Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Amazon has opened its app store to any and all developers, allowing for any Android app to work on Windows.
- However, there is a likelihood that many developers will ignore this.
- As of today, there are over 20,000 apps available, a pittance compared to the over 3.5 million on the Play Store.
Microsoft stunned the tech world in 2021 when it announced Windows 11 would support Android apps. However, when the feature finally rolled out, the variety of apps was quite small, thanks to the Amazon Appstore being necessary for integration with Windows. On top of this, Amazon and Microsoft limited access to the store to a small group of developers.
Today, though, Amazon quietly removed the prohibition of certain developers pushing Android apps to the Appstore for Windows. In an update to its developer page (h/t XDA-Developers), Amazon has clarified that any developer can submit an app. When you combine this with previous news that Microsoft would also allow any developer to submit apps for Windows support, the floodgates are officially open. As it stands now, there is nothing stopping any developer from bringing an Android app to Windows.
However, time will tell if this actually makes a difference. As of right now, there are only about 20,000 Android apps that work with Windows. Additionally, Android apps only work on Windows in 31 countries. Finally, the entire feature is still not officially stable, with Microsoft still calling Android support a feature in preview.
With over 3.5 million Android apps available on the Google Play Store, it’s clear developers haven’t been rushing to push their apps to Windows. However, with pretty much all limitations lifted, we’ll hopefully see a significant increase in ports soon.