Game over for Android application support on Windows 11.
Since the launch of Windows 11 in October 2021, Microsoft has been implementing a feature that may seem surprising at first glance, but which has done many users a great deal of good: installing Android applications directly on their PCs. This requires the use of the WSA or Windows Subsystem for Android platform, which Microsoft has been supporting for many months. In fact, this feature, widely promoted at the time of the release of Windows 11, was the subject of insistent communications throughout last year, with the promise of an ever-increasing number of applications to be supported.
And yet... the publisher has just made a remarkable about-face, announcing without warning that WSA support will cease very shortly. In fact, Microsoft is even more precise than that. Windows Central quotes a document intended for developers: " Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). As a result, the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will no longer be supported beginning March 5, 2025. Until then, technical support will remain available to customers. Customers that have installed the Amazon Appstore or Android apps prior to March 5, 2024, will continue to have access to those apps through the deprecation date of March 5, 2025.
© Microsoft
Without needing a very precise translation, it is indeed understood that " Microsoft is ending support for the Windows subsystem for Android " first and foremost and that, by way of consequence, " the Amazon Appstore on Windows and all WSA-dependent apps and games will no longer be supported". The company adds a date to further clarify matters: March 5, 2025. Microsoft points out, however, that users who have installed applications from the Amazon Appstore before March 5, 2024 will be able to enjoy them for another year. Finally, the company specifies that technical support will only be active until the March 5, 2025 deadline.
Although no official figures have yet been published, it would appear that the lack of user enthusiasm for this feature is the reason for its removal.
