Microsoft revealed today that it has started rolling out the Chromium-based WebView2 runtime to Windows 10 consumer PCs.
“Microsoft Edge WebView2 is a developer control for embedding web content in applications,” Microsoft’s Limin Zhu explains. “It allows developers to leverage the best of what [the] Microsoft Edge Chromium platform can offer and build seamless experiences for their users that incorporate web-based content.”
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WebView2 debuted in October 2020, allowing desktop developers creating Win32 C/C++ apps to add modern web technologies to their applications. Compatibility with .NET apps arrived in November 2020, and then with WinUI 3-based apps in November 2021 as part of the Windows App SDK.
Windows 11 is the first version of Windows to include the WebView2 runtime as Windows 10, to date, has only provided the older Trident-based WebView runtime, forcing developers to include the newer runtime with their apps. That effort has been successful: Microsoft says that over 400 million Windows 10 PCs now have the WebView2 runtime installed thanks to developers distributing WebView2 applications. But making it part of the operating system will provide a more seamless experience and make for smaller app downloads.
Non-managed (consumer) Windows 10 Home and Pro PCs running version 1803 or newer will receive WebView2 soon. And Microsoft says it is evaluating a similar rollout for managed/domain-joined Enterprise PCs in the future.
You can learn more about WebView2 on the Microsoft Docs website.