Windows 11 shipped without the promised support for Android apps from the Amazon App Store, but Microsoft has announced the first preview of the feature for Windows Insiders in the Windows 11 Beta channel today.
The initial preview is only available to users in the United States, and it still isn't live as of this writing, despite Microsoft's blog post. (Update: It's live now. Microsoft notes that you may need to enable virtualization features on your PC to get the apps working.) The preview will provide access to 50 Android apps, including games, educational apps, and the Kindle app. Microsoft will release new apps to Windows Insiders on its favorite timeline: "in the coming months."
Android apps running on Windows 11 won't look or feel like native Windows apps, but they will support basic integration with the rest of the operating system, including access to the Action Center for notifications and the Clipboard. Microsoft also says that "many Windows accessibility settings apply to Android apps," but it didn't specify which.
The official system requirements for running Android apps are slightly higher than the already restrictive requirements for running Windows 11 in the first place. For starters, your PC will need 8GB of RAM instead of the basic 4GB and an SSD instead of a spinning hard drive. There's also a processor requirement: an 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor or newer, an AMD Ryzen 3000-series processor or newer, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips that power the small handful of ARM Windows devices. This appears to exclude Ryzen 2000-series chips and some slower Celeron and Pentium chips, though it's not clear how or whether Microsoft will be enforcing these extra requirements.
We've written about some of the underpinnings of the "Windows Subsystem for Android" and the Intel Bridge Technology that works behind the scenes to get ARM Android apps running on x86-based Intel and AMD PCs. We'll revisit the feature again as it gets nearer to a public release.
Listing image by Ron Amadeo
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