WSA is going away, what do I do!?

[Invincible Sugar]

Ahhhh! Riley is a meanie, I'm not nobody, I use WSA and I use it heavily for my current workflow.

 

WSA works really well with sideloaded .APK files, the notifications, file system access, and windowed apps all work flawlessly for me, and no other solutions I've tried like Blue Stacks or the official Android emulator are even remotely as integrated or easy to use.

 

I already have the feature installed on several PCs. Logically all the files are there or it wouldn't work. What can I do to preserve the feature for future installs? And, do I need to do anything to keep the current installs? Will an end of support in a year actually remove the feature from my systems, or will the feature simply stop receiving updates?

 

If it's just a stop to development I can live with that. All the apps I currently use on my PC through WSA are already older apps, they can take advantage of features in the newer Android versions but none of them require it, and they should keep working for years to come without further updates. But... if Microsoft can somehow remove the feature entirely I need some way to lock it down or restore the files. I can't lose this feature.

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[GoodBytes]

We don't know, but I think WSA will remain, but Amazon Store won't be there.

At worst, we can probably push in a Pixel phone OS with the latest Android version to WSA to get a newer version of WSA version of Android. Like what you need to do to get Google Store Service support, as MS can't provide it, due to Google.

 

[Invincible Sugar]

On 3/7/2024 at 2:19 PM, GoodBytes said:

We don't know, but I think WSA will remain, but Amazon Store won't be there.

At worst, we can probably push in a Pixel phone OS with the latest Android version to WSA to get a newer version of WSA version of Android. Like what you need to do to get Google Store Service support, as MS can't provide it, due to Google.

 

I have the package for the most recent update of WSA downloaded locally, I can "side load" it from that package without use of the Microsoft store or an internet connection. I also have an app from the Windows store, though presumably standalone .exe versions may exist as well, which bypass the usual process of using Android ADB to directly side load .apk files to my WSA system. I also have an app on my phone to extract .apk files so I can download apps from the Play Store on my phone and not mess with sketchy .apk hosting sites.

 

Presumably with all of these things I should be safe to keep using the feature for the life of Windows 11 on my current and any future PCs. The only limiting factor should be the internal android version of WSA, which for the niche apps I use now that won't matter for many years, they work now on versions as old as Marshmallow, I doubt they'll break any time soon on WSA.

 

Also, talking in the official Microsoft Devs Discord server several people are actively working on porting WSA to W10, updating WSA to Android 15 when that releases... so it sounds like the feature should be getting community support for some time.

 

My real fear is Microsoft somehow disabling or removing current installs of WSA. They've done this before, removing working windows features with forced system updates. I don't want to lose my WSA, but I don't care if it doesn't get updated past its current state.

[TheLANguy]

3 hours ago, Invincible Sugar said:

I have the package for the most recent update of WSA downloaded locally, I can "side load" it from that package without use of the Microsoft store or an internet connection. I also have an app from the Windows store, though presumably standalone .exe versions may exist as well, which bypass the usual process of using Android ADB to directly side load .apk files to my WSA system. I also have an app on my phone to extract .apk files so I can download apps from the Play Store on my phone and not mess with sketchy .apk hosting sites.

How did you "side load" the package? (I remember doing something like this before in PowerShell) I have been meaning to install it on a few systems, but of course now I cannot.

[wasab]

You can try getting an android phone or tablet. It might not be the answer you want to hear but it works 

[TheLANguy]

52 minutes ago, wasab said:

You can try getting an android phone or tablet. It might not be the answer you want to hear but it works 

I suppose that has always been an option, but it sure is less convenient to have to take out my phone!

[Invincible Sugar]

18 hours ago, wasab said:

You can try getting an android phone or tablet. It might not be the answer you want to hear but it works 

That would not work.

[Invincible Sugar]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:46 PM, TheLANguy said:

How did you "side load" the package? (I remember doing something like this before in PowerShell) I have been meaning to install it on a few systems, but of course now I cannot.

 

Current version of WSA:

http://tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/c7e4a2d1-eec9-41f7-9c20-04394821d8da?P1=1709828734&P2=404&P3=2&P4=cNfw1ZPI3fNsWL8dS%2bqSnR8Y29u%2fK36m5FkvSAUrSDrFkYbXEBjZlckSX%2fTah00cLmpnBgM7ejop55s1Dpwb9A%3d%3d

[Invincible Sugar]