Amazon To Shut Down Android Appstore By August 2025

Amazon will shut down its Android Appstore on August 20, 2025, discontinuing assist for third-party Android gadgets. The corporate informed developers that they may now not be capable to submit new apps, signaling the tip of the platform’s presence exterior Amazon’s ecosystem.

Alongside the Appstore closure, Amazon will even discontinue its Amazon Cash digital forex, which was used to buy apps and video games. Customers holding Amazon Cash as of August 20 will obtain refunds. The corporate cited low engagement from non-Amazon system customers as a key cause for the shutdown, stating that the overwhelming majority of consumers use the Appstore on Amazon’s personal gadgets, resembling Hearth TV and Hearth Tablets. The Appstore will proceed working on these gadgets, guaranteeing that Amazon customers retain entry to apps and content material.

Oh wait what, Amazon App Retailer discontinued on Android Gadgets. pic.twitter.com/CQvxcXe4LP

— RizbIT IT Providers (@RizbITUK) February 20, 2025

Amazon initially launched its Appstore in 2011 as a substitute for Google Play, making an attempt to determine a competing app ecosystem. It was integral to Amazon’s Hearth Telephone, a mission that in the end failed. Extra lately, Amazon tried to broaden its app market to Home windows, permitting customers to obtain Android apps on Microsoft’s platform. Nonetheless, in 2024, Amazon introduced that it might discontinue assist for its Appstore on Home windows beginning March 5, 2025.

Safety considerations might have influenced Amazon’s choice. In 2023, McAfee Labs found that an utility on the Amazon Appstore was disguising itself as a well being device whereas spreading malware. Whereas Amazon didn’t straight attribute the shutdown to safety dangers, the incident raised considerations concerning the platform’s security.

By closing its Android Appstore, Amazon is consolidating its digital companies, focusing by itself gadgets quite than sustaining an unbiased app market. This transfer displays the corporate’s broader technique of strengthening its ecosystem quite than competing with Google Play.

Filed in Cellphones. Learn extra about Amazon, Amazon Appstore and Android.