Pretty sure you’re thinking about a completely different feature that’s tied to the Your Phone app. This is about running Android apps natively on Windows.
Comment on Microsoft to end its Android apps on Windows 11 subsystem in 2025
kaitco@lemmy.world 8 months ago
They might as well; it’s not great and it’s not easy to use.
You have to log into your phone every single time. The only reason I would want to use Android apps on a laptop is bc the phone is upstairs and I’m downstairs on the laptop.
The only workaround for this is to completely wonk around with the coding on the backend. Also, outside of a handful of games, the bulk of apps are trash and have better Windows non-store alternatives.
Not sure if they were trying to harmonize Android with Windows in the way that Apple products are made, but the whole thing has been executed as a huge mess.
pycorax@lemmy.world 8 months ago
kaitco@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I know exactly what it is. I was able to “sort of” run a couple Android apps, but it never took advantage of the fact that my laptop has a touchscreen, even when in “tablet mode” and the second time I attempted to use it, I needed to verify on the Android phone again. I’ve had better success with the likes of Bluestacks or Memu.
Like I said, though, the vast majority of apps are useless anyway and a Windows-based alternative usually exists that performs better.
pycorax@lemmy.world 8 months ago
What do you mean verify on the Android phone? I had 0 instances of that when I was using it.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 8 months ago
What do you mean “log into your phone every single time”?
I use WSA, and it works like any subsystem +I think this is a key point - it’s not an Android VM, it’s a subsystem, like the Linux one, and Posix before that. It means apps on those platforms appear to run natively.
I’ve installed a launcher to WSA, and it makes for a more-Android like experience (makes managing some things a little easier).
The Android apps I use on WSA behave just like on the phone - it’s useful for apps that don’t have a sync/web service, or apps where the Windows app or website sucks/doesn’t exist.