Windows 11 includes the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA), which allows you to run Android apps on your Windows device. If you develop Android apps on a Windows 11 system, this provides an alternative way to test your Android app. This guide shows how you can set up Windows 11 to run an Android debug APK exported from Construct.
Setup
You must have a Windows 11 device which supports the device requirements listed here. Note this includes enabling virtualization which the linked guide also covers.
Next, install the Amazon Appstore from the Microsoft Store. This will also install the Windows Subsystem for Android.
To be able to test unpublished apps, you'll also need to enable developer mode. Once installed you should then find the Windows Subsystem for Android in your Start menu. Select it to open settings for WSA. Under Advanced settings, make sure Developer mode is enabled.
Finally you will need to download the Android SDK Platform Tools for Windows. This includes the adb tool for testing Android apps. Extract all the files to a folder on your system, and make sure you know where adb.exe is as you'll need it later.
Testing
First build your Android app. See the guide Building Android apps in Construct for more details. You can test a debug APK with the Windows Subsystem for Android, so you don't need to do any signing.
Once you have your APK, place it in this same directory as adb.exe. Then open Windows PowerShell in the same folder. Usually you can do this by right-clicking in the folder and choosing Open in terminal, or holding shift and right-clicking and selecting Open PowerShell window here.
Connect to WSA
Now enter the following command to connect to WSA on the local device:
./adb connect 127.0.0.1:58526
The first time you do this, you may need to approve a permission prompt. However adb remains connected, so you should only need to do this once per session (until you reboot).
Install your app
To install your app run the following command:
./adb install ./app-debug.apk
Note replace app-debug.apk with the name of your APK file.
If it all goes well, it should print a success message. Then you should be able to find the installed app in your Start menu and run it!
Compatibility
Note that the Windows Subsystem for Android may not be identical to Android running on real devices in all circumstances. There may be compatibility differences, meaning some features work slightly differently on Windows compared to Android, or some specific Android features may even be missing. Further, remember that Android devices are typically interacted with via touch rather than keyboard and mouse, and also that your Windows system could be much faster than the typical Android device. All of this means you should still be sure to test your app on a real Android device to make sure it works well.
More information
For more information, as well as help if you run in to any problems, it is best to refer to the Windows Subsystem for Android documentation here.
Conclusion
While Windows may not run Android apps identically to other Android devices, it still provides a potentially useful way to quickly test or verify how your Android app works from the comfort of your Windows system, without having to deploy to a real device or install a separate emulator. WSA does use a version of the Android operating system so should be considered a more realistic testing environment for Android apps than Construct's preview (which is based on running in a browser), but less realistic than a real Android device. So it may be a convenient alternative option for testing Android apps, but remember to test on a real device before publishing to make sure everything still looks and works right.