News

Microsoft Hits Pause on Android Bridge for Windows 10

Microsoft has placed a moratorium on its Windows app bridge for Android, code-named "Project Astoria," which aimed to help developers port their Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile.

First announced at this April's Build conference, Project Astoria was part of Microsoft's "bridge" strategy to easily port non-Windows apps to the Windows platform -- a strategy that also included projects to port iOS, Win32/.NET and Web apps.

During Build, Microsoft showed how the Android app Lose It! could be ported to the Windows 10 Mobile platform to connect to Microsoft Azure and use the Windows Share features. The company also made the Project Astoria bridge available to select testers in August.

However, while the other porting tools, including those that ease iOS app portability, are still in some stage of development, the Android bridge has completely disappeared. Windows Central reported on Friday that multiple inside sources have confirmed that the project has been put on hold and that "the Android app porting is not going as planned."

While Microsoft has not said that the project has been scrapped, it did say that it won't be available anytime soon. "We're committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform, including bridges available now for Web and iOS, and soon Win32," said a Microsoft spokesperson in a released statement. "The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers. For example, the iOS bridge enables developers to write a native Windows Universal app which calls UWP APIs directly from Objective-C, and to mix and match UWP and iOS concepts such as XAML and UIKit."

Microsoft declined to comment on how far Project Astoria had gotten in development or what the possible roadblocks might have been.

ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley speculated that the project might have been scrapped due to the unauthorized emulation of certain Android apps by testers. "I heard from one of my contacts that Microsoft pulled the emulation layer from Windows 10 Mobile builds around October, after some individuals had used the technology to run Android apps on Windows 10 Mobile without the OK of the individuals and companies that developed those apps," Foley wrote.

So far, it doesn't appear that any of the other three porting bridges have been scrapped. "Project Westminster," which allows for Web sites to be ported as Windows 10 Mobile apps, has already been released to developers. Meanwhile, the iOS bridge, "Project Islandwood," has been opened-sourced.

The final bridge, "Project Centennial," which brings Win32 apps to Windows 10 Mobile, is scheduled for testing in 2016.

About the Author

Chris Paoli (@ChrisPaoli5) is the associate editor for Converge360.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.