Windows will lose support for thousands of applications, but you won’t cry

Windows 11 was announced as a kind of revolution. One of its distinguishing features was to be support for Android applications. This was not only introduced late, but also not entirely in the form in which it was promised. Android apps run on Windows, but their number is limited to the select few that are available in the Amazon App Store, at least officially.

That’s why I don’t think anyone will cry when informed that Windows 11 will soon stop supporting Android applications. Microsoft provided a specific date.

Windows 11 ends Android apps

The company from Redmond, without any announcement, changed the documentation of WSA (Windows Subsystem for Android), i.e. the subsystem responsible for handling Android applications. The new one contains information that it will no longer be supported from March 5, 2025. Moreover, starting today (March 6, 2024), Amazon Appstore will disappear from the Microsoft Store. Amazon itself announces that applications can still be downloaded, but from a dedicated link.

Customers can continue to use Amazon Appstore apps they previously installed and will continue to receive app updates (after March 6). Developers will no longer be able to submit new apps for Windows 11 after March 5, 2024, but developers with an existing app can continue to submit app updates until Amazon Appstore for Windows 11 is fully retired.

– Microsoft informed.

If you have been using WSA and Android applications on Windows 11 so far, you will still be able to do so, at least for the next year. Applications will also be updated (if the developer so desires), but no new ones will appear. If you haven’t used Windows Subsystem for Android, it’s a lost cause at this point. It has just become much more difficult, and in a year it will no longer be possible.

Fortunately, there are third-party applications that allow you to run Android applications, and not only on Windows 11.