing Android apps for Windows in
2015. Project Astoria, as Microsoft labeled it, was a method to try
to convince developers to port apps and make it easier to do so. The
plan eventually fell apart less than a year later, with Microsoft
admitting that having "two bridge technologies to bring code from
mobile operating systems to Windows was unnecessary."

Related

Microsoft reveals the new Microsoft Store for Windows 11, and it has
Android apps, too

Microsoft has been toying with the idea of running Android apps on
Windows natively for years, and the company had been experimenting
with the idea of listing Android apps in the Windows store just ahead
of the Windows 10 launch. Instead, Microsoft pushed ahead trying to
convince developers to adopt its failed Universal Windows Platform.

Android app integration directly into Windows is a significant shift,
especially as the company has been favoring Your Phone as the method
to bridge the gap between Android and Windows. Microsoft has been
embracing Android as the mobile version of Windows for years, and now
those same mobile apps will run directly in Windows 11.

Update, 5:40pm: Added additional information on AMD and Arm support
for Windows 11's Android apps.

Related:

In This Stream

Windows 11: the latest on Microsoft's 'next-generation' OS

  * Microsoft will let devs keep every penny their Windows app makes
    -- unless it's a game
  * Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11 with Amazon's
    Appstore
  * Microsoft reveals the new Microsoft Store for Windows 11, and it
    has Android apps, too

View all 29 stories

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