How to Run Android Apps on Windows 10

Windows 10 can’t install Android apps by itself, but you have three working routes in 2026. To use the apps already on your Android phone, open Phone Link on the PC, link your phone, and select Apps. To play Android games, install Google Play Games on PC from Google. To run almost any Android app on the PC itself, install an Android emulator such as BlueStacks or Google’s Android Emulator, sign in to Google Play inside it, and install the app there.

Applies to: Windows 10 version 22H2 (Home and Pro). Microsoft ended regular Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025, and Extended Security Updates for consumers run through October 12, 2027. The old built-in option, Windows Subsystem for Android with the Amazon Appstore, was a Windows 11 feature and was removed from the Microsoft Store on March 5, 2025, so it’s not covered here except to explain what happened to it.

Which option should you use?

Each route solves a different problem. Pick by what you want to do, not by which one sounds most powerful.

What you want	Best option	Where the app actually runs	Main catch
Reply in WhatsApp, check a banking app or use a phone-only app with your keyboard and mouse	Phone Link Apps	On your phone, shown in a window on the PC	Works only with phones on Microsoft’s supported list
Play Android games on a bigger screen	Google Play Games on PC	On the PC	Games only, and only titles Google has approved for PC
Install and run a general Android app on the PC without a phone	Android emulator	On the PC, inside a virtual Android device	Heavy on memory and CPU; some apps block emulators
Use a service that also has a website or Windows app	Windows or web version	On the PC, natively	Not every app has one

A quick rule: if you own a supported Android phone and the app is already on it, start with Phone Link. If you don’t, or your phone isn’t supported, use Google Play Games for games and an emulator for everything else.

Before you start

• Check your Windows 10 version. Press Windows + R, type winver and press Enter. The window should say Version 22H2. Phone Link needs the Windows 10 October 2022 Update (22H2) or later, and 22H2 is also the version that qualifies for Extended Security Updates.
• Check that virtualization is on. Google Play Games and every modern emulator need the processor’s hardware virtualization. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, select More details if you see the small view, then open the Performance tab and select CPU. Look for Virtualization: Enabled under the graph. If it says Disabled, see Turn on virtualization before you install anything.
• Know your accounts. Phone Link uses a Microsoft account (the same one on the PC and the phone). Google Play Games and an emulator’s Play Store use a personal Google account. Work or school accounts aren’t supported by Phone Link.
• Use an administrator account. Google Play Games requires a Windows admin account, and emulator installers ask for administrator approval.
• Check your free space and memory. Google Play Games needs an SSD with 10 GB free and 8 GB of RAM. Emulators want at least as much, and Google’s own emulator lists 16 GB of RAM and 16 GB of disk space.

Method 1: Use your phone’s Android apps with Phone Link

Phone Link is Microsoft’s free app that connects an Android phone to a Windows PC. Its Apps feature shows the apps installed on your phone in their own windows on the PC. Nothing is installed on Windows: the app keeps running on the phone, and the PC shows its screen and sends your clicks and typing to it. That’s why this method works even for apps that refuse to run in an emulator, such as many banking apps.

What you need for Phone Link Apps

• A PC running Windows 10 version 22H2 with Phone Link. It’s usually already installed.
• An Android phone with Link to Windows preinstalled and Android 10 or later. Microsoft lists select Samsung Galaxy, HONOR, OPPO, OnePlus, ASUS ROG, vivo, iQOO, realme and Xiaomi models on its supported devices page for Phone Link. Phones that only get Link to Windows from Google Play can use other Phone Link features, such as texts and photos, but not Apps.
• The phone and PC on the same Wi-Fi network. Microsoft also recommends the same band (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz).
• For several apps open at once: Android 11 on select Samsung or HONOR phones, and at least 8 GB of RAM in the PC. On most other phones you can open one app at a time.

Link your phone and open an app

1. Keep the phone unlocked and next to the PC, with both on the same Wi-Fi.
2. On the PC, select the search box on the taskbar, type Phone Link and open the app. If it isn’t there, open Settings, search for Phone Link, select Enable or disable Phone Link, turn on the toggle and select Install.
3. Sign in with your Microsoft account if Phone Link asks. If it asks what kind of phone you have, choose Android.
4. On a Samsung or other phone with Link to Windows built in, swipe down to open Quick Settings and tap Link to Windows. On other phones, open a browser, go to aka.ms/yourpc and install the app. Sign in with the same Microsoft account you used on the PC.
5. On the PC, confirm the Link to Windows app is ready and select Pair with QR code. A QR code appears on the PC screen. If you can’t scan it, choose Pair manually and type the code your phone shows.
6. On the phone, allow camera access, scan the QR code, then approve the permission requests. On Android 13 and later, allow notifications for Link to Windows, or Phone Link can’t transfer content. You’ll see a confirmation on both screens when the devices are linked.
7. In Phone Link on the PC, select Apps at the top of the window. Follow any on-screen setup prompts, and approve the screen-sharing prompt on the phone if it appears. Your phone’s app list loads on the PC.

8. Select an app. It opens in its own window on your desktop. You’ve succeeded when the app’s screen appears and responds to your clicks.

Controls work like this: a single click is a tap, a right-click goes back, click and hold is a long press, click and drag selects text, and the mouse wheel scrolls. Your keyboard types into text fields.

Make phone apps feel like PC apps

• Pin an app. In Phone Link’s Apps list, right-click an app and choose to pin it to Start, the taskbar or Favorites. The next time, open it with one click.
• Reopen recent apps. Phone Link shows up to three apps under Recently used. Some supported phones also show recent apps from the Phone Link icon in the notification area (select ^ at the right end of the taskbar).
• Choose where sound plays. On supported Samsung phones, open Phone Link Settings > Features, scroll to Apps and use Hear audio from to switch between Computer and Phone.

Microsoft’s full reference, including version numbers for each feature, is Use apps from your Android device on your PC. Phone Link also handles texts, calls and notifications; the guide to using Phone Link in Windows 11 walks through those features, and the Android side of the setup is the same on Windows 10.

Method 2: Play Android games with Google Play Games on PC

Google Play Games on PC is a free Windows app from Google that downloads and runs Android games directly on the PC, with keyboard and mouse controls and progress that syncs with your phone when the game supports it. It runs games only. You won’t find messaging, banking or other everyday apps in it, and only games Google has made available for PC appear in the catalog.

Google Play Games system requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
Windows	Windows 10 version 2004 or later	Windows 10 version 2004 or later
Storage	SSD with 10 GB available	SSD with 10 GB available
Memory	8 GB RAM	8 GB RAM
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 630 or comparable	Gaming-class GPU, such as Nvidia GeForce MX450
Processor	4 physical CPU cores	8 logical cores
Other	Windows administrator account and hardware virtualization turned on

These come from Google’s page Check if your PC can run Google Play Games on PC. Google also says the SSD should be your main drive, and your Google Play country must be one of the supported regions (the list includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Japan, among many others).

Install Google Play Games on Windows 10

1. In your browser, go to Google’s Google Play Games page and select the download button. Download it only from Google; there is no separate “Play Store for PC” installer anywhere else.
2. Open the downloaded .exe file and approve the administrator prompt. Follow the on-screen setup.
3. If the installer asks you to turn on Windows Hypervisor Platform, accept and restart the PC when asked. This is a normal part of setup on many PCs.
4. Open Google Play Games from the Start menu and sign in with your personal Google account. If this is your first time, the app walks you through creating a Play Games profile.
5. Browse or search the catalog, select a game and choose Install. The catalog can hide games that may not run well on your PC, and game pages show a warning when your hardware is below what the game needs.
6. Select Play when the download finishes. You’ve succeeded when the game opens in a window and responds to your keyboard and mouse.

If the game you want isn’t in the catalog, it hasn’t been released for PC yet. An emulator may run it, but check the game’s rules first: some online games ban accounts that play through emulators.

Method 3: Run Android apps on the PC with an emulator

An Android emulator creates a virtual Android device inside a window on Windows. Because it’s a full copy of Android, you can sign in to Google Play and install nearly any app, without needing a phone. There are two kinds:

• Consumer emulators such as BlueStacks are built for everyday users and gamers. They install like any Windows program and usually include Google Play. Most are free and supported by ads.
• Google’s Android Emulator is part of Android Studio, Google’s free app-development software. It’s more technical to set up but comes straight from Google and doesn’t show ads.

Use a consumer emulator

1. Confirm virtualization is enabled in Task Manager, as described in Before you start.
2. Download the emulator from its developer’s own website. Look at the address bar before you select download. Skip copies on download portals and “modded” versions, which are a common source of malware and unwanted extra software.
3. Run the installer. Approve the administrator prompt only if the publisher shown matches the emulator’s developer. Read each installer screen and clear any boxes that add offers or extra apps you didn’t ask for.
4. Launch the emulator. The first start takes longer while it builds the virtual Android device. You’ll see an Android-style home screen when it’s ready.
5. Open the Play Store inside the emulator and sign in with a Google account. Consider a secondary Google account if you’d rather keep the emulator separate from your main phone account.
6. Search for the app and select Install, just as you would on a phone.
7. Open the app. It runs inside the emulator window. Use the emulator’s sidebar or settings to rotate the screen, map keyboard keys for games, or give it more memory if it’s slow.

Android emulators get a lot of their speed from your graphics card, so it helps to update your graphics drivers in Windows 10 before you blame the emulator for stutters.

Use Google’s Android Emulator (Android Studio)

This option suits people who want a Google-made emulator, or developers testing their own apps. Google lists 64-bit Windows 10 or later, 16 GB of RAM and 16 GB of disk space on its Android Emulator page.

1. Turn on Windows Hypervisor Platform: open Start, type Turn Windows features on or off and press Enter. Check Windows Hypervisor Platform, select OK and restart when Windows finishes.

2. Download and install Android Studio from developer.android.com.
3. Open Android Studio and open the Device Manager. Create a virtual device, and pick a system image that includes Google Play if you want the Play Store inside it.
4. Start the virtual device. A phone-shaped window opens with Android running.
5. Open the Play Store in the virtual device, sign in and install apps, or drag an APK file you trust onto the emulator window to install it.

Google recommends Windows Hypervisor Platform as the emulator’s accelerator on Windows. Its older Android Emulator hypervisor driver is scheduled to be retired on December 31, 2026, according to Google’s hardware acceleration page, so use Windows Hypervisor Platform for new setups.

A word about APK files

An APK is an Android app’s installer file. Windows can’t open it, but emulators can install one. Only use APKs from the app’s own developer, since a file name tells you nothing about whether the app inside is genuine or has been tampered with. If you already have an APK and want the details, see how to open or install APK files on Windows 10, which covers BlueStacks, drag and drop, and the Android Studio route step by step.

Check for a Windows or web version first

Before you install an emulator for one app, check whether that service already runs on Windows. Many do: messaging, streaming, note-taking, shopping and social apps often have a Microsoft Store app or a full website, and Microsoft Edge can install some websites as apps. A native Windows version starts faster, uses far less memory and gets updates without an emulator in the middle.

In the Microsoft Store, check the publisher name on the app’s page before installing. Copycat apps with similar names and icons exist.

Turn on virtualization

If Task Manager shows Virtualization: Disabled, Google Play Games can’t run and emulators either refuse to start or run very slowly. Virtualization is a processor setting that’s switched on in the PC’s UEFI (BIOS) firmware, not in Windows.

1. Open Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.
2. Under Advanced startup, select Restart now.
3. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > UEFI Firmware Settings > Restart.
4. Find the virtualization option (often called Intel Virtualization Technology, Intel VT-x, SVM Mode or AMD-V), set it to Enabled, then save and exit.

Change only that one setting, because other firmware changes can stop Windows from starting. Microsoft’s Enable virtualization on Windows page links to the major PC makers’ instructions. For a fuller walkthrough with what the setting is called on different PCs, see how to enable virtualization on Windows 10.

What happened to Windows Subsystem for Android?

From 2022, Windows 11 could run some Android apps natively through Windows Subsystem for Android and the Amazon Appstore. It never came to Windows 10. Microsoft then retired it: starting March 5, 2025, both are no longer available in the Microsoft Store, and apps installed that way stopped being supported. Guides that tell you to install the Amazon Appstore, sideload WSA builds or use WSA tools are out of date, and unofficial WSA packages floating around online aren’t safe to trust.

Upgrading to Windows 11 doesn’t bring it back either. The options on running Android apps on Windows 11 are the same three routes covered here.

Troubleshooting

Phone Link has no Apps section, or it says your phone isn’t supported

Apps needs a phone with Link to Windows preinstalled. Check your exact model against Microsoft’s supported devices list. If it isn’t listed, Phone Link can still handle texts, notifications and photos, but for apps you’ll need an emulator or the option to cast your Android screen to Windows 10, which shows the whole phone screen instead of one app.

A phone app opens but stays black or won’t connect

• Make sure the phone is unlocked, on the same Wi-Fi network as the PC, and not in power-saving mode.
• Look at the phone for a permission or screen-sharing prompt and approve it. Microsoft notes that audio needs permissions in both Link to Windows and the Link to Windows Service app.
• Apps in a work profile or a second user profile on the phone aren’t supported. Open them on the phone instead.
• Some apps, often video streaming apps, may block screen sharing on purpose. If one stays black while others work, use it on the phone or its website.

Google Play Games says your PC isn’t supported

Compare your PC with the requirements table above. The usual culprits are virtualization turned off, Windows installed on a hard disk instead of an SSD, fewer than four physical CPU cores, or a Google Play country outside the supported list. A standard (non-admin) Windows account also blocks installation.

The emulator conflicts with Hyper-V, WSL 2 or Memory integrity

Older emulator builds couldn’t run while Windows’ own hypervisor was in use. Update the emulator to its current version first and check its help pages for Hyper-V support, since newer builds are generally designed to work alongside it. For Google’s emulator, use Windows Hypervisor Platform rather than the older driver. Turn off Hyper-V in Windows 10 only if the emulator’s own help pages tell you to, and remember that Hyper-V itself is available only on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education.

An app installs but refuses to run in the emulator

Banking, payment, workplace and some streaming apps check whether they’re on a real, certified phone and block emulators deliberately. This isn’t something you can safely fix. Use the service’s website, its Windows app, or Phone Link with your real phone.

The emulator or game is slow

• Close browser windows and other memory-heavy programs while you play.
• In the emulator’s settings, lower the resolution or frame rate, or raise the memory and CPU cores it can use, but leave at least half your RAM for Windows.
• Install the emulator on an SSD if your PC has one.
• Update your graphics driver from Windows Update or your graphics card maker.

Your antivirus flags the emulator

Security software sometimes reacts to emulators because they install virtualization drivers. First confirm you downloaded the installer from the developer’s official site. If you didn’t, delete it. Don’t turn off your antivirus to get an installer from an unknown site to run.

How to confirm it worked, and how to undo it

Each method has a clear success sign: with Phone Link, the phone app opens in its own window on the PC and responds to your clicks; with Google Play Games, the game launches from the app’s library; with an emulator, the app’s icon appears on the emulator’s home screen and opens there.

To undo any of them:

• Phone Link: unpin any app shortcut from the taskbar (right-click it and select Unpin from taskbar). To stop using Phone Link entirely, open Settings, search for Phone Link, select Enable or disable Phone Link and turn the toggle off. The apps on your phone aren’t affected.
• Google Play Games or an emulator: open Settings > Apps > Apps & features, select the program and choose Uninstall. This deletes the virtual Android device and the apps inside it, so let games sync their progress first.
• Windows Hypervisor Platform: if you turned it on only for an emulator, clear it in Turn Windows features on or off and restart. You can leave virtualization enabled in the firmware; it doesn’t slow the PC down.

A note on Windows 10 support

Windows 10 no longer gets free security updates. If you’re running Android apps that hold personal data, make sure your PC is covered: Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates program covers Windows 10 version 22H2 until October 12, 2027, and you can enroll in Windows 10 Extended Security Updates from Windows Update. If your PC meets Windows 11’s requirements, upgrading is the better long-term choice, and Phone Link, Google Play Games and emulators all work there too.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get the actual Google Play Store app on Windows 10?

Not as a standalone Windows app. Google doesn’t make one, so sites offering a “Play Store for PC” download are not official. You get a working Play Store only inside an emulator, and Google Play Games gives you Google’s game catalog. More detail is in the guide to getting Google Play Store on Windows 10.

Does Phone Link use my phone’s battery and data?

Yes. The app runs on the phone, so it uses the phone’s battery, processor and its internet connection, just as if you were holding it. Keep the phone on a charger during long sessions.

Can I run Android apps on Windows 10 without a phone?

Yes, with an emulator or, for games, Google Play Games on PC. Phone Link is the only option that needs the phone.

Can I use these methods with an iPhone?

No. The Apps feature in Phone Link works only with Android phones, and iPhone apps can’t run in Android emulators.

Will my game progress carry over between my phone and PC?

In Google Play Games, progress syncs for games that support it when you sign in with the same Google account on both. In an emulator, it depends on whether the game saves to your Google account or its own online account; games that save only on the device start fresh.

Is running an Android emulator legal?

Using an emulator to run apps you’ve installed from Google Play or got from the app’s developer is normal and is how many developers test their apps. Installing paid apps from pirated APKs is not, and those files are also the most likely to carry malware.

Start with the route that matches your goal: open Phone Link if your phone is on Microsoft’s list, or check Task Manager for Virtualization: Enabled before you download Google Play Games or an emulator.