14 DAY TRIAL // Android apps are already available on Windows 10, and it’s all powered by the Your Phone app that allows smartphones to be synced with PCs.
However, this feature is only compatible with certain Android phones, and according to recent information shared by Microsoft watcher Zac Bowden, the software giant wants to resolve this shortcoming by bringing Android apps to everyone.
How exactly this is going to work isn’t known at this point, but Microsoft reportedly wants to allow users to run Android apps almost natively, so theoretically, you won’t need another app to power the experience.
Certainly, this sounds like an ambitious plan, and it looks like Microsoft plans to make it happen rather sooner than later, with the feature to go live in 2021. Given the spring update will most likely bring us another small feature update with minor improvements, the fall update could be the one introducing these new capabilities, though expect it to go live in Windows Insider builds much earlier.
Android apps on Windows 10 Mobile
This isn’t Microsoft’s first attempt to merge two app ecosystems, as the company previously tried to bring Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile in an attempt to resolve the lack of options in the store. One of the preview builds that Microsoft shipped to its devices actually included support for Android Apps, and it was possible to run them without the need for other tools, though the feature was eventually abandoned, and we all know what happened next.
For now, the Windows 10 strategy appears to work much smoother than Windows 10 Mobile, so there’s a good chance that Microsoft is much more committed to making the Android experience as polished as possible on the desktop.
We’re still recommending a healthy dose of skepticism right now, as no confirmation of this rumor has been offered.