HIGHLIGHTS

• Microsoft has confirmed support for Android apps on Windows 11 will not arrive at launch.
• In a blog post, Microsoft said the Android support will arrive for Insiders in the coming months.
• Microsoft will allow users to run Android apps on Windows 11 with this feature.

Windows 11 is coming as a free upgrade to everyone using genuine Windows 10 on October 5. That will be the stable build of Windows that is likely not to come with bugs and issues, unlike that beta version that some people have been using for some time. Besides the bugs, the stable Windows 11 may also not come with an important feature: support for Android apps. Microsoft said that Android apps will be available on Windows 11 in the coming months, which means users will not be able to use TikTok or Instagram on their PCs for a few initial months.

“We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months,” Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing at Microsoft, said in a blog post. This means that the support for Android apps on Windows 11 through Amazon Appstore will arrive for Insiders first and then it will be rolled out to everyone using stable builds.

Microsoft has not said what it implies with “coming months”, but it is likely going to be sometime in 2022 since the rollout of Windows 11 is starting in October in a phased manner.

At the launch of Windows 11, Microsoft highlighted native support for Android apps as one of the biggest features that is coming to the next OS version for PCs. It indeed is, because, even though people have been able to use Android apps on their PCs using emulators, they have never been able to run them natively. Running an app natively brings a lot more stability along with the entire host of features from the app developer. Microsoft said there will be over 500,000 apps in the Amazon Appstore, including TikTok, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, among others.

Android apps are crucial for Microsoft’s new operating system because people are using their mobile phones a lot more in synergy with their PCs. Apple’s ecosystem of Macs, MacBooks, and iPhones already works wonders, but there has been no robust alternative to that so far for the Windows ecosystem. The Windows-based smartphones are dead for good, so everything lies in Android, which is the world’s most popular mobile operating system. Microsoft is still now allowing Google Play Store on Windows 11: it never will because Google is also in the PC business through its Chromebooks that run Android apps seamlessly — something Microsoft wants for its Windows 11-running PCs.