Windows 11 will have built-in support for Android apps

Windows 11 Android apps
(Image credit: Microsoft)

During its Windows 11 event on Thursday, Microsoft announced that the next version of Windows and its new Microsoft Store will have built-in support for Android apps. They'll run natively in Windows 11 and be available through the Microsoft Store thanks to a partnership with Amazon's Android app store.

"They can be integrated into Start. They can be integrated into your taskbar. They're discoverable through the Microsoft store using the Amazon app store," said Microsoft's chief product officer Panos Panay. A video showed Android apps being opened and closed and snapped to portions of the screen just like any other Windows application.

Panay said that the Android apps run on Windows thanks to "Intel Bridge" technology. In a press release, Intel describes Bridge as "a runtime post-compiler that enables applications to run natively on x86-based devices, including running those applications on Windows." If your eyes glazed over as soon as you saw the word "runtime," the gist is that Bridge translates Android app code to code your PC can understand without you or the app developer having to do anything.

This isn't Microsoft's first stab at getting Android apps onto PCs—it tried to offer developers a way to rework their apps for Windows 10, but that implementation never took off. Native OS support is certainly better for both developers and users, and gives Windows 11 a feature comparable to Apple's new M1 laptops that can run both Mac OS and iOS apps. 

The partnership with Amazon is an interesting solution, though, and implies Google either didn't want to integrate its own Android store into Windows 11, or Microsoft didn't want to work directly with Google. The Amazon app store offers a smaller subset of apps than Google, though it'll still have most of the common apps that people use day-to-day.

Wes Fenlon
Senior Editor

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).

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
An old PC running Windows 11
Windows 10's end is coming: here's what you should do about it
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
woman using pc
9 Windows 11 settings we recommend changing
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
Latest in Windows
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
Retro 1990s style beige desktop PC computer and monitor screen and keyboard. 3D illustration.
Microsoft nixes details of its Windows 11 TPM 2.0 security bypass though there are still other ways of getting the latest OS on 'unsupported' hardware
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
Latest in News
spectre divide
Spectre Divide and its studio are shutting down after just six months: 'The industry is in a tough spot right now'
Naoe looking at the wrist blade in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft backflips, says Assassin's Creed Shadows will support Steam Deck at launch, but I doubt I'll actually want to play it there
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Recently appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Here comes Intel's new CEO: a semiconductor veteran that won the same prestigious award as Jensen Huang and Lisa Su
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Protestors attend the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Picket on August 15, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Lila Seeley/Getty Images)
8 months into their strike, videogame voice actors say the industry's latest proposal is 'filled with alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse'