How to run Android Apps on Windows 11

It may feel surprising at first to hear that you can run Android Apps on Windows 11 devices, but it’s here. During the Windows 11 launch event in June 2021, Microsoft announced that Android apps would be available in the new Microsoft app store. Moreover, it was announced that users can install and run the Android apps on Windows 11 OS. Before knowing how to run Android Apps on Windows 11, let’s first see how this is implemented.

How will Android Apps run on Windows 11?

Amazon has its app store available on all Fire OS devices; its title is Amazon App Store. Now Microsoft has collaborated with Amazon so that all the Android apps present on Amazon’s App Store would be available on Microsoft’s App Store as well. This enabled you to easily access them on any compatible Windows 11 device.

The question now arises is it is required to download Amazon’s App Store on a Windows 11 device. The answer is NO. Essentially, there will be a tile for Amazon’s App Store incorporated into Microsoft app Store wherein all Android Apps will be accessible. There is no need to download any additional software.

Note: Microsoft made it clear that all Android apps available in the Amazon App Store will not run on Windows 11.

Two app stores on Windows 11:

There would be Amazon App Store and Microsoft Store on Windows 11; however, they will not be like two separate app stores. Nevertheless, the Android apps will not be directly accessible in the Microsoft Store. They will be available from the Amazon App Store only.

As observed in Windows 10, the Microsoft Store will include all Windows apps within it. An additional tile of the Amazon App Store will be available inside the Microsoft Store. Therefore, the users first need to open the Microsoft Store and subsequently navigate to the Amazon App Store, which is integrated into the Microsoft Store. From there, people can navigate across tons of Android Apps and install the one they like.

Method-1: Installing Android Apps from Amazon App Store:

Steps for installation of Android app on Windows 11

Go to Microsoft Store (https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/store/apps/windows )
In that, search for ‘Amazon Appstore’ and then install it on your Windows 11 PC.
After installation of Amazon Appstore is completed, open it and log in through your Amazon account.
After being logged into the Amazon App store, search for any Android application you prefer to install.
Finally, click on the ‘Get from Amazon Appstore’ button.

After installation, these apps will be subsequently integrated into the start menu or the taskbar.

Method-2: Sideloading Android apps on Windows 11:

If you don’t want to install apps from the Amazon AppStore, then sideloading Android apps is an alternative. We hear that Microsoft will allow Windows 11 to support sideloading Android apps. It implies that you can load apps from source stores like Aptoide, APKMirror, F-Droid, and a few other safe and reliable sources.

At first, glance, sideloading Android apps may seem appealing as you get the freedom to install any app. But, it comes at the cost of some concerns. For those apps that are already free, there is no issue like piracy. But for the paid apps, people can download cracked APK files from unverified and problematic sources.

On the Android devices, Google developed a system that constantly scans for potentially malicious code, but this is not the case now on Windows. Since Google is not directly involved here, the security issue needs to be handled by Microsoft.

Method-3: Using Android Emulators:

For an extended period, Android Emulators have proved to be the go-to alternative for running Android applications. They were launched when Android was launched. Since then, it has become more and more prominent. Gradually, several Android Emulators have been launched; each of them has its pros and cons. Now, these Emulators attained a state where they can offer a realistic native experience that you can anticipate from an Android phone.

Some of the best Android Emulators are Memu, BlueStacks, LDPlayer, etc. These mentioned emulators essentially run nearly all games and Android applications. But the key difference between all these is what features they support and optimization.

Here are the steps to download and run an Android Application on an Emulator (LDPlayer is taken as an example) on Windows 11:

Download LDPlayer Emulator from the below link and then run it. https://www.ldplayer.net/
Once the file is downloaded, you need to run the installer file by double-clicking on it.
Click on the ‘Customize installation’ option to modify the location and other attributes.
Now assign the LDPlayer data path on your PC local directory and click on the ‘Install now’ button.
The installer will begin downloading all the essential files, so wait for a few minutes to complete the installation.
After installation is over, Open this emulator and login into your Google PlayStore account
(register your account if you don’t have one).
From that PlayStore, search for the Android app which you like to install.
Download and install that application.

Finally, you can now run the desired game or application natively without any issues.

Method-4: Through Windows 11 Emulation:

Another method that you can implement is the use of the native emulation functionality of Windows 11. Intel partnered with Microsoft to let native Android applications run on x86 architecture.

Amazingly, you would still be able to run those applications natively on both AMD and ARM chips. Moreover, the applications need not be reliant on your Android device that is synchronized with your PC. The case now is instead of Microsoft requesting developers to transform their applications into Windows native code; the OS would be able to execute those applications natively with negligible or zero revisions in the source code.

For this implementation, Microsoft has not requested assistance from Google. The creators of Android have teamed up with Amazon. So, you will not get the Google PlayStore, but the Amazon App Store integrated with the already available Microsoft Store. Therefore, most of the games and applications you download for Android would be available through Windows emulation. There will be a built-in search and discovery option and an auto-update option for applications even in Microsoft Store.

To download the Dev Beta from the Windows Insiders Program, follow the below steps to run an Android Application on Windows 11 through a proprietary emulation engine by Microsoft:

Open the Microsoft Store (https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/store/apps/windows )
Now search for any Android app and download it.
Open that application.

Concluding Note:

Presently, support for Android games and the way they will run is still not concluded. This is a crucial feature for those who download Emulators. Most emulators like BlueStacks and LDPlayer have employed plenty of features that give gamers a tangible benefit while emulating games on a PC. It is still vague whether Microsoft will follow the same path or not.

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