Amazon To Shut Down Android Appstore (amazon.com) 41
Amazon will discontinue its Android Appstore servicefrom August 20, 2025, ending its decade-long attempt to compete with Google's Play Store in the Android mobile ecosystem. The Amazon Appstore, launched in 2011, served as an alternative marketplace for Android users to download apps. The platform gained prominence in 2012 when Amazon began using it as the primary app store for its Kindle Fire tablets.
Did people use this store? (Score:1)
Does this mean they will start loading Google Play Services and Play Store on the next FireOS update? Not that they are great with these updates, seemingly only pushing them to slow older generation hardware down to encourage new sales.
I guess that will stop everyone sideloading them as the first action they take on these tablets.
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If only there was a link with an FAQ that answered that dort of thing.
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To be fair the headline seems to misleading. It should be "Amazon to discontinue Appstore for non-Fire OS Android devices"
The submitter and/or editors appeared to feel "Android appstore" was enough to convey that, but as Fire OS is an Android variant, and most people consider it a form of Android, and given the apps it sells are Android apps, one could be forgiven for assuming it's talking about the entire app system.
FWIW I think it's a stupid idea. If the only reason anyone would use it was to install apps
Re: Did people use this store? (Score:5, Informative)
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I can't imagine there were ever more than a handful of people that did that.
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I'm one of those people.
An app I used from the Google play store (paid app) quit working because it was removed from the play store and would no longer authenticate/validate.
I found it was still on the Amazon app store and it worked to purchase it from there and use it. The app syncs my exchange shared mailbox calendars to my Android calendar. Haven't been able to find a replacement app that works with exchange shared mailbox calendars.
I really hope this app doesn't quit working. I've done everything I c
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I'm sorry to hear that. I've been bitten a few times by an app that does exactly what I want falling into disrepair.
Re: Did people use this store? (Score:2)
An app I used from the Google play store (paid app) quit working because it was removed from the play store and would no longer authenticate/validate.
I had a similar issue with an app I used for years to sync my iCloud account address book, calendars, and tasks list to my Android phone. Taken off the app store for reasons I found dubious. I used Google's Files app to save the APK off my device and then side-loaded it.
The app worked after that until just a few days ago by coincidence. I get authentication errors on it now even though it's using the right app-specific password. I've set up an open source app called DAVx5 now and it seems to cover most but
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... Fire devices will continue to use the Amazon App Store.
That's quite disappointing. I was really hoping this meant that their tablets might turn into real Android tablets.
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I was really hoping this meant that their tablets might turn into real Android tablets.
I install the Google Play store onto all of my Fire tablets, so I have both worlds. There are things on the Amazon store that aren't on the Play Store, so it's good to have both.
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The Amazon AppStore is primarily used by Amazon Fire devices. Yes, people do use it. It's kind of like how the Samsung App Store is used by Samsung devices.
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Well I have never bought anything from the Google Play store (though I have downloaded free stuff from there when it wasn't available from the Amazon App store)
I have a Samsung Phone, (and a couple of Kindle Fire Tablets)
(And Of course I don't do Apple)
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Yes, and like quite a few, they offered a free app of the day/week for a while.
Their system has had a few times where they would not authenticate properly, so the programs wouldn't run until downloaded again. The store has been in a bad shape for years.
I have a ton of programs from it, with a small number of purchases. Time to reach out directly to the ones I want to keep. Maybe they will send a direct apk file, but who knows.
It serves as a reminder that the services are software rental, and it can be di
here's the details (Score:5, Informative)
Dear Customer,
We are writing to inform you about an upcoming discontinuation. Starting August 20, 2025, you will no longer have access to the Amazon Appstore on your Android device, and any apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore will not be guaranteed to operate on Android devices. Amazon Appstore will continue to be available elsewhere, including on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices. Any apps offered by Amazon on Android or iOS devices (e.g., the Amazon Shopping app, the Prime Video app) will not be impacted by this change.
We will also be discontinuing the Amazon Coins program on August 20, 2025; please spend any unused Amazon Coins in your account before that date. Any Coins you have purchased that remain in your account after August 20, 2025 will be refunded. Amazon Coins are no longer available for purchase as of today, February 20, 2025.
For additional details and insights into this transition, please read our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at https://www.amazon.com/appstor... [amazon.com].
If you have further questions, please contact Amazon Customer Service.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
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So it only applies to non-Amazon devices? Still quite shitty if you bought any apps from there and now they are being abandoned.
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>"So it only applies to non-Amazon devices? Still quite shitty if you bought any apps from there and now they are being abandoned."
Yep.
I bought some apps. And use on a non-Amazon device (tablet). And they REQUIRE occasional connection to the app store. Once the store goes defunct, all those apps will simply throw an error message and refuse to work.
Before someone asks why I would have done that- I earned a good amount of "free" coins to buy apps and discovered a series of apps I liked and ended trying
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any apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore will not be guaranteed to operate on Android devices
Time to request a refund for all paid apps.
app store (Score:3, Insightful)
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I've had a few Kindle devices over the years, and the first thing I always did was install the infrastructure to access the Google Play store.
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Need any more proof of a Google monopoly? (Score:1)
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Everyone would always point to "Yes, but Amazon has an app store" to say that Google didn't have a complete monopoly on Android apps. That position dies today.
It amazes me that anybody'd want to fight that battle anyway. If the views around here were consistent virtually no-one would voluntarily use a smartphone built by a data-hoovering company like Google.
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That argument was used occasionally but not nearly as often as people making the point you can sideload whatever you want onto your Android devices. And Amazon is not the only third party app store anyway.
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Everyone would always point to "Yes, but Amazon has an app store" to say that Google didn't have a complete monopoly on Android apps. That position dies today.
You still have F-Droid, Aptoide, Obtainium, plus websites like APKMirror and Oldversion
Re:Need any more proof of a Google monopoly? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple only LETS you use one app store. Google lets you use any one you want - most people just happen to choose to still use the Google Play store.
The difference is in having the choice, not which option most people pick.
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And monopoly has nothing to do with availability of alternatives, it has to do with market penetration. There are other stores. I have the Samsung store and F-Droid installed on my phone. That doesn't mean that Google's store doesn't have a monopoly since it literally has an almost 100% market share on Android phones.
How best to preserve free apps from their store? (Score:2)
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I've had problems with those apps. They often have new versions on Google Play, but weren't updated on Amazon. Amazon often claims the apps aren't compatible with my device when I know they should be. It's been essentially abandoned for many years. I'm sad to see all of about three apps go, but considering the state of things, I can live with that.
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I had a similar experience with the "Free App of the Day" specials. That is, they rarely get any updates.
If I were giving out apps for no charge I probably wouldn't update them, either.
Re: How best to preserve free apps from their stor (Score:2)
You can backup apps off a device with the Google Files app, and then side-loaded them back on if needed.
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>"You can backup apps off a device with the Google Files app, and then side-loaded them back on if needed."
That won't work. They phone home to the Amazon store on first launch and each X number of launches after.
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>"What should we do to preserve the free apps we have accumulated in the Amazon app store?"
You can't.
Most will "phone home" to the Amazon app store and when it is not there, they will refuse to run. Period. Only Amazon could prevent this by forcing updates on the apps to not phone home any longer. But they 99.9% likely won't.
And it isn't just free apps. I have PAID ones that will die. Ones I use regularly.
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The best bit was the Underground apps, which were apps offered free with no paid DLC or anything. Amazon had ads on the app, and paid developers based on the time spent on the app.
A few apps were great because they offered a lot of DLC for free.
I guess I got to back those apps up.
No great loss (Score:2)
From my experience the Fire Store was rife with fraudulent and unvetted apps. There was little evidence Amazon was doing any quality control or checking that downloaded apps actually matched their description.
While apps stores do typically take a 30% cut, this in part goes to running the store and keeping apps honest. And it is still less than a brick and mortar store would ask for.
Amazon Appstore is *not* shutting down! (Score:2)
The OP got it completely wrong in the very first sentence by claiming the Amazon Appstore is closing down - clearly they didn't fully read the FAQ that they linked to, because the FAQ says nothing of the sort. What's already happened is that the https://amazon.com/getappstore [amazon.com] download URL for the app has been replaced by the FAQ (so you can now no longer download and sideload the Amazon Appstore Android app). I'm assuming that on 20th Aug 2025, any installed Amazon Appstore Android app on a non-Fire device
Terrible first impressions (Score:2)
I used to develop an app for the play store. To get that same app onto Amazon meant an entirely separate process. And I don't just mean submission but all the meta data was different, the screenshots & artwork were all different resolutions, the signing of the package was different, the approval was different. I even had to rebuild and retest the apk with with certain Play specific features disabled like achievements. Supporting this one additional store was probably 2 hours of work each time I made an
Inevitable (Score:2)
That's interesting, I guess it's too much of a hassle to maintain an alternate app store without the hardware buy-in. I myself have tried it, but it's so full of shovelware that it's frankly hazardous to use. It's kind of too bad to lose an alternative. Amazon "Fire OS" has always just been a fork of Android, and as such not locked down, but it just hasn't seen the investment it needs to actually compete with Google. At least now they're admitting it, but I always wondered... Why has Amazon always been so b