The Microsoft Store in Windows 11 may soon let you download third-party widgets — tiny apps that provide at-a-glance information, such as current weather or local traffic. FireCube did some digging recently and found that the widget list has been updated to reference the download widget.
Microsoft‘s text informing users that they can “download new widgets and widget updates in the Microsoft Store” is another evidence that the eventual plan is for developers to put their third-party widgets in the Microsoft Store and have Windows 11 Users download whatever they want.
The Widgets panel will certainly be more useful, with a wider range of options and more room for customization, than the current situation where people can only use Microsoft’s own widgets in the panel.
As pointed out by Windows Central, which discovered this, its own Zac Bowden — a prolific source of Microsoft leaks — has previously stated that the widget panel is expected to get third-party efforts, plus new features, in fact, Developers already have a brief look at the functionality of third-party widgets. Previous leaks have also shown that third-party widgets are also inbound.
Extend the widget panel in multiple ways
With the newly discovered trove of evidence that Microsoft is preparing to implement third-party widgets, it seems likely that they will debut sometime in 2022.
Will this be related to the big update in the second half of 2022 (Sun Valley 2)? Maybe, but given that Microsoft has been adding stuff to Windows 11 so far this year — witnessing major interface changes on top of some recent major feature updates — then the clue now emerging may be that we can get an early update on the OS Install third-party widgets in . As for Microsoft’s other plans for widget panels, in its recent release of Windows 11 we did see a full screen panel; so that might be in the pipeline as well (it would provide more screen real estate to fill third-party widgets).
Of course, the widget panel is a divisive feature, and some people really don’t like it as a rather pointless element in the UI. Its usefulness is certainly limited in its current form, limited to Microsoft services. Opening up the ability to add tons of new widgets from across the store certainly helps make the panel a more compelling feature of Windows 11 and significantly improves the perception of this part of the interface.
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