The best new Windows apps, according to Microsoft

Microsoft recognizes many of its best apps and developers in a new Microsoft Store App Awards.

The brand announced the winners, runners-up, and runners-up in various award categories, split between the Community Choice Awards which were nominated by users and the Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice Awards which were selected internally.

Although the prices are unknown, the prices are intended to publicize the range of apps available on the Microsoft Store.

The Community Choice Awards include:

The Microsoft Store Editor’s Choice Awards include:

Microsoft’s editorial team also gave special recognition to the Talk for Me app, a text-to-speech and voice assistant app.

After revamping the Microsoft Store on Windows in 2021, the App Store has been criticized for not having enough compatibility with a number of apps. Microsoft recently added its own Microsoft Teams app to the Microsoft Store with support for Windows 10 and Windows 11 in mid-May.

Shortly after, the brand confirmed at its recent Build conference, the end of the waiting list program for Win32 applications in the Microsoft Store. This will enable even greater compatibility of apps with the Microsoft Store, especially those running on C++, WinForms, WPF, MAUI, React, Rust, Flutter, and Java – as long as they run on Windows.

Many posts have noted that the Win32 program has been oddly exclusive in the past, favoring third-party apps like Discord, Firefox, and Zoom, while several commonly used apps like Google Chrome and Steam weren’t allowed on the Microsoft. Store. It will be interesting to see which apps will now come to the App Store with the restrictions lifted.

It will also be interesting to see how future Microsoft Store App Awards pan out as more Win32 programs are added to the App Store.

Editors’ Recommendations