How To Sideload Android Apps on Windows 11( Easy Method )

One of the most expected features of Windows 11 is the Native support for Android Apps. Finally, The feature has been released. If you also want to run android apps on windows natively, Follow this easy tutorial. Although not available in the stable windows yet, You can use this feature by enrolling into windows insider Beta builds. one restriction that prevents most of the users from trying out this New and extremely useful feature is that Amazon Appstore is only available in the US region right now. Users from other regions cannot log in to the amazon store.

Thankfully, an alternate method is there if you want to try it out immediately. The workaround is to sideload an app to WSA If you sideload a third-party AppStore, you can then install apps easily just like from AppStore.) So here is the simplest Guide on How to Sideload Apps on windows. Before we begin, make ensure at least 4GB of storage is left on your installation drive, so that it does not cause a full device to slow down.

Side load Android apps on WSA

Prerequisite

• At least 8GB of Ram, intel 8th gen or Ryzen 3000 series Processor-Best laptops
• Windows 11 –How to update to windows 11
• version 22XXX -in Beta or Dev channel-how to Become a windows insider
• Windows Subsystem for Android enabled-How to enable WSA
• ADB installed – How to install ADB in windows

But once you installed Amazon Appstore, you cannot sign in to your Amazon account, and hence unable to download any apps. This is because, as of now, only the US region is supported. Thankfully, there is a workaround using this method you can install a third-party AppStore such as aptoid or Uptodown, or install your apps Directly.

Steps to Install android apps on windows 11

1. Open WSA Settings From Start

The first step is to open WSA. if you have not installed it on your device, then go to the Microsoft store to directly install it. If you are not from the USA, you may not see the App listed outright. for that, just change the language and region to the USA, and restart the PC. the downloading will take some time, as it is a fairly large file. Once it is downloaded and installed successfully on your device, it will show up in the start menu as WSA. Open it.

2. Turn on the Developer Option

We are going to Install our apps Via ADB commands, which is similar to installing apps on a Phone with the help of ADB. in order to use ADB comments we first need to connect our android to ADB. This is fairly simple, as we just need to go to the settings of the WSA and turn on developer mode. once we turn it on, we can connect it directly to our PowerShell/ command prompt window.

3. Open files and just Keep them in the Background

Simply open the android FIles app in the background. you don’t need to do anything on the app, as this is only to ensure that WSA does not Turn itself off During the process. instead of files, you may open any other WSA apps and keep them in the background. our process will complete successfully, as long as the windows core is active between the devices.

4. Copy the IP address

In order to connect the PC PowerShell with the WSA, copy the IP address of the WSA into the clipboard as shown below. we will use this to connect our ADB server to connect it in the next step, through which we will connect the ADB terminal to the subsystem for android.

5. Connect ADB to WSA.

First, we need to connect the ADB server to WSL, for that, we use either Commmant prompt or Power shell with administrative privileges. replace [172.19.180.85] with the IP address we copied in the above step. it will show connected. If you do not have ADB installed on your Laptop/PC, simply download it from this link and install it.

To ensure that ADB is installed, just type ADB into the command shell. if it shows an invalid comment, then ADB is not installed correctly, else, processed with the remaining steps. If you are familiar with android development, Yes, this is exactly the same procedure as connecting an android phone to ADB wirelessly.

adb connect 172.19.180.85

Install Apps

Now the last step is to install an app. Preferably, install a third-party AppStore such as aptoid, or Uptodown ( many such stores pack malware so only choose from these). Otherwise, you can install each app you need. You can download APK files from apkmirror, with is the Best site To do so.

We need to download the app file on our PC, and then copy its path. then paste it after adb install “path”. if it shows success, the installed app will be shown in the start soon.

adb install "apk path"

You can Now use the android apps Natively on windows.!!!!

Here are some screenshots of apps that I was able to install in windows.

Things worth Noting

Even though almost all apps I tried except launchers worked without fail, This is Not without cons. Most google apps cannot be used as google services are not provided by default. even many non-google apps that rely heavily on google services, for signing in, providing various services etc also Fail to work.

But every working app works far better than in an emulator and uses Significantly smaller amounts of resources. There is a workaround for Gaining google services, I will discuss it in the next post.

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