Microsoft has confirmed it will build 100% native apps for Windows 11 and form a new team to spearhead the project. It’s unclear whether all new apps will be built on a native UI framework like WinUI, but Microsoft has assured that at least some won’t rely on web-based components.Back in 2020, Microsoft’s Windows boss, Panos Panay, said the company wants you to love Windows, not just need it. However, nothing really happened, and Panos eventually left the company.Fast forward to 2026, Windows leadership is promising another revival, but this time, Microsoft appears serious, and we’re seeing internal efforts.Microsoft has announced a major Windows 11 update to address underlying performance issues, make the context menu load faster, reduce File Explorer launch time, move the Start menu to WinUI, and add the ability to move the taskbar. In fact, you’ll be able to resize the taskbar and switch to a compact layout, similar to the Windows 10 experience.But it turns out Windows improvements won’t be limited to OS-level components, as Microsoft has also pledged to improve apps.Rudy Huyn, a Partner Architect at Microsoft working on the Store and File Explorer, says he is forming a team focused on building better apps for Windows 11.“I’m building a new team to work on Windows apps! You don’t need prior experience with the platform.. what matters most is strong product thinking and a deep focus on the customer,” Huyn wrote in a post on X. “If you’ve built great apps on any platform and care about crafting meaningful user experiences, I’d love to hear from you.”Many developers are already applying, but some are questioning Microsoft’s approach. One user asked whether these apps would be PWAs (Progressive Web Apps).To our surprise, Huyn dismissed that idea and said the new Windows 11 apps will be 100% native.That said, “100%” is a strong claim.Some so-called native apps today are only partially built with WinUI, with certain features still relying on WebView. A truly native app would be fully built on the WinUI framework, without loading components through WebView.At the moment, we don’t know what the new “native” Windows 11 apps are coming our way, and it’s also not clear if Microsoft plans to update existing web-based apps with a native UI.Right now, Microsoft rarely builds native apps for Windows 11. In fact, Windows 11’s built-in video editor, Clipchamp, is also a Progressive Web App.Microsoft Clipchamp is a WebView2 powered video editorMoreover, Microsoft’s two flagship products, Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot, are now web apps.Over the past few years, Microsoft has shown little to no interest in building native apps for Windows 11, and third-party developers have followed the company’s lead.WhatsApp is one of the popular apps that dropped the native WinUI framework in favor of a Chromium-based web app.It remains to be seen whether Microsoft can convince Meta and other companies to build native apps for Windows 11, or if it will make Microsoft Store rules stricter.We also don’t know if Microsoft plans to update existing web-based apps with a native UI.The post Microsoft plans to build 100% native apps for Windows 11, as web apps ruin the OS experience appeared first on Windows Latest