Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store helps you to find, download, and buy apps and games, plus digital movies and TV shows.
Get to know the Microsoft Store
The Microsoft Store---which is often simply referred to as the Store or the Store app---has been significantly streamlined for Windows 11. It provides top-level access to apps, games, and movies and TV show content via its navigation bar, plus your library of previously downloaded and purchased content.

Navigation is mostly obvious, and a small arrow-shaped Back button will appear in the upper-left corner of the app window so that you can go back to previous screens.

The Apps section in the Store lets you browse the available apps, of course.

And each item it offers has its own page.

The Microsoft Store also offers integrated search functionality that is accessible from any page in the app.

Finally, the Library view is used to view the apps, games, and movies and TV shows that are in the library associated with your Microsoft account---meaning content that you've previously downloaded or purchased---and to update installed apps and games.

In this chapter, we focus only on apps and games. The purchasing of movies and TV shows is discussed in the Movies & TV chapter.
Before you start
Before you download any apps or games, there are a few things you should configure and consider.
Manage your account and payment options
First, spend a few moments to ensure that the Store is set up correctly for your account and whatever payment method(s) you prefer to use for paid apps and other content. That way, you won't need to hunt around for credit card or other payment information the first (or next) time you want to buy something.

You configure this information with the Microsoft account website at account.microsoft.com. Once signed in, navigate to Payments & billing > Payment options.
You can also find a link to this part of the site from within the Store app: Select Profile (your account picture) and then choose "Payment options" from the drop-down menu that appears.
From that web page, you can create, delete, and manage payment options tied to your Microsoft account. These include credit and debit cards, a Microsoft gift card account balance, mobile billing through your wireless carrier, and PayPal.

If you do get a Microsoft gift card, you can redeem the code it contains on the web at
account.microsoft.com/billing/redeem. Or, you can use the Store app in Windows: navigate to Profile > "Redeem code or gift cards".
Manage your connected PCs and devices
Microsoft lets you download Store apps and games to up to 10 Windows PCs at once. You can manage the list of those PCs from the Microsoft account website as well: just select the "Devices" link at the top.

If you see any out-of-date PCs in this list, you can remove them by selecting the appropriate "Remove device" link.
Consider how you will use the Microsoft Store
As discussed in App Basic...