Android apps have been obtainable to check on Home windows 11 for many of 2022, and Microsoft has been working laborious to enhance the expertise all through that point. Not solely did a Home windows 11 replace make Android apps quicker final month, however the newest model of the OS, Android 13 ‘Tiramisu’, is in improvement to be rolled out in future. 

The latter replace can be a welcome one; the ‘Future Roadmap’ part of Microsoft’s GitHub web page (opens in new tab) lists ‘File Switch’, ‘Native Community Entry’ and a bunch extra enhancements, all of which can give Android apps new smarts when used on Home windows.

But whereas it is nice that Microsoft is enhancing the Android expertise on PC, I am nonetheless not tempted to attempt it out on a desktop myself. Why? Effectively it primarily comes right down to the horrible apps which might be overflowing the Microsoft Retailer; in brief, the corporate has a rising downside on this space that must be solved quickly.

Passing on the Tiramisu for now

The above picture exemplifies why I’ve not been eager to check out Android apps in Home windows 11. Junk apps are all around the Microsoft Retailer, and although the roadmap in Microsoft’s GitHub web page may appeal to different builders to create or replace their apps for Home windows 11, it looks like a pointless endeavor.

The Retailer is filled with apps that do not do what they are saying. Granted, that is as a result of Android apps being pulled in from Amazon’s App Retailer, the place anybody can add an app, slightly than from the Google Play Retailer, however absolutely Microsoft may have a workforce to not less than approve or reject the apps that it consists of in its personal Retailer.

As a substitute, we have a state of affairs the place the thought of Android apps on Home windows sounds nice, however the place the execution is awful. And in consequence, we now have a redesigned Microsoft Retailer that was helpful a 12 months in the past, however which is now filled with junk Android apps.

If Microsoft needs Home windows 11 to be helpful and protected for everybody – and presumably it does – it must do higher. Till then, the Android expertise on PC will stay a irritating work in progress.