Microsoft Specifies End Dates for Windows 8/8.1 Apps in Store

Microsoft Specifies End Dates for Windows 8/8.1 Apps in Store

Recently, Microsoft plans to let developers of Windows 8 and 8.1 applications in the Microsoft Store port their apps to Windows 10. Besides, they have shared several important dates with regard to its Windows 8 store and have officially set deadlines for those developers.

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Timeline: Microsoft Store Windows 8 Apps End Date

To be specific, Microsoft is about to stop accepting new Windows 8/8.1 and Windows Phone 8 apps submissions for the Microsoft Store. According to a Monday Microsoft announcement, new app submissions for those operating systems will end on Oct. 31, 2018.

However, this restriction won’t apply to existing apps in the Microsoft Store. Namely, the developers for Windows 8/8.1 or Windows Phone 8.x can still submit updates to existing apps after Oct. 31 date. In the future, they will face some time limits.

As for Windows Phone app developers, App update support from the Microsoft Store is quite short. And Microsoft says they plan to halt distribution of app updates to Windows Phone 8.x or earlier devices from the Microsoft Store on July 1, 2019.

Whereas for all Windows 8/8.1 devices, this company will stop rolling out updates from the Store on July 1, 2023. At that point, these updates can only be available for customers who are using Windows 10 devices.

It seems that Microsoft is prematurely punishing Windows Phone app developers. But actually, Windows Phone 8.1 lost Microsoft’s support policy on July 11, 2017. This means it probably is an unsafe OS to use since Microsoft no longer releases security and quality updates to it.

But Windows 8.1 will fall out of the support of Microsoft on Jan.10, 2023. And the company allows developers to submit app updates to the Store for about 7 months after the specific end date.

Delete Apps from Developers

In the announcement of Microsoft, it didn’t mention the Store support for Windows 10 apps. But under Microsoft’s “Windows as a service” scheme, you can know each version of Windows 10 only supports 18 months. And developer apps can be deleted if they can’t keep current.

Due to this, there may be some challenges in the future. In other words, to remain published, developers will have to test and update their applications regularly with the frequently arriving Windows 10 builds. But, it seems that Microsoft doesn’t have a formal policy yet.

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Final Words

It is unfortunate but not surprising that Microsoft is officially killing Windows 8 store since it fails to catch on with consumers from its launch to imminent end even if it always struggles to attract developer and apps.

If you have a computer which is running on Windows 8, please try to upgrade to Windows 10 as soon as possible. Before the update, it is recommended to back up the entire system disk with Windows backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker to avoid OS corruption or data loss after the update.