Amazon Closes its Android App Store

By August 20, this year, Amazon will shut down its Android app store. Developers were informed by the corporation that they would no longer be able to submit new apps to the store. With no explanation for the closure, the retail giant revealed the update on a FAQ support website. However, it did note that its Appstore, which is the default app marketplace on Fire TV and tablet devices, will remain accessible.

On Android flagships, the Google Play Store is the best place to download and install apps, although third-party app stores are also permitted due to the platform’s openness. One of those well-liked alternatives to the Play Store was the Amazon Appstore, which was the main app store for Amazon Fire devices and a backup for Android devices that weren’t from Amazon. However, the business is closing the Amazon Appstore for Android smartphones, so the excellent run is coming to an end.

Android apps that have been downloaded from Amazon’s Appstore won’t necessarily stop working on August 20th, but the firm warns that they “will not be guaranteed to operate” when they stop getting updates. Microsoft is getting ready to stop supporting Amazon’s Appstore on Windows on March 5th as part of the deprecation of its Android subsystem.

Amazon Coins, a virtual and digital currency that could be used to purchase games and applications through the Amazon Appstore marketplace, will also be discontinued, the business announced on a support website. Existing coin balances can still be utilized to make Appstore purchases after February 20th, 2025, but new coins cannot be bought after that date. Although further details about refunds will be released “at a later date,” Amazon claims that any coins that are still in user accounts after August 20th will be reimbursed.

You won’t be able to access the Amazon Appstore on your Android smartphone after August 20, 2025. On August 20, 2025, we will likewise be ending the Amazon Coins program,” the business stated on a support page.

Since Amazon’s own Fire OS is built on Android, discontinuing support for Android is an odd move, but the Amazon Android Appstore is only an odd historical footnote. It used to come pre-installed on Amazon’s unsuccessful Fire phone, run a program that offered free versions of apps, and let users “test drive” Android apps in web browsers.

According to Amazon, starting on August 20, consumers will receive their money back. Only a small percentage of users utilized the app store outside of Amazon devices, the firm noted.

“As the vast majority of our customers currently interact with the Appstore on our own devices, we have chosen to discontinue the Amazon Appstore on Android in order to concentrate our efforts on that experience,” a company representative stated.

Furthermore, there is no guarantee that any apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore will work on Android devices after August 20, 2025.

The app store will continue to work on the business’s own devices, including the Fire TV and Fire Tablet, the company noted.

McAfee Labs security experts discovered last year that a program on the Amazon app store was disseminating malware by posing as a health utility.

Since 2011, Amazon has attempted to establish a different app store ecosystem in order to compete with Google. Additionally, the business attempted to use its own app store to fuel its unsuccessful Fire Phone initiative.

Last year, Amazon said that it will stop supporting its Windows app store, which included Android applications, on March 5, 2025. In 2021, the business launched the Windows program.

In the past few years, Amazon’s Appstore has been unable to compete with Google’s dominance of the Android market, a fact that was prominently brought up in the Epic v. Google case to support the argument that Google’s Play app store constituted an illegal monopoly. However, Amazon’s Appstore can also be sideloaded onto third-party Android devices and was initially growing that audience. Before Google closed the gap that permitted them to do so, Amazon even attempted to make sideloading simpler by concealing it within the Amazon app.

The FAQ makes it clear, though, that Amazon Fire-branded devices are unaffected.

Additionally, developers have been informed by Amazon that they are no longer able to submit new apps for Android smartphones. Though just until the service is shut down, they are still able to submit changes to their current live apps.

On the same day, Amazon is also ending the Amazon Coins program. You can no longer buy more coins, and you have until August 20, 2025, to spend the ones you have left. You will receive a refund for any coins that are still in your account after the date.

The decision to completely shut down the Appstore is made just before the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) deadline of March 5, 2025, for Appstore compatibility on Windows. Although WSA support was discontinued by Microsoft last year, you may still download games and applications from the Appstore until March 2025.

Amazon is putting another nail in the Appstore coffin by completely ending support for Android, although the deadline is still in place. It will remain on Fire-branded devices, but the firm has far more control over that narrow environment.