If you don’t want to (or can’t) run Windows 11 on your PC, the good news is that Microsoft will be providing at least a few app updates to Windows 10 to keep it feeling useful. One of those app updates is Windows 11’s revamped Microsoft Store, which is now available to Windows 10 users in the Release Preview Insider channel.
The new Microsoft Store isn’t dramatically different from the old one in its design, though a few of the changes are clear improvements—viewing your app library and grabbing updates for the apps you already have installed happens on the same screen now, which is handy. But the real reason to install it is its dramatically improved app selection. Microsoft has loosened the rules for the kinds of apps that can be submitted to and downloaded from the store, and apps like Zoom, Discord, the VLC Player, Adobe Reader, the LibreOffice suite, and even the Epic Games Store are all available to download through the store. Once installed, the apps look and work the same way as the standalone versions.
Not everything in Windows 11’s app store will make it to Windows 10. The store version of the Windows Subsystem for Linux isn’t available in Windows 10, nor is the Amazon Appstore or its underlying Windows Subsystem for Android. But for regular users, the expanded selection of actually useful apps can make setting up a new PC a bit easier and may help people avoid paying for scammy third-party app clients that have stepped in to fill the vacuum left by the absence of official apps.
The new Microsoft Store will be available to all Windows 10 users “soon,” according to Microsoft Store Principal Architect Rudy Huyn. Windows 10 21H2, the operating system’s next servicing update, is also slated for release next month (though running Windows 21H2 isn’t a prerequisite for running the new store app).
