Microsoft Testing Per-App Preview Programs for Windows 10

Microsoft is testing a new way of testing app updates in Windows 10. The upcoming changes, if publicised, could radically change the Windows Insider program as we know it.

This week, Microsoft started testing a new preview program for Windows Camera, Microsoft Photos, Alarm and Clock, Feedback Hub, Tips, and some other core Windows 10 apps. The new preview programs, under the branding Windows App Previews, seem to be completely separate from the Windows Insider program — much like how one can beta test Android apps from the Google Play Store.

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“You’ll be one of the first to try out new features in the preview version of Camera, and your feedback will shape the future of the app,” said the invite for the Windows Camera preview program. The messaging for the Feedback Hub program is similar, and they both resonate with Microsoft’s marketing strategy for the Insider program: shaping the future of Windows — in this case, the apps.

Microsoft is still keeping quiet about the new Windows App Previews program. The program has zero mentions of the Windows Insider program, so the change could be the first step towards separating app updates from the Insider program, one which would be a welcome change for many as you’d no longer need to be running the often buggy Insider preview releases of Windows 10 to be able to test new app updates.

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Conversation 16 comments

  • KhalidAljabi

    11 February, 2018 - 9:23 am

    <p>This is a very welcome change. </p>

    • MutualCore

      11 February, 2018 - 10:55 am

      <blockquote><a href="#244924"><em>In reply to KhalidAljabi:</em></a></blockquote><p>Agreed!</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    11 February, 2018 - 10:13 am

    <p>I’m down. Will Insiders automatically be enrolled in app previews?</p>

  • PeteB

    11 February, 2018 - 10:37 am

    <p>Id like one button to delete all these crappy phone apps. They have to place on the desktop.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      11 February, 2018 - 11:46 am

      <blockquote><a href="#244938"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></blockquote><p>Do better. Come on. <em>Write something better.</em></p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      11 February, 2018 - 3:02 pm

      <p><a href="#244938"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></p><p>Dunno about one button, but one Powershell script can eliminate a lotta cruft.</p>

    • dontbe evil

      12 February, 2018 - 7:54 am

      <blockquote><a href="#244938"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></blockquote><p>I didn't see any app placed on the desktop … maybe your OEMs did?</p>

  • Jimfuckhead

    11 February, 2018 - 12:37 pm

    <p>Jimchamplin sounds like a troll or he’s just a Jim fuckhead.</p>

  • Jacob Klein

    11 February, 2018 - 7:03 pm

    <p>This seems to mimic what we have with Office — the ability to run Release or Preview builds, independent of the OS that we use. So, I think this will be a welcomed change, for Inbox apps! :)</p>

  • arunphilip

    11 February, 2018 - 10:03 pm

    <p><em>"</em><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">some other core Windows 10 apps"</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;"> </span></p><p><br></p><p>I hope that includes Edge. </p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    12 February, 2018 - 12:21 am

    <p>Insider all the things!</p>

  • chrisrut

    Premium Member
    13 February, 2018 - 1:53 am

    <p>It also further abstracts those apps from the core. </p>

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