 I can upload an Instagram reel from Windows? Oh, you bet I can. And it's not the only thing I can do either. The preview for Amazon App Store for Windows 11, AKA Windows Subsystem for Android, is finally upon us. So we're going to show you how it works, what it looks like, and some really cool ways Android makes your Windows 11 experience better. And you should experience our sponsor too, Graphis. Graphis is an automated phishing defense solution for Office 365 and G Suite emails that stops current and emerging email threats without lifting a finger. Get 30% off the list price and 30% off onboarding at graphis.ai slash linus. How does this even work? The Android today runs primarily on ARM processors, whereas Windows primarily runs on x86. Android x86 is sort of a thing, but only sort of. With that in mind, it's unsurprising that on PCs, most apps are going to be running in an ARM emulator that Microsoft says is provided by Intel Bridge Technology. Don't worry though, it'll still run on AMD systems. And if you're one of the dozens of people running Windows 11 on ARM hardware, those apps will run natively as well, just like on an M1 Mac. Most of us are stuck with the emulator for now, so as for the performance impact of that, Geekbench can give us a glimpse. It's clear that the CPU is being held back by overhead here compared to the native performance, but it's not bad all things considered. It's 50% higher than the next best Android device's single core performance and more than double that device's multi-core performance. Though if you're rocking that min spec 8th gen Core i3, you'll probably want to stick to lighter tasks. Unlike the CPU, OpenGL, the API that Android uses to accelerate 3D graphics, doesn't need to be emulated, and you have the option of dynamically picking a GPU for running Android apps. As long as everything is relatively new, there shouldn't be any trouble running most apps, although 4X anti-aliasing is enabled by default, so gaming performance may not be amazing on older integrated graphics unless you mess with the developer mode. It's worth mentioning that even with a good GPU, a min spec CPU may still lag behind if you're trying to play an ARM-based game. The Android version of RetroArch nets horrible performance results, running Super Mario World on SNES 9X at less than half the speed of native, and the increased latency of the threaded video option is required for frame rates over 30. This isn't indicative of every Android game, but it suggests that you might want to stick with alternatives like Bluestacks or Knox if you're looking to pwn some noobs running smartphones. The rest of the subsystem environment sets aside 6 gigs of RAM and has its own sandboxed storage. You can't access the files inside Android directly from within Windows or vice versa, but there is a file browser within the virtual machine. If you sideload an app that lets you transfer files, I used FTP, then you can get around this limitation. And if you sideload a launcher, you'll see that there's more stock apps in here too, like a camera, contacts, and the standard Android settings app, where we can confirm we're actually running Android 11. Now, this is pretty interesting because the other Android emulators you can download, like Bluestacks and Knox, all run either Android 7 or 9. I mean, it is kind of fitting for Windows 11 to be running Android 11, so... But what was that about sideloading I just said? Yeah, see, up here in America's hat, we're not allowed to use the Amazon App Store on Windows yet. Fortunately, there's a toggle right there in the Settings app for the Android subsystem to enable Developer Mode, where you can access ADB, or Android Debug Bridge. Using the Android SDK, you can install apps, uninstall apps, and debug apps, and any apps you sideload will show up in the Start menu like usual, unless you're installing Google frameworks or something to try to get the Play Store running. I couldn't, but it's only a matter of time. And it's time you got a new couch or pillow from lttstore.com. The extra support really helps with those long sofa sessions, you know? Because of the lack of support for Google services, however, remember, Microsoft is using the Amazon App Store, you're limited in the apps that you're able to install and the features you're able to use. While Chrome and YouTube, for example, install and run, you can't sign in. And the same will be true of anything else that uses the Google Account Manager, where some simply won't run at all. And beyond Google services, games that use their own installers like Fortnite straight up refuse to install sometimes. It turns out that there's a reason why Microsoft has been so careful with how and when they rolled out subsystem for Android. With all these caveats, it's fair to ask, why bother? In my mind, there are three reasons, convenience, preference, and cost. You have way more options for two-factor authentication via Android than on Windows, for example. And popping open an app whenever you need to get 2FA instead of unlocking your phone to do the same thing is a pretty significant time saving. There are also apps that only have mobile options, like some restaurants have mobile ordering but not online ordering. And smart TVs will often have apps to control them that just aren't available on PC. And then there are things that you could run on PC, but you just might prefer the experience on Android, especially when the alternative is simply a web page. A proton mail comes to mind, and then there's things like Instagram, where the desktop experience is straight up worse. Like it took until last year to be able to post and you still can't do reels. It boggles the mind. It makes about as much sense as how Antec used to be the big dog back in the day and they just dropped the ball and disappeared. Get subscribed because we've got a whole video diving into what happened there. As for cost, maybe you've already bought the app on mobile and you don't want to buy it again on PC. There's also a lot of free photo editing apps on mobile that just don't exist on desktop, like Photoshop Express, VSCO, Snapseed, all of these are powerful and free. On a PC, you'll probably have to pay. Your only free options are web apps like Pixlr and native apps like Gimp, which each have their own pros and cons. Mobile photo editors are often dead simple while getting good enough results, and if you're already familiar with it on mobile, you'll be familiar with it on subsystem for Android. For your trouble, you get dynamically resizable Windows that many apps actually already work with, along with full native notifications, including progress bars for downloads in apps like S3, and progress bars for downloads in apps like F-Droid. The keyboard and mouse are natively supported, and well, obviously there's thousands of apps out there to try out. I'm honestly surprised at how seamless the integration is for the apps that do work. And if Microsoft has their way, Android x86 apps might make a comeback to offer better performance and compatibility with the Android subsystem. While it's not as smooth today as iOS apps on macOS, and you're limited to the Amazon App Store unless you're into side loading, it's a far more coherent experience than software like Bluestacks can provide, and if Microsoft can give it the love it needs, it may seriously help Windows 11 adoption in spite of the recently announced need for a Microsoft account even on the Pro version. 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Thanks for watching, guys. Go check out our recent video where we looked at ways to improve the rest of the Windows 11 experience. Lots of good apps and tweaks in there.