Microsoft has announced that it will be ending its official support for the Windows subsystem for Android next year starting from March 5, 2025. The software giant had announced bringing Android apps to Windows 11 in partnership with Amazon’s Appstore nearly three years back. Now, Microsoft has released an official statement on their website that reads, “Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android™️ (WSA). As a result, the Amazon App store on Windows and all applications and games dependent on WSA will not be supported from next year.
As per the same announcement, users who are currently using downloaded Android apps from the Amazon Appstore will be allowed access to them past the cutoff date. The notice states, “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.”
However, users will not be allowed to download any new apps once Microsoft ends the life of the Windows Subsystem for Android. Starting from March 6 this year, Windows 11 users will also not be able to search for Amazon Appstore or associated Android apps from the Microsoft Store.
This surprise move from Microsoft has shocked several users as the organisation has been continuously updating the Windows Subsystem for Android over the past few years. Amazon has also made an official announcement regarding Microsoft’s decision. This is what Amazon promises to deliver to the Windows Subsystem for Android users as per The Verge – “a smooth end of support experience for developers and customers of Amazon App store on Windows 11”.
They further mentioned that developers will not be able to send new apps for Windows 11 from March 5. They said, “Developers will no longer be able to submit net new apps targeting Windows 11 after March 5, 2024, but developers with an existing app can continue to submit app updates until Amazon Appstore on Windows 11 is fully discontinued.”
Read More: 5 Lakh X Accounts Banned In February 2024 For Policy Violations In India
Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Android once seemed like an ideal competitor for Apple’s flexibility to allow users to run their iOS apps on macOS. This led to them partnering up with Amazon but without official support for Google Play Store, the experience wasn’t as seamless as Apple’s. It is probably the primary reason why Microsoft decided to discontinue Android app support on Windows 11.
