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Project Latte Will Allow Android Apps on Windows 10

By Laura Tucker
Projet Latte Windows Android Featured

The trend in tech seems to be less definitive systems and more all-around systems with all the same features. Spotify is testing a “Stories” feature even. With Apple’s Mac Silicon allowing iOS and iPadOS apps, Microsoft’s Project Latte is working toward allowing Android apps on Windows 10.

Project Latte

With the trend to not have distinctly different mobile and desktop apps, Microsoft’s goal with Project Latte is to allow app developers to bring their Android apps to Windows 10 without the necessity of code changes. They will be packaged as MSIX, and that will allow developers to submit them to the Microsoft Store.

This isn’t an original idea of Microsoft. The Astoria project was meant to bring Android apps to Windows 10, but the project never got off the ground.

Project Latte Windows Android Pc

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) will likely power Project Latte. Microsoft will have to bring its own Android subsystem for the mobile OS to run, though.

Microsoft has announced recently that WSL will get support for GUI Linux applications and GPU acceleration. This should help the performance of Android apps.

Not that all Android apps will have the capability to be used on Windows, however. It’s believed that Project Latte will not have support for Play Services because Google only allows it to be installed on native Android devices and Chrome OS. If a developer wants to bring an app that requires Play Services API to Windows 10, the app will need to have the dependency removed.

This is where Apple has the edge, putting iOS apps on the Mac. It owns both systems so doesn’t need to worry about anything not proprietary. Additionally, the Mac Silicon system runs on the same processors as iPhones and iPads.

The Future of Project Latte

Project Latte Windows Android Phone

While some Android users can run Android apps on their PC by streaming them with the Your Phone app in Windows 10, this is limited to only a few Samsung devices and isn’t completely reliable. Project Latte would allow all Android users to run the apps locally on their PCs without a dependency on phone brand. It would also allow apps that don’t already have a Windows version.

Microsoft has been inching toward this the past few years. It no longer has such a focus on native Windows apps. It already allows the PWA, UWP, Win32, and Linux platforms. Project Latte bringing Android apps over as well will make Windows 10 nearly a universal OS.

Sources say the Project Latte project could be bringing your Android apps to Windows as soon as 2021.

Read on to learn how to use the Genymotion app emulator to run Android apps on Windows 10 or check out our list of six of the best Android emulators.

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Laura Tucker Avatar
Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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