Microsoft is going to Shut Down the Windows 11 Subsystem With Android Support
Hello Uwinpc Users, Microsoft had this cool feature in Windows 11 called the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). This allowed people to run Android apps and games right on their Windows 11 computers! It was like having a little Android device inside your Windows PC.
Microsoft is going to Shut Down the Windows 11 Subsystem With Android Support |
Why is Windows 11 Subsystem (WSA) being shut down
However, getting this feature to actually work was kind of messy. After Windows 11 first came out, the Android support wasnโt even available yet. It took several months before some people in the US could try it through a program called Windows Insiders (where people test new Windows things). Many such problems are seen in the initial stages of Windows 11 such as File Explorer crash.
Even after that, it took many more months for the Android app support to become available in other countries like the UK and Canada. So a lot of people couldnโt access this big advertised feature for a very long time.
The other problem was that to get Android apps, you had to use something called the Amazon App Store instead of the normal Google Play Store that Android devices use. The Amazon Appstore had way fewer apps and games than Google Play. So the selection was quite limited.
Because of all these issues with the rollout and app selection, not that many people ended up using the Android apps feature on Windows 11, even though Microsoft hyped it up a lot initially.
Now, Microsoft has decided that supporting Android apps on Windows 11 is too much work for how few people are actually using it. So they are planning to completely remove this whole Windows Subsystem for Android thing.
Starting from March 5th, 2025, any Android apps or games you have installed on your Windows 11 PC will simply stop working. You wonโt be able to run them anymore after that date.
In fact, even sooner than that, from March 6th, 2024 (which is today!), the Amazon Appstore will disappear from Windows 11 entirely. So any new Windows 11 users wonโt even be able to get Android apps at all after today.
For the next year until March 2025, existing users can keep using any Android apps they already have installed. But Microsoft has clearly given up on this Android integration experiment for Windows 11.
Itโs a little disappointing because the idea of having Android apps on a Windows PC seemed really cool and innovative initially. But with the poor execution, app store limitations, and lack of interest from users, Microsoft feels itโs not worth keeping this feature around.
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