After years of development, Microsoft has finally shipped its virtualized Android-on-Windows subsystem. But a paltry selection of apps and excessive resource demands make this option hard to recommend.
For nearly a decade, Microsoft product planners have been chasing a dream of running Android apps on Windows. Last June, as part of the announcement of Windows 11, the company went public with intentions. And as of February 2022, those plans have coalesced into a shipping feature. After installing the Windows Subsystem for Android on several test PCs, I can confirm that it works as advertised. But as with Windows 11 itself, system requirements (and geographical restrictions) mean that many users are unable to test the new feature for themselves. If you’re among those who can install and run the necessary bits, be prepared to be underwhelmed by the extremely limited selection of apps. There’s good reason for the scarcity, though; the Android-on-Windows feature (which is still officially in Preview) doesn’t use Google’s version of Android, nor does it allow access to the enormous collection of apps in the Google Play Store.
