Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (August 2022)

This release is an update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 to all Windows Insider channels (U.S. only). This update (version 2206.40000.15.0) includes several new updates such as updates for input compatibility in apps such as games, networking and windowing improvements, and reliability updates.

What's New

New suite of shims available to toggle in the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app which enables better experiences in several apps

• Compatibility for games with joysticks (mapped to WASD)
• Compatibility for gamepad in games
• Compatibility for aiming in games with arrow keys
• Compatibility for sliding in games with arrow keys

Scrolling improvements

• Networking improvements
• Android minimum window size defaulted to 220dp
• Improved dialog when unsupported VPN is detected
• New toggle to view/save diagnostic data in the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app
• Security updates
• General reliability fixes, including improvements to diagnostic sizes
• Graphics improvements

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (August 2022)

This update is for all U.S. and Japan Windows Insider Versions.

What's New

• New compatibility shim to allow apps to maintain aspect ratio but still support resize
• Accessibility improvements to the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app
• New compatibility shims in the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app
• Fixed problems with restarting apps
• Apps that update toast notifications instead of using progress toasts have better behavior
• Game controls user education dialog for apps with compatibility shims enabled
• Improvements with handling VPN
• Scrollbar fix for Windows Subsystem for Android Settings compatibility page
• User crash data and system app crash data is now being reported
• "No internet available" toast notification is now suppressed
• Custom Android toasts now render correctly
• Amazon Appstore 60.09 update
• Android security update
• Improved reliability

File feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™.

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (September 2022)

This update is for all Windows Insider channels (U.S. and Japan only) and will improve security, input issues, general reliability, and performance.

What's New

• Reliability fixes for App Not Responding (ANR) errors
• Improvements to input compatibility shims
• Improvements to scrolling (smoothness) in apps
• Usability Improvements to the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app
• Startup performance improvements
• Fixed crashes when copying and pasting extremely large content
• UX improvements for the game controls dialog
• Improvements to networking
• General graphics improvements
• Improvements for gamepad when using multiple apps
• Improved performance of uninstalling apps
• Fixed video playback issue for apps
• Updated to Chromium WebView 104
• Linux kernel security updates

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (October 2022)

Update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 to the Windows Insider Dev and Beta Channels. This update (2209.40000.26.0) will improve security, camera, general reliability, and performance.

What's New

• 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

Giving feedback
If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™. For more information about troubleshooting and submitting feedback: Troubleshooting and FAQ for mobile apps on Windows.

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (November 2022)

Update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 to all Windows Insider Dev and Beta Channels. This update (2210.40000.7.0) will improve camera, general reliability, and performance.

What's New

• Enhancement of audio recording quality
• Enhancement of OAuth scenarios
• Support for MPEG2 decoding
• Improvements to the camera experience when the device is not equipped with a camera
• Improvements in input reliability
• Chromium update to 106

Giving feedback
If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™. For more information about troubleshooting and submitting feedback: Troubleshooting and FAQ for mobile apps on Windows.

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (January 2023)

Today we are shipping an update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 to all Windows Insider channels. This update (2211.40000.11.0) will update WSA to Android 13, general reliability, and performance.

What's New

• Windows Subsystem for Android updated to Android 13
• Improvements in boot performance
• Improvements to mouse click input
• Improvements in clipboard stability
• Improvements to application resizing
• Reliability improvements to media files opening in Windows
• Jumplist entries for applications supporting app shortcuts

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (February 2023)

What's New

• Improved audio input latency and reliability
• Improvements to camera experience (camera metadata now exposed to camera apps)
• Improvements to framerate performance: certain benchmarks have improved by 10%-20% on ARM and 40%-50% on x64
• Fixed zooming out in apps using touchpad or mouse
• Improvements to platform reliability
• Using latest Chromium WebView to version 108
• Synchronizing global microphone and camera privacy toggles between Windows and Android apps
• Android 13 security updates

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (May 2023)

What's New

• Package verification for apps on WSA: Android apps are scanned using anti-virus software installed on Windows prior to app installation.
  
• Ability for users to configure how much memory to assign to Android
• Android apps will be launched when a user opens the supported app link from any app (Android AppLink support)
  
• Linux kernel updated to 5.15.94
• WSA reliability and performance improvements

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (June 2023)

This update (2305.40000.4.0) will add the long-requested file sharing, settings updates, and graphics fixes.

What's New

• File sharing enabled.
• File transfer using drop and drop and copy and paste.
• Windows Subsystem for Android Settings (renamed to just "Windows Subsystem for Android") redesign, including displaying all installed Android apps.
• Enable apps that specify android.hardware.type.pc in their manifest to opt into receiving raw input events.
• Wi-Fi API compatibility improvements.
• Camera hardware compatibility improvements.
• Linux kernel security update.
• Updated latest Chromium WebView to version 113.
• Android 13 security updates.

What is File Sharing?
We've been listening to the community, and many of you have been asking us to support sharing files between Windows and the Subsystem. We are pleased to announce that Windows Subsystem for Android™ can now share your Windows user folders, like Documents and Pictures, with the Subsystem, so scenarios like uploading a photo to a social media app or editing a video in a creative app work seamlessly. Folder sharing is enabled by default for preview users and can be toggled on and off in Windows Subsystem for Android™ Settings. When folder sharing is enabled, your Windows user profile folder (e.g., "C:\Users\John Doe") is shared as "/sdcard/Windows" in the Subsystem.

Privacy
Your privacy and security are important to us, so Android™ apps can only view or edit your files with your permission. Apps must show a system dialog to request your permission, and permission can be revoked at any time from app settings. The Subsystem also guards against malicious apps that would abuse your permission by scanning all Android™ apps with your antivirus software during installation and blocking threats, whether you installed the app from the Amazon Appstore or installed it with developer tools.

Limitations
There are a few restrictions you should be aware of:

• Only files in your Windows user profile folder are available to the Subsystem. Windows system folders, Program Files, other users' folders, external drives, etc. are not supported.
• Only files the Subsystem saves to "/sdcard/Windows" are available to Windows. When opening files in other folders from an Android™ app, the Subsystem offers the option of copying the file to Windows and opening it there.
• Windows hidden files/folders like AppData and Android hidden files/folders (dot prefixed names) are excluded from sharing.
• Executable file types, like ".exe" are excluded from sharing to protect your security. If the Subsystem tries to save a file with a blocked extension to "/sdcard/Windows", the save will fail.
• Cloud storage files must be downloaded to your device. If your cloud storage provider includes online-only files in File Explorer, the online-only files will not be available to the Subsystem until you download them. Simply open an online-only file in File Explorer to download it and make it available to the Subsystem. You can also modify your cloud storage settings to make some or all of your files always available offline.
• The Subsystem needs to index shared files before apps can access them. Indexing is usually quick but may take longer if you have a lot of files. Recent files are prioritized, so if you can't find a file in an Android™ app, try opening it from File Explorer first.

You can also share individual files with specific Android™ apps, even if folder sharing is disabled. Simply drag and drop files from File Explorer to any open Android™ app that supports sharing files. Some Android™ apps also support pasting files copied to the Windows clipboard. In these cases, apps only receive read access to the shared file.

Giving feedback
If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™.

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (July 2023)

This update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 is released to all Windows Insider channels. This update (2306.40000.4.0) includes improvements to advanced settings, fixes for OneDrive folders, and several requested features.

What's New

• Camera compatibility improvements.
• Fullscreen mode with F11 now displays hover taskbar to improve mouse and touch experience.
• Local networking (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now replacing "Advanced networking". Android apps can connect to devices on the same network, on all versions of Windows 11, respect Windows firewall rules, and work with VPNs.
• Share user folders (under Advanced settings – Experimental features) now gives users the option to change their default shared folder.
• The subsystem will now prompt if an app is trying to use a permission that the subsystem does not have.
• The subsystem has switched from EROFS to EXT4 for read-only disks.
• Fix for OneDrive folders not showing up in Android apps.
• Support for drag and drop for more file types.
• Improvements to picture-in-picture (new UI buttons when in PIP).
• Partially running mode now enabled by default for devices with at least 16 GB of memory.
• Stability fixes for Arm devices.
• Linux kernel updated to 5.15.104.
• Android 13 security updates.

Giving feedback
If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™.

[Corrine]

Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (August 2023)

This update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 is released to all Windows Insider channels. The update (2307.40000.5.0) includes improvements to system and graphics reliability.

What's New

• Platform stability improvements.
• Updated latest Chromium WebView to version 115.
• Android 13 security updates.

If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™.

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Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (September 2023)

This update for Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 is released to all Windows Insider channels.

This update (2308.40000.3.0) includes improvements to system and graphics reliability.

What's New

• Platform reliability improvements
• Localhost loopback support for "Local network access" experimental feature
• Clipboard reliability and performance improvements
• Kernel update to improve compatibility with running ARM applications on x64 processors

Giving feedback
If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™. For more information about troubleshooting and submitting feedback: Troubleshooting and FAQ for mobile apps on Windows.

[Corrine]

Update to Windows Subsystem for Android™ on Windows 11 (October 2023)

What's New

• Platform reliability improvements.
• Allow .cer files to be shared to Android.
• Graphics improvements.
• Android Geocoder APIs (Geocoder | Android Developers) provide valid data for all applications. Be sure to check the terms of use for using Bing Maps data. (Microsoft Software License Terms Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Android™ – Microsoft Support).
  
• Android 13 Platform Updates.

If you are having issues with Windows Subsystem for Android™ – please file feedback via Feedback Hub under Apps > Windows Subsystem for Android™.