I’m of the opinion that Android apps running on Windows 11 offer little to no value for most people when they can just grab their Android tablet or Chromebook (or even their phone). This is especially true considering that the Amazon App Store is the delivery method for these experiences. Despite this, some people may benefit from certain applications on their desktop operating system.
We’ve talked in the past about what these apps coming to Windows mean for Chromebooks, so I won’t dwell too much on that today, but the answer is “not much”. Until Amazon matches the countless titles offered by the Google Play Store, it will only ever be an add-on service to an operating system that uses full-fledged software experiences.
Announced today, Windows Subsystem for Android (which should technically be called “Android Subsystem for Windows”, right?) just left beta and is now available in 31 regions . This means that anyone running W11 who wants to install Android apps and test them can do so quite easily.
First, you’ll need to enable the Windows Subsystem for Android, and the easiest way to do that is to just visit the Windows App Store and install the Amazon Appstore… yes, that’s not confusing at all. Either way, once you’ve done that, you’ll have access to over 50,000 apps. Don’t expect to install Google apps like Tasks, Calendar or Gmail – you’re still stuck with web apps for those.
In addition to the previous 21 regions already in beta, including the United States, you can now check out this update if you live in Australia, Canada, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook, Heard and McDonald Islands, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island and Tokelau.
If you’re like me, you’ll also need to enable virtualization in your BIOS, but I’m too lazy to try something that won’t even have Google apps or Play services. Still, if you’re interested, you now have the power to tinker around a bit and see what’s on offer.
