How to Run Android Apps on Windows 11

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Microsoft has officially announced the end of support for Android apps in Windows 11 , but that shouldn’t bother you. If you used the official method and installed Android apps from the Amazon App Store, you can continue to do so until March 5, 2025. However, you can also prepare for the future and switch to an Android emulator right away. There are many good Android emulators for Windows 11 available now and you can use any of them to run Android apps on your PC. These days, Android emulators are much more resource efficient than they used to be, and most of these emulators should work well even on relatively inexpensive PCs.

Bluestacks

Bluestacks by now.gg has been around for a long time and has improved significantly over the years. This emulator allows you to download and install apps from Google Play, which is a big plus since many of its best features are focused on gaming. So, if you want to play your favorite Android games using your keyboard and mouse, Bluestacks is a good choice as it allows you to create macros and scripts to map your favorite actions to keyboard shortcuts, saving you time while gaming.

Additionally, it allows you to quickly change your device’s profile to run apps exclusive to certain devices. Some games like PUBG Mobile are best run on the developer’s own emulators, but most other apps and games work well with Bluestacks.

Bliss OS

If you don’t want to install an Android emulator on your computer, you can try Bliss OS – it has an option that allows you to boot from a flash drive . You can also install and use it on your computer for free if you want. Freedom of installation options and stability are the main characteristics of this emulator.

GameLoop

Tencent, the Chinese tech giant, owns GameLoop , and as the name suggests, its main focus is on gaming experiences. Since Tencent has published PUBG Mobile and many other mobile games, GameLoop’s goal is to provide you with the best experience while playing these games. It also comes with an anti-cheat system, which is good if you want to avoid hackers in your games.

NoxPlayer

NoxPlayer is also mainly aimed at people who want to play games, and if you are having problems with Bluestacks or GameLoop, try NoxPlayer. It has all the features you need for gaming: keyboard and mouse support, macro recording, and the ability to run multiple games simultaneously.

You can try the method to run Android apps on Windows 11 (while it’s available)

If emulators are not suitable for you, you can try the official Windows method to install Android apps until it works. Keep in mind that this method will no longer work after March 5, 2025, so enjoy it while it lasts. To do this, you need to install Windows Subsystem for Android from the Windows Store. Once that’s done, you can follow our guide to install Android Device Bridge (ADB) on your Windows 11 PC. Once that’s done, you should installMicroG , an open-source app that lets you run Android apps that require services Google Play. With these prerequisites completed, let’s download these apps. This may seem complicated at first, but if you know the process, it can be done quite quickly.

  1. To begin, open Windows Subsystem for Android from the Windows 11 Start menu under All Apps .

  2. In the Windows Subsystem for Android settings window, find and enable developer mode.

  3. Open the Files window at the top of the Settings menu to open Android on your PC.

  4. Back in the Settings menu, scroll down and click Update next to the IP Address option (it’s right below the Developer Mode switch). When the IP address appears, click Copy .

  5. Then open a Windows terminal as an administrator. Open Start > All Apps . Hover your mouse over the Windows Terminal , then select Advanced > Run as Administrator.

  6. In a Windows terminal window, enter adb connect (IP address) command using the IP address from steps 4 and 5. It should look like this: adb connect 1234.5.6.7

  7. Press Enter to run the command. If everything works, you should see a connection to [IP address] . We can now download APK files saved on your computer to run on the Windows subsystem for Android.

  8. Back in the Windows terminal window, type adb install followed by the folder path and file name in quotes. For example, the full command might look like this: adb install C:\com.whatsapp_2.21.21.15-212115005_minAPI16(x86_64)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com

  9. If everything is correct, you will see a “Stream install in progress” message in the Windows terminal after the installation starts and a “Successful” message when it completes.

That’s all. The application is now installed on your computer. Like other Android apps, you can launch sideloaded apps from the Windows 11 Start menu. They will be listed under the “all apps” section. Double click to launch the application and it will open in a separate application window.

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