At the Build 2022 developer conference, Microsoft confirmed that the store in Windows 11 will soon support downloading third-party widgets. Accessible only through the Windows Widgets panel, these web widgets or applets provide at-a-glance information, such as Microsoft MSN headlines or weather updates.
Widgets are one of the important features of the Windows 11 operating system, and users can launch them by swiping from the left side of the screen or pressing Windows + W on the keyboard.
Microsoft has confirmed that developers can submit their widgets on the Microsoft Store later this year. Once submitted by the developer, users will be able to download widgets from the store and find them next to their native widgets on the widget board.
Currently, the widget panel can only provide detailed information on native applications, such as Microsoft To-Do, Microsoft Store, Movies and TV, etc., so its main problem is that there are not many widgets available at present.
Microsoft doesn’t want users to forget the widget panel and is developing third-party APIs to help developers submit their widgets in the store. At a Build 2022 conference, Microsoft also showed off a new widgets board with all third-party widgets, including Slack.
As you can see in the screenshot above, third-party widgets allow users to access their services directly from the panel. For example, there is a Slack-like widget that lets users view information from different channels or conversations. Widgets like this can be useful to make the experience of the widget panel more diverse. Microsoft has apparently been reaching out to third parties and has been sharing details on how developers can submit widgets through the Microsoft Store.