What you need to know
- Microsoft recently outlined its plans for the Windows Subsystem for Android in a roadmap.
- A future update to WSA will bring Android 13, picture-in-picture support, and more features.
- The roadmap does not include any firm dates, but provides a glimpse of how Android app support on Windows 11 will evolve in the future.
Microsoft recently expanded support for Android apps on Windows 11 to 31 additional countries. The Amazon Appstore on Windows also reached a major milestone of 20,000 apps last month. Now, Microsoft has outlined some of its future plans for the tool in a roadmap on GitHub (via Windows Latest).
Android 13 is the most notable entry on the roadmap, though other features, such as file transferring, picture-in-picture support, and local network access by default, will make the Windows Subsystem on Android more powerful. Microsoft also says that “shortcuts” are on the way to WSA, but doesn’t provide much detail.
It’s not clear which elements of Android 13 will make their way to Windows 11. For example, the new theming options that Android 13 brings to phones may not make any difference on a PC.
The same GitHub page also provides a handy list of what’s already available for the Windows Subsystem on Android.
The roadmap does not provide any insight as to when the new features will ship to Windows 11.
While the most recent Insider update to the Windows Subsystem for Android doesn’t include any of the major features listed above, Microsoft did release an Insider build of WSA last week. Those in the Dev and Beta Channels can install Build 2209.40000.26.0 and receive the following:
- Improvements to the Camera HAL
- Improvements to clipboard stability
- Improvements to multi-threaded (>8 core) performance
- Improved security for graphic streaming
- Reliability improvements for package launches
- Security updates for ANGLE and GSK
- Annotated telemetry with package installation sources
- Window with legal information has been fixed
- Security updates to the Linux kernel
- Enhancements to platform stability
- Updated to Chromium WebView 105
