Amazon is shutting down its third-party Android app store
Amazon is shutting down its third-party Android app store
The Amazon Appstore will no longer be available on Android as of August 20, 2025.
I'm a bit torn.
I want there to be diversity and free choice regarding where I get my apps from, so one less choice only strengthens Google's monopoly.
As a user, Amazon's app store was just sketchy.
As a developer I don't want to be submitting every update to yet another store for every release. I have had users mail me and ask to add my app to the Amazon app store, because their device didn't come with Google's play store.
I'm genuinely surprised it still exists! I remember when you were forced to use it to get the Amazon app, or the Kindle app, or whatever. I thought it was gone years ago.
The Amazon Prime Video app, IIRC.
I'm guessing the reason to create an entire store was so they didn't have to pay Google a higher percentage?
back in the day it wasn’t clear that Google wanted a strong monopoly control over Android. Amazon was just another contender in the ecosystem.
Given how updating apps automatically in the background wasn't possible until recently, I do think Google wanted a strong monopoly over android. Yes, they allowed device manufacturers to pre install their own store, but they still had to include many of the Google apps to call it Android.
Moreso so that they can get their own 30% cut.
So... All of the millions of Fire devices running Amazon's bastardized variant of Android.... Don't they rely on that app store since they aren't part of the full Google suite like most Android devices?
It sounds like it will keep functioning on fire sticks and tablets.
You can install the Play store on their tablets, but some major apps marked fire tablets as incompatible on the Play store, forcing you to download them from Amazon.
They are slowly pulling out of the Android there too. They've deprecated the Amazon shopping app on the fire tablets. Now, selecting that app will open the stock browser to the Amazon homepage. Likewise, there used to be a Amazon Photos app that had decent storage and would sync photos across devices. Now, if you want to look at local photos, you use the gallery app. If you want to look at cloud photos, you use the website.
I don't know if this is part of their switchover to Vega OS or if it's just cost saving.
Saw an interesting initiative for Android and iOS in general, an open source os worked on by people behind Fairphone and multiple EU countries called mobifree.org
there are a bunch of apps that I downloaded from amazon that were paid AND also were apps they were giving away for free. so what are they going to do about maintaining their functionality, because unless they do something the only other alternative that I see are on the high seas.
Ohh no. What are we gonna do without apps that haven't been updated in 4 years?