Android apps on Windows 11 get file sharing access

Have you tried out Windows 11’s ability to run Android apps? Pretty neat, right? But as you probably expected, the system has a few limitations in its early implementation. One of those is that you can’t access files on your standard Windows drive or any attached storage via Android apps and vice versa. Microsoft is addressing this teething trouble in the latest Windows Subsystem for Android update, which among other things, adds basic file sharing and transfers.

The update should be headed out to Windows Insider builds starting today, according to the Windows Insider blog (spotted by The Verge). Other changes include security updates for both Android and the Linux kernel, bumping the Chromium webview version to 113, compatibility fixes for camera and Wi-Fi, and raw input for Android apps designed specifically for PCs.

Android apps on Windows still have a ways to go before they’re ready for the average user, which is probably why it’s still not enabled by default. You have to install an Amazon app via the Microsoft Store (current rating: 1.8 stars), and there’s no smooth process for importing apps from either a standard Android phone or Google’s Play Store, the de facto standard for the platform. But with steady updates, it seems like Microsoft is interested in expanding the capability, if not fully embracing Google’s ecosystem of Android apps, as seen on Android-compatible Chromebook laptops.