The Microsoft Store on Windows is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the invaluable feedback from developers who are actively building and scaling applications on the platform. Recent months have seen a series of updates that enhance onboarding, publishing, distribution, and analytics, all tailored to meet the needs of the developer community.
In our latest updates, we have streamlined the onboarding experience for individual developers, effectively halving the time and effort required to create a new developer account. The enthusiastic response from the developer community has been encouraging, and we remain committed to listening, iterating, and investing in their needs. Below, we explore the new features and updates that enhance developer analytics, improve the web installer, and introduce new developer tools.
Actionable developer analytics
Developers require swift and reliable methods to gauge their app performance without the hassle of navigating through multiple reports. The enhancements in Health, Summary, and Usage reports within Partner Center are designed to meet this demand.
- The upgraded Health Report offers deeper insights into app stability, featuring multi-filter support that allows developers to analyze stability patterns across various app versions, device architectures, and OS builds. This functionality enables tracking of changes over time.
- To keep developers informed about unexpected shifts in app health data, Microsoft Store has introduced Anomaly Alerts. These alerts identify unusual patterns in crash or hang rates, notifying developers via email and the dashboard when significant deviations occur. This proactive approach allows for timely investigation into potential reliability issues.
- The newly designed Summary Dashboard consolidates essential indicators—such as installs, ratings, stability, and engagement—into one cohesive view. This feature enables developers to quickly assess key performance metrics while still providing access to more detailed reports in Partner Center.
- Additionally, the revamped Usage Dashboard goes beyond basic metrics to include insights on active devices, session counts, and engagement duration, complete with filters for region and app versions. These insights enrich the understanding of user engagement trends, complementing the Summary Dashboard and other analytics available in Partner Center.
Better install experiences from your website
Efficient app delivery is crucial throughout the app lifecycle. Recent improvements to the Microsoft Store Web Installer focus on enhancing flexibility and compatibility across diverse deployment scenarios:
- Auto-Open for Win32 Apps: The new auto-open capability allows Win32 apps to launch automatically upon installation completion, eliminating the need for users to manually open the app afterward.
- Expanded Enterprise Device Support: The Store web installer now features improved install logic, enabling a broader range of enterprise-managed devices to successfully complete installations.
Developers can easily transition to the Store Web Installer by generating updated badge code at apps.microsoft.com/badge and configuring the launch mode to Direct.
The refreshed Microsoft Store Badge creator simplifies the process of generating official Store badges for websites. Utilizing these badges fosters trust, ensures consistent distribution, and enhances engagement on landing pages, ultimately leading to fewer drop-offs and a more confident installation experience for users.
Introducing the Microsoft Store command-line interface
A new command-line interface for the Microsoft Store offers developers and users a streamlined method for app discovery, installation, and update management directly from the terminal. This innovation allows for a more efficient way to explore and install Store apps without relying on the graphical user interface. The Store CLI is accessible only on devices where Microsoft Store is enabled.
Key capabilities include:
- Browse apps: Use
store browse-appsto search and filter the Store catalog by various criteria, including category, subcategory, listing type (top-free, top-paid, new releases), market, and language. - Install apps instantly: Deploy apps directly from the command line with a single command using
store install. - Update specific apps: Install the latest version of any app effortlessly with
store update, bypassing the need for menu navigation.
For further information, simply type store --help in the command line.
Closing the loop with developer feedback
Developer feedback remains integral to the evolution of these enhancements. In addition to ongoing community input, we have implemented a new, simplified method for sharing feedback within Partner Center. This feature includes short, in-context prompts embedded directly within key workflows, such as after submitting an app for certification or updates, and during analytics page visits at specific intervals.
As we continue to roll out new improvements, we encourage developers to visit the What’s New section regularly to stay informed about the latest updates.
