Microsoft released the first preview version to support Android apps in Windows 11. It’s available to testers on the Beta Channel version of Windows 11, which means you’ll need to subscribe to a Windows Insider to get access.
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| A look at Android applications in Windows 11 from Microsoft |
The experience of installing Android apps in Windows 11 is very simple
Microsoft has partnered with Amazon, so the Microsoft Store will list the apps but send them to Amazon’s Appstore to install or update them. This likewise introduces the Windows subsystem for Android behind the scenes, which is the essential innovation that powers Android apps running on Windows 11.
The Windows subsystem for Android drives the entire experience
You can stick Android apps to the Start menu or taskbar and utilize all the windowing and performing various tasks highlights in Windows 11 very much like a standard work area PC application. The apps work fine. I was able to run it alongside Word, Chrome, and other computer applications as if they were just regular Windows applications.
Apps show up in query items as though they were ordinary Windows apps
And the integration into the Start menu and taskbar makes it feel like any other app. It’s an amazingly seamless and integrated solution. However, the preview is not perfect. If you want to play three or four Android games, using the Snap Layouts feature in Windows 11 on your gaming PC, it might use the CPU at 100%, feel sluggish on everything, then seconds later it’s back to normal and usage is back. CPU to its usual speed.
Amazon App Store is the official store for Android apps on Windows 11
Microsoft’s Android app support relies on the Amazon Appstore at the moment, which contains only a fraction of the apps available on the Google Play Store.
The question is whether you really want or need Android apps. Personally, I only need a few apps and Android mobile games are the most interesting to me.
Bluestacks has been supporting Android apps on Windows for a very long time
The company has moved heavily to support mobile games on Windows. Microsoft is late to the party here, but its subsystem is clearly the result of years of work expanding Windows to include running Linux kernels and GUI applications. While Microsoft is busy running Android apps on Windows 11, Bluestacks is now working on getting Android apps into the browser and running them in the cloud.
Requirements to run Android applications on Windows 11
Microsoft imposes some requirements to run Android applications on Windows 11, which are:
- – Your device must have SSD storage.
- – Your gadget should have about 8 GB of RAM.
- – Your device must be running on an 8th generation Intel processor or later, an AMD Ryzen 3000 processor, or a Qualcomm 8xx processor or later.
- – To activate virtualization.
- – Be a Windows Insider on the Beta Channel.
- – The region in your device in the United States of America.
- – You have an Amazon US account.