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Here’s how Android apps on Windows 11 are going to work:
Microsoft's Windows 11 announcement surprised us with the news that the upcoming OS will run Android apps alongside Windows apps. Unfortunately, the keynote was light on details. Will these apps use emulation? Will Windows' existing Linux support be involved? We got our answers shortly after the keynote, thanks to a follow-up developer talk that went into some details.
The feature is officially called the "Windows Subsystem for Android," which should tell you a lot about how it works. Windows currently has a "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (WSL), which uses a subset of the Hyper-V functionality to run Linux apps on a real Linux kernel alongside your Windows apps. (Hyper-V lets a second guest OS access the bare metal hardware instead of running on top of the host OS with less access to resources.) Real Android phones use the Linux kernel, and Microsoft is building an Android framework on top of WSL for the Windows Subsystem for Android. It sounds like we're essentially getting x86 Android running on Hyper-V.
Android apps under Windows should feel just like native Windows apps, with a top-level window, taskbar entry, and the ability to be pinned to the start menu. During its presentation, Microsoft said, "Behind the scenes, we actually create a proxy native app that handles the bridge between the Android app model and the Windows app model." Presumably, that means the system will provide things like a start menu shortcut, icons, entries in the app uninstall lists, and other minor Windows wrappings that will make the app feel native.
Microsoft is trying to do this with as little emulation as possible—maybe even no emulation, depending on your computer and app availability. Both Windows and Android run on x86 and Arm architectures, with Android favoring Arm and Windows favoring x86. If you're running Windows on Arm and want to run an Arm Android app, things will work out great. If you're on x86 Windows, Microsoft will try to ship you an x86 version of the Android app you want. But if the only thing available is an Arm app, "Intel Bridge Technology" is here to help by translating that Arm code into something an x86 CPU can run. Microsoft helpfully pointed out that this feature will also work on AMD CPUs.
Microsoft's approach is similar to how a few other operating systems have gotten Android apps up and running. Chrome OS's Android app support is probably the most prominent example. Chrome OS runs the Linux kernel already, and it stacks a containerized Android framework on top to run apps. If you have an x86 Chromebook, Chrome OS uses Android's built-in Arm-to-x86 binary translation. If you're on a Linux desktop OS, an installation of Anbox will do the same thing—loading the Android framework on top of Linux. You can even run Anbox on WSL today.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:25PM (6 children)
Ask around and you can probably get one for free. If you REALLY REALLY REALLY need to run an Android app.
/me looks at my iPhone …
… no extra apps installed, several original Apple apps deleted. Haven't found a single "must have" or even "nice to have" app yet.
Then again, I don't use antisocial media, so certainly don't want their shitty spyware.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:37PM (2 children)
All computers are to be phones now.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @04:46PM
Microsoft already tried to start down that road with Windows 8. We know how that ended up - ugly!
Still, they continue to convert their OS to a phone - each iteration phones home more.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by nitehawk214 on Sunday June 27 2021, @06:57AM
It is the new version of Zawinski's Law: "Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can."
All computers expand until they can act as phones. Those computers which cannot are replaced by ones which can.
Actually, I used to use Hangouts to make calls via my Google Fi number until Google fucked it up.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @05:24PM (2 children)
So you're atypical to most people with a 'smart'phone, who do fill their device's storage with apps.
Shut up, idiot.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @07:04PM (1 child)
How does not loading up my phone with all sorts of crap apps, especially social media apps, make me an idiot?
Just because it's a phone doesn't mean I want to load it up with all sorts of shit that phones home.
What are these apps that are so essential that refusing to install them makes me an idiot?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 26 2021, @10:33PM
Because billions of people aren't like you.
If billions of people use Android apps in their daily lives, who the hell are you to tell them that they shouldn't enjoy the same software catalogue on their desktop?
You're the odd one.