Microsoft is pulling the plug on Android apps for Home windows. The corporate mentioned it’s ending assist for Home windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), the underlying element behind the Amazon Appstore (and different Android apps) in Home windows 11. Microsoft informed Engadget it was responding to “evolving customer needs.”
Microsoft first mentioned in 2021 that Home windows 11 would be capable to run Android apps. When it arrived the next 12 months, customers may set up the Amazon Appstore, and a few particular person Android apps had been discovered within the Microsoft Retailer. The rollout was seen as a solution to the twin threats of Android apps on Chromebooks and iOS apps on Apple Silicon Macs.
A Microsoft spokesperson clarified to Engadget why it’s now terminating the characteristic. “As part of our commitment to meeting evolving customer needs, we periodically update our product offerings,” they mentioned. “This involves introducing new technical innovations and retiring products. Microsoft remains dedicated to an open platform and ecosystem, and we look forward to continuing to bring the best experiences and apps to Windows.”
With Microsoft blazing full-tilt into all issues AI, it might now see its previous makes an attempt at making Home windows a dramatically higher touch-focused platform as not well worth the sources. One other chance, as The Verge speculates, is that folks trying to find Android apps on Home windows anticipated the complete Google Play Retailer expertise — not Amazon’s variant, which has an inferior total choice.
Microsoft says clients who put in the Amazon Appstore (or different apps and video games utilizing WSA) on their Home windows 11 machines earlier than Tuesday can maintain utilizing them till March 5, 2025. In the meantime, Amazon clarified that its Appstore and affiliate apps will not be discoverable within the Microsoft Retailer starting on Wednesday. As well as, builders can not submit new apps for the Amazon Appstore on Home windows, however these with present ones can proceed to submit updates for them till this time subsequent 12 months.
As for what’s subsequent for Microsoft, the corporate is rumored to launch new Floor gadgets on March 21. The Floor Professional 10 and Floor Laptop computer 6 are anticipated, with the corporate presumably advertising them as its first AI PCs.