Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android
Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android
Windows Subsystem for Android™️ enables your Windows 11 device to run Android applications that are available in the Amazon Appstore. Learn more about set up, device requirements, installing and uninstalling, input compatibility, testing and debugging, and using the Amazon Appstore.
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. Please reach out to our support team for further questions at support.microsoft.com. We are grateful for the support of our developer community and remain committed to listening to feedback as we evolve experiences.
lol, they advertised the hell out of this feature just to kill it off in a year or two?
Given that this depended on the Amazon App Store, and that Amazon seems to be moving away from Android dev in general, it seems clear that this is just a reaction.
Yes, in typical Microsoft fastion
It was a very good product, working very well for dev purposes.
But the Amazon app store... lol... I didn't see any single app worthy of being downloaded. Literally don't have any real app. And if accidentally has a good app, it was last updated in 2018
what about android studio?
WSA is (was) way more performant and allows resizing to any kind of aspect ratio on the fly instead of creating a specific AVD for each use case. It is (was) awesome for quickly testing UI layouts...
When this was released, MicroShit forced Amazon to remove Minecraft from non-Amazon devices, so they could sell the expensive windows store version. I had purchased it on Amazon appstore for my nephew through a gift card balance that I had. I had to buy it on Play Store again. 🤦♂️
And the greedy ducks probably won't bring it back to non-Amazon devices again.
I saw Windows subsystem and panicked thinking it was the Linux version. Did not know an Android variant existed, that's a bummer
Amazon is moving away from Android. This move isn't exactly surprising. It is disappointing though, imo. From my limited testing, I was able to side load an xmpp app on Android and message, voice call, video call seamlessly. In theory, the ability for developers of some types of apps to target Android and reach Windows without writing a touch of Windows-specific or accommodating code was a huge opportunity for open source developers to effortlessly reach cross-platform audiences.
This is such a shame. I play quite a few games through this that aren't available on Windows, by enabling Google Play on the system. The Google Play Games thing that Microsoft / Google were working on doesn't include anywhere near the number of apps I can get running via WSA. I really hope someone is able to bundle this up and release it as a standalone package once Microsoft drop support.