Windows 11 build 25217 finally adds support for third-party widgets

Microsoft is rolling out its usual weekly build of Windows 11 to Insiders enrolled in the Dev channel, and with it comes a long-awaited feature – support for third-party widgets. Windows Insiders can now start developing and testing widgets for their third-party apps. This means widgets can be added to the Widgets board – currently only populated with web content offered by Microsoft.

Support for widgets from third-party apps was added to the Windows App SDK 1.2 Preview, which was released earlier this week. Because it’s in preview, developers don’t yet have permission to post apps with widget support on the Microsoft Store, so you can’t just go ahead and find apps with widgets right now. Still, it’s great to see this capability start to become available, as it should make the Widgets board more useful for a lot more users. Microsoft also mentioned that third-party web apps will be also be supported with a future update to Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft is also teasing a big update to Chat with Microsoft Teams on Windows 11. This is the first major change to the experience we’ve seen in a while, and it puts a bigger emphases on video calls. When you open the Chat panel, you’ll see a preview of your own video right away, so you know if you’re ready to start a call. The panel itself appears to have been redesigned in other ways, too, including a new search bar.

This seems to be a very limited release right now, as Microsoft isn’t even mentioning it alongside the other news in this build. Microsoft is calling it a “sneak preview release”, and you can open the Chat panel to see if you’re one of the lucky few to have this new experience.

Aside from this, Windows 11 build 25217 also brings some typing improvements for users of the Chinese input method editor (IME). The cloud suggestions feature, which suggests words based on popular Bing searches, has been improved on the backend, so the suggestions should be more “fresh”, as Microsoft puts it. That’s about it in terms of new features, though Microsoft also noted that the new Tamil Anjal keyboard that began rolling out a few weeks ago is now widely available.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has rolled back a change to the Settings app, where users could use a new dropdown menu to choose when the touch keyboard should appear. The company says it’s hoping to bring it back after refining the design of the experience.

Finally, while it’s not tied to this build, Microsoft is also rolling out an update to the Microsoft Store in the Dev channel, which makes it clearer in a game is included as part of Game Pass. Buttons have been redesigned so you can either download a game with Game Pass or buy it outright. This update also includes improved performance for the library page.

As per usual, the build comes with a few fixes and known issues, which you can read below.

If you’re enrolled in the Dev channel of the Insider program, you can download Windows 11 build 25217 right now using Windows Update.

---

Source: Microsoft