Android apps on Windows 11 just got a bit better — here's what's new

Amazon Appstore installing on Windows 11

What you need to know

• Microsoft just shipped an update to the Windows Subsystem for Android.
• The update improves camera compatibility when using Android apps on Windows 11.
• Several fixes and improvements also ship with the update.

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Windows 11 has a handy feature that allows you to run Android apps on your PC. The Windows Subsystem for Android supports getting apps through the Amazon Appstore or sideloading apps. The latter is important as several popular apps, including Threads, can only run on your PC if you sideload the app.

Read more

(Image credit: Future)

- More Android apps are coming to PCs
- How to use Threads on Windows 11
- File sharing improves on WSA
- How to sideload Android apps onto Windows 11

Microsoft just shipped an update to the Windows Subsystem for Android on Windows 11 that brings it to version 2306.40000.4.0. The update improves camera compatibility and includes several other features and fixes.

The majority of these changes are minor, but they work together to improve the overall experience of running Android apps on Windows 11.

If you're new to the Windows Subsystem on Android, make sure to check out our guide on how to install Android apps from outside the Amazon Appstore. You can also sideload apps onto your PC easily with WSATools.

Here's everything that's new, as shared by Microsoft:

• Camera compatibility improvements.
• Fullscreen mode with F11 now displays hover taskbar to improve mouse and touch experience.
• Local networking (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now replacing “Advanced networking”. Android apps can connect to devices on the same network, on all versions of Windows 11, respect Windows firewall rules, and work with VPNs.
• Share user folders (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now gives users the option to change their default shared folder.
• The subsystem will now prompt if an app is trying to use a permission that the subsystem does not have.
• The subsystem has switched from EROFS to EXT4 for read-only disks.
• Fix for OneDrive folders not showing up in Android apps.
• Support for drag and drop for more file types.
• Improvements to picture-in-picture (new UI buttons when in PIP).
• Partially running mode now enabled by default for devices with at least 16 GB of memory.
• Stability fixes for Arm devices.
• Linux kernel updated to 5.15.104.
• Android 13 security updates.