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Copy file name to clipboardExpand all lines: hub/apps/get-started/make-apps-great-for-windows.md
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---
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description: The top 11 things you can do to make your app great on Windows 11.
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title: Top 11 things you can do to make your app great on Windows 11
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ms.topic: article
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ms.date: 02/27/2025
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ms.topic: concept-article
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ms.date: 03/06/2025
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keywords: windows win32, desktop development
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ms.localizationpriority: medium
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ms.collection: windows11
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# customer intent: As a Windows developer, I want to know how to make my app great on Windows 11 so that I can provide a better, more secure experience for my users.
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---
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# Top 11 things you can do to make your app great on Windows 11
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Windows 11 marks a visual evolution of the Windows operating system. As Windows moves forward, customers continue to set a higher bar for app experiences, too. We see these customer expectations manifest primarily in two areas: *app fundamentals* and *user experience*.
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Windows 11 marks a visual evolution of the Windows operating system. As Windows moves forward, customers continue to set a higher bar for app experiences, too. We see these customer expectations manifest primarily in three areas: *app fundamentals*, *user experience*, and *added security*.
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-*App fundamentals* - good performance on low-cost, highly mobile device form factors, and hassle-free app lifecycle and state rehydration/roaming.
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-*User experience* - the ability to work naturally with a complete range of inputs, design and interaction patterns that look and feel at home on current and future devices, and support for modern windowing workflows and shell integration points.
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-*Added security* - deploying apps on a secure platform that protects user data and privacy, and the ability to integrate features like Windows Hello and Passkeys to provide a more secure experience for users.
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With entirely new visuals signaling change, [signature experiences](../design/signature-experiences/signature-experiences.md) that showcase the best of Windows and Microsoft together, and a completely new [Store](/windows/uwp/publish) with more apps, Windows 11 is positioned as the Windows for "what's next".
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Great apps on Windows meet these customer expectations for app fundamentals and modern user experience, and we are investing in the native Windows platform to make it easier for your apps to achievegreatnessthrough[WinUI](../winui/index.md), [MSIX](/windows/msix), and the [Windows App SDK](../windows-app-sdk/index.md) family of APIs. This document provides an overview what you need to do to make your app look and behave great so that users feel like your app was made for Windows 11.
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Great apps on Windows meet these customer expectations for app fundamentals, modern user experience, and added security, and we're investing in the native Windows platform to make it easier for your apps to achievegreatnessthrough[WinUI](../winui/index.md), [MSIX](/windows/msix), and the [Windows App SDK](../windows-app-sdk/index.md) family of APIs. This document provides an overview what you need to do to make your app look and behave great so that users feel like your app was made for Windows 11.
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Here are the top ~~10~~ 11 things you can do to make your app shine on Windows 11.
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### Desktop apps (Win32)
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- Use [WinUI 3](../winui/winui3/index.md) in [Windows App SDK](../windows-app-sdk/index.md) 1.1 or greater to create a Win32 application that can leverage the modern common controls.
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- Use [WinUI 3](../winui/winui3/index.md) in [Windows App SDK](../windows-app-sdk/index.md) 1.1 or greater to create a Win32 application that can leverage the modern common controls.
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- To evaluate the controls, check out the [WinUI 3 Gallery](https://github.com/Microsoft/WinUI-Gallery) (*main branch*).
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- Win32 controls that use [UXTheme](/windows/win32/api/uxtheme/) will automatically get a "repaint" of the Light theme for select rejuvenated control visuals. Be sure to test for any issues. For those surfaces that do not get updated automatically, manually update the visuals so that they look coherent with the rest of the update, if possible.
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- Most apps will automatically receive rounded corners and support for the menu with snap layouts, but in some cases you might need to do a little work to get them:
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- Allow the system to draw your border and shadow.
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-If you need to draw your own border and shadow:
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- Call our rounding API to opt in. See [Apply rounded corners in desktop apps for Windows 11](../desktop/modernize/ui/apply-rounded-corners.md).
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- Use our APIs to have the platform draw and implement the caption buttons. See [Support snap layouts for desktop apps on Windows 11](../desktop/modernize/ui/apply-snap-layout-menu.md).
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- If you need to draw your own border and shadow:
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- Call our rounding API to opt in. See [Apply rounded corners in desktop apps for Windows 11](../desktop/modernize/ui/apply-rounded-corners.md).
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- Use our APIs to have the platform draw and implement the caption buttons. See [Support snap layouts for desktop apps on Windows 11](../desktop/modernize/ui/apply-snap-layout-menu.md).
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- You will get these features automatically if you use UWP or you adopt Windows App SDK windowing to:
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- Configure the style of your window using the pre-defined templates.
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- Customize the title bar of your windows.
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Windows 11 refines the behavior of the contextual file operations in the right-click context menu of File Explorer and the Share dialog. If your app creates context menus or defines share targets, you may need to make some changes to ensure that these work well with Windows 11.
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####Context menus
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### Context menus
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For Windows 11, we improved the behavior of the context menu in File Explorer in several ways:
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- Your context menu extension must be implemented by using the [**IExplorerCommand**](/windows/win32/api/shobjidl_core/nn-shobjidl_core-iexplorercommand) interface. Context menu extensions that implement [**IContextMenu**](/windows/win32/api/shobjidl_core/nn-shobjidl_core-icontextmenu) will appear in the older context menu instead.
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- Your app must be a *packaged app* so that it has package identity at runtime. See [Features that require package identity](../desktop/modernize/modernize-packaged-apps.md) for some options for packaging your app.
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####Share dialog
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### Share dialog
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For Windows 11, we improved the behavior of the Share dialog in several ways.
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> [!NOTE]
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> When an app that uses the new font runs in Windows 10 or down-level, it will fallback to use the old font and degrade gracefully.
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## 10. Make use of the innovative features available in Windows
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## 10. Make use of the innovative, secure features available in Windows
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People run Windows across conventional devices as well as an increasingly diverse, modern range of devices. Devices today come not only with x86/x64-based, but also Arm-based, architectures; not only with mouse and keyboard but also touch screens, touchpads, and pens; with cameras, GPS, and sensors like gyroscopes; and with graphics chipsets that enable not only amazing visuals but also hardware-accelerated artificial intelligence (AI). Customers expect apps to take advantage of the hardware (that they have paid for!) and be cognizant of the device form factor to give them an appropriately optimized experience.
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People run Windows across conventional devices as well as an increasingly diverse, modern range of devices. Devices today come not only with x86/x64-based, but also Arm-based, architectures; not only with mouse and keyboard but also touch screens, touchpads, and pens; with cameras, GPS, and sensors like gyroscopes; and with graphics and neural processing chipsets that enable not only amazing visuals but also hardware-accelerated artificial intelligence (AI). Customers expect apps to take advantage of the hardware (that they have paid for!) and be cognizant of the device form factor to give them an appropriately optimized experience.
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- Achieve AI powered productivity with Win ML - [Introduction to Windows Machine Learning](/windows/ai/windows-ml/).
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- Use AI models that power Windows Copilot Runtime on Copilot+ PCs and run locally - [Windows Copilot Runtime overview](/windows/ai/apis/).
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- Utilize best practices for Notifications and content sharing - [Notifications (Design basics)](/windows/win32/uxguide/mess-notif).
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### Enhanced security features in Windows
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Windows is built on a foundation of security and privacy, and Windows 11 is designed to be the most secure version of Windows yet, and we're committed to helping you build secure apps that take advantage of the latest security features in Windows.
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- Protect your Windows apps and backend services with Windows Hello biometric sign-in - [Windows Hello overview](/windows/apps/develop/security/windows-hello).
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- Implement passkey sign-ins across online, enterprise, and government applications, and for payments - [Intro to passkeys](/windows/apps/develop/security/intro).
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- Sign your apps with a digital certificate to ensure that [Smart App Control](https://support.microsoft.com/windows/app-browser-control-in-the-windows-security-app-8f68fb65-ebb4-3cfb-4bd7-ef0f376f3dc3#bkmk_smart-app-control) can verify the integrity of your app - [Introduction to code signing](/windows/win32/seccrypto/cryptography-tools#introduction-to-code-signing) and [Microsoft Trusted Root Program requirements](/security/trusted-root/program-requirements).
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## 11. Utilize the power of MSIX and Windows Store to package and distribute your application
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Distribute your app wherever it makes sense for your business. Windows lets you distribute from your existing website, app management system, or the Windows Store.
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[What is MSIX?](/windows/msix/overview)
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## Related articles
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## Related content
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-[Windows Dev Center](https://developer.microsoft.com/windows/)
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-[What's cool in Windows 11](https://developer.microsoft.com/windows/windows-for-developers/)
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-[What's cool in Windows 11](https://developer.microsoft.com/windows/windows-for-developers/)
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# Product page experiments
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> [!IMPORTANT]
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> Product page experiments will be coming soon to developers and customers of Microsoft Store on Windows.
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Icons and screenshots occupy up to 50% of the surface area on a Microsoft Store product page, making them the first things customers notice. To maximize your impact, consider conducting A/B testing with different product page variations and then choosing the version that performs best to showcase on Microsoft Store.
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To conduct a product page experiment, start by signing in to Partner Center and selecting your app. This new overview page in Partner Center consolidates all app actions and information in one place. The console also contextually prioritizes information cards based on your app's status.
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## Containerization benefits
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When transitioning to the Windows App SDK, UWP applications might lose the inherent containerization benefits of their original platform. However, those benefits can be restored by using Win32 App Isolation—a new security feature that enhances protection by isolating applications within a sandbox environment. This approach offers additional security against potential threats with minimal changes to your existing code. For more info, and to begin using Win32 App Isolation, visit [Welcome to the Win32 app isolation repo](https://github.com/microsoft/win32-app-isolation) on GitHub.
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When transitioning to the Windows App SDK, UWP applications might lose the inherent containerization benefits of their original platform. However, those benefits can be restored by using Win32 App Isolation—a new security feature that enhances protection by isolating applications within a sandbox environment. This approach offers additional security against potential threats with minimal changes to your existing code. For more info, and to begin using Win32 App Isolation, see [Win32 app isolation overview](/windows/win32/secauthz/app-isolation-overview).
|**❇️**| Preview ([release notes](preview-channel.md)) | This channel provides a preview of the next stable release. There may be breaking API changes between a given preview channel release and the next stable release. | At least one preview per stable version | No |[1.7.0-preview1](preview-channel.md#version-17-preview-1-17-preview1) (02/11/2025) |
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|**✅**| Stable ([release notes](stable-channel.md)) | This channel is supported for use by apps in production environments. It includes only stable APIs. | No more frequent than every six months<br>(+ servicing) | Yes |[1.6.5 (1.6.250205002)](stable-channel.md#version-165-16250205002) (02/11/2025) |
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|**✅**| Stable ([release notes](stable-channel.md)) | This channel is supported for use by apps in production environments. It includes only stable APIs. | No more frequent than every six months<br>(+ servicing) | Yes |[1.6.6 (1.6.250228001)](stable-channel.md#version-166-16250228001) (03/11/2025) |
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|**🔄️**| Experimental ([release notes](experimental-channel.md)) | This channel includes experimental features that are in early stages of development. Experimental features may be removed from the next release, or may never be released. | As needed when requiring feedback for features in early design or prototype stages | No |[1.7.0-experimental3](experimental-channel.md#version-17-experimental-170-experimental3) (02/06/2025) |
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For a comprehensive list of all current and previous releases of the Windows App SDK, including download locations, see [Downloads for the Windows App SDK](downloads.md).
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