In June 2021, Microsoft officially revealed its Windows 11 operating system. At that same reveal event, it announced it was collaborating with Amazon to offer its Appstore on Windows 11, so that Android apps made for the Appstore could run on Microsoft's OS.
In February 2022, Microsoft launched the Amazon Appstore for Windows 11 in a preview version. Last week, Amazon quietly revealed that the Appstore is now generally available for Android developers to submit their apps to run on Windows 11.
In a blog post, Amazon stated:
In partnership with Microsoft, we utilized the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) to provide a first-class experience for running Android apps available in the Amazon Appstore. Popular Android apps and games—including Audible, TikTok, Lords Mobile, Hungry Shark Evolution, and Epic Seven—are now reaching new users on PCs without having to create a separate desktop version for Windows.
Any Android apps that are submitted to the Amazon Appstore for Windows 11 for approval must have the following system requirements:
- RAM: 8 GB (minimum) 16 GB (recommended)
- Storage type: Solid State Drive or SSD (recommended)
- Processor architecture: x64 or ARM64
- Virtual Machine Platform: This setting needs to be enabled. For more info, go to Enable virtualization on Windows 11 PCs.
Android app developers can also access other tools to have their apps run well on Windows 11. One of them is the Amazon Input SDK. Developers can use it to quickly create an overlay to display the keyboard and mouse controls for their app or Android game.
Amazon is promoting the use of its Windows 11 Android appstore as a way for developers to expand their audience. In a separate blog post, Smilegate Megaport stated it was able to port their Android game Epic Seven to run on Windows 11 via the Amazon Appstore. It stated:
With Amazon Appstore’s developer tools, Smilegate Megaport was able to save hundreds of hours of development time by launching Epic Seven for Fire OS directly on Windows 11. Thanks to thorough in-house QA and Amazon's pre-submission Live App testing (LAT) service, they delivered a fluid and responsive gaming experience for both tablets and PCs.
Microsoft recently updated its Windows Subsystem for Android in its preview channel with a number of new features and improvements.
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