A distinguished Engineer at Microsoft has suggested that native apps are making a comeback, a notion that resonates with the company’s recent initiatives to revitalize Windows 11. The Windows Store, now dominated by web apps, has become the go-to platform for users seeking a secure and efficient app experience on their PCs. Over the years, the Microsoft Store has significantly improved in performance, showcasing a diverse array of applications developed using various frameworks.
When Microsoft expanded the options available to developers, allowing them to create apps using their preferred methods, it was widely viewed as a strategic move to attract more applications to Windows 11 via the Microsoft Store. This shift led to notable applications like Netflix and WhatsApp transitioning away from their native Windows apps, which utilized frameworks such as WinUI, in favor of WebView2-based Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). However, this transition has not been without its challenges; tests conducted by Windows Latest revealed that WhatsApp can consume up to 600MB of RAM on a PC with 8GB of RAM, even when idle.
This issue extends beyond WhatsApp, as Electron-based applications like Discord have been reported to use as much as 4GB of RAM, despite implementing features aimed at reducing resource consumption. While PWAs are generally lighter, they often lack essential functionalities, such as offline access, that are standard in their native counterparts. Users have expressed their dissatisfaction on platforms like Reddit, highlighting a growing concern that the trend toward PWAs is detracting from the overall Windows experience.
Microsoft’s plan to improve the apps on Windows 11
In response to user feedback, Microsoft appears to be taking significant steps to enhance the app ecosystem within Windows 11. A few months ago, Rudy Huyn, a Partner Architect at Microsoft, confirmed the company’s intention to develop 100% native apps for the platform. Although specific timelines were not provided, the commitment signals a clear direction for the future of Windows applications.
Recently, David Fowler, a distinguished Engineer at Microsoft, took to X to declare, “Native apps are back.” This statement reinforces the idea that Microsoft is focused on restoring native applications to Windows 11, where many have been supplanted by web wrappers. With over a decade of experience at Microsoft, Fowler’s involvement with .NET and ASP.NET Core lends weight to his assertions, suggesting an internal shift towards prioritizing native app development.
Fowler’s remarks align with earlier reports indicating that Microsoft is moving key Windows 11 experiences away from web-based components. Notably, the Start menu is transitioning from React-based elements to WinUI, aiming to enhance performance and reduce latency. While neither Fowler nor Huyn provided detailed plans on how this transition will be executed, the recently launched .NET 10 is expected to play a pivotal role in this endeavor. .NET 10 introduces Native AOT (Ahead of Time) compilation, which promises to significantly decrease app startup times and optimize memory usage, a welcome relief for developers.
WebView/PWA problem affects Microsoft’s own apps
The challenges associated with web-based applications extend to Microsoft’s own offerings as well. The web-based Copilot app, for instance, has been criticized for its high resource consumption, utilizing up to 500MB of RAM in the background and soaring to 1GB during active use. The adoption of .NET 10 could mitigate such issues, provided developers opt for native solutions over web-based technologies or cross-platform frameworks like React Native and Flutter.
While the prospect of native apps is promising, Microsoft faces the significant task of persuading developers to prioritize native app creation for Windows. It remains to be seen whether the company will implement incentives to boost native app development and increase the variety of native applications available in the Microsoft Store. Before that can happen, Microsoft must demonstrate the advantages of its renewed focus on native apps by converting many of its own applications to be “100%” native on Windows 11.
