Windows 11 gets Android Subsystem in latest developer build

Screenshot showing the Microsoft Store with Android apps on your PC
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Back when Microsoft did its big Windows 11 reveal, one of the surprising announcements was that it was bringing native Android support to its OS. Apps that act just like normal Windows apps—can be attached to your start menu, moved around, and generally treated like they are native x86 entities.

In order to make that work, Windows 11 will need an Android Subsystem, which is something that has just rocked up on the latest developer Insider Preview. It doesn't do much at the moment, but this is what will enable developers to play around with Android Apps in Windows.

This is possible thanks to Intel Bridge technology, which does the hard work to allow those android apps to run natively on x86 hardware. Don't worry, this isn't something that will only run on Intel's hardware either, it'll run just fine on your AMD PCs.

The revamped Microsoft Store will be getting this support via a collaboration with the Amazon App Store. As we said at the time, it's interesting that Microsoft decided to work with Amazon for this and not Google directly. Amazon's App Store has a smaller selection of titles compared to Google's, although all the most common apps are present and correct, and it's in a much healthier place than it was a few years ago—something that will surely only get better with this deal.

You don't have to wait until Windows 11 is launched to run Android Apps on your machine, as you can already do so thanks to BlueStacks, which runs most apps and games without much problem. The latest version, BlueStacks 5, runs well on modern hardware, and even supports macros and various rendering systems to help make sure your games run.

Windows 11 will be released on October 5. So not long until we see how native Windows 11's Android implementation compares to the alternatives.

Alan Dexter

Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.

Read more
Microsoft Windows 11
The latest Windows 11 dev build gives you the ability to snap together commonly paired apps for access in a single click, and I'm already sold
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite logo on a Samsung laptop
Eight months into the brave new world of Windows on ARM, and this is the state of play for PC gaming outside of the x86 arena
Holding an Xbox controller in front of a keyboard
Microsoft is finally rolling out its controller-friendly virtual keyboard for a better Windows handheld gaming PC experience
Peely from Fortnite with banana-fied Wolverine claws.
Fortnite comes to Snapdragon: Epic Games announces upcoming Arm support for its Easy Anti-Cheat software
A photo of the Windows update menu, showing that I'm all up to date
Latest Windows 11 Insider Build fixes 24H2 update's most annoying issues, including Auto HDR bugs and mouse stuttering
Windows 11 Task Manager showing 11 GB RAM use with a sad face drawn on top
A debloating wizard has managed to get Windows 11 running on just 184 MB of RAM, and it looks like it can actually run apps
Latest in Windows
Microsoft Copilot
A rather pleasing Windows 11 update bug automatically uninstalls Copilot and unpins it from the taskbar, which is jolly nice of it
Microsoft's Task Manager in Windows 11
After years of complaints about Windows Task Manager displaying CPU utilization incorrectly, a fix is finally on its way
Microsoft Windows 11
The latest Windows 11 dev build gives you the ability to snap together commonly paired apps for access in a single click, and I'm already sold
Windows 11's new emoji button in the taskbar.
You might mock Microsoft's new emoji button in Windows 11 but as someone that's explained how to quickly access emojis and special characters too many times, I get it
Windows 10 operating system logo is displayed on a laptop screen for illustration photo. Gliwice, Poland on January 23, 2022.
Valve's monthly survey reveals that almost 45% of Steam users on PC are still using Windows 10 even with the sword of Damocles hanging over them
Microsoft Windows 11
If you installed Windows 11 with certain security updates and a USB stick, you may not get any more security updates warns Microsoft
Latest in News
SUQIAN, CHINA - OCTOBER 6, 2024 - Illustration Tencent's plan to buy Ubisoft, Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, October 6, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Ubisoft and Tencent are forming a new company that will take control of its most successful franchises: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six
A motley crew riding out in point-and-click adventure Rosewater
Promising '90s style point-and-clicker Rosewater rides out today, featuring trail-worn cowpoke authors and weird alt-universe science
A girl cheering in Everybody's Golf Hot Shots.
My favourite, most underrated anime golf game series is actually getting a PC entry for the first time in its nearly 30-year history
A shock trap transformed into a Lego brick in Monster Hunter Wilds.
A modder keeps turning Monster Hunter traps into Lego bricks so that the monsters will know true pain, and they've just done it again
live action Jimbo the Jester from Balatro holding a playing card and addressing the camera
You've probably been pronouncing Balatro wrong all along, but 'it's kind of a gif/jif situation'
A late afternoon view shows two young women walking past a wall-sized anime mural along Chuo-dori (Central Avenue) in the Akihabara district (known as Electric Town for its maze of electronics stores, but currently considered an almost sacred destination by members of Japan's otaku culture, drawn to Akihabara's video game centers, maid cafes, anime shops, and manga comics), located in Chiyoda Ward in central Tokyo, Japan.
OpenAI's GPT-4o model gets image generation update for all of your anime-style selfie needs