Launch 2020 brings more UWP apps to the Microsoft Store

What is UWP?

UWP, also known as Universal Windows Platform, is a cross-platform unified application architecture created by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10.

The purpose of this platform is to help development Metro-style applications runs on both Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile without having to rewrite apps for each platform.

What you need to know

• This community of UWP developers just launched twelve new and two revamped apps.
• These releases are part of the annual Launch 2020 event, and this is the second time the event has been held.
• Apps include: UWP file explorer, Instagram messaging client, Discord client, GitHub task manager and more.

The second annual Launch event is taking place this week. Launch 2020 brings dozens of new apps and some remastered software to the Microsoft Store. The apps that are part of Launch are created by developers from the UWP Community Discord. Developers in the Discord server discussed application development, the UWP platform and supported each other to improve their applications (do we have such a community in Vietnam).

Featured applications from Launch 2020

Arlo Godfrey, the man behind the UWP Community Discord shared all the apps from Launch 2020. You can check out the his article and all the featured apps from Launch 2020 below.

Chaptifier

Chaptifier is an application that allows you to add podcast metadata to MP3 files. It is designed to make it easier for podcasters to share their content by adding useful data. You can add chapters, images, titles, comments, and other content to enrich your podcast. When you create chapters in Chaptifier, they support titles, URLs, images, and start and end times.

Files UWP – Preview

UWP Files is a modern file management application that supports tabs (browser-like tabs) and is designed in Fluent Design style. It works with mouse and keyboard or touchscreen, thanks to larger icons and elements. This project is still in its early days, but it is open source and has grown quite a bit already. This is one of the applications that I downloaded in this 12-item combo. After that, I deleted it in less than 1 day, there were many minor errors, every time I copied and pasted and applied it it refreshed several times, extremely annoying.

Indirect

This is messaging app for Instagram. It allows you to send and receive direct messages, view and reply to chats. This application is also designed in Fluent Design style, and it works well with mouse, keyboard or touch screen.

Aurora

This application allows you to manage non-code tasks from GitHub. With it, you can access repositories, issues, labels, assign colors to repos, and various login information. This software supports multiple accounts, so you can open Github accounts on different tabs at the same time.

Quarrel

Quarrel is a Discord client for Windows 10 and now Xbox One. Quarrel was rebuilt in early 2020. The rebuild focused on stability and usability. In addition to stability improvements, the app also supports Xbox, chat channels, conversation channels, direct messages, group DMs and more. Voice support for Xbox will be improved later this week, as updates are still rolling out.

Brainf*ck# – Preview

The name sounds so cool. Client application Brainf*ck is an interactive dashboard and memory viewer. It has an IDE with automated syntax and custom themes. This software is a powerful debugger for developers.

Yugen Mosaic

Yugen Mosaic allows you to turn any photo into a mosaic (if you look at the picture, you will know what a mosaic is). These photos are often made for symbolic and stylized purposes. This is out of the question for a yearbook photo.

XSpot

You can use it XSpot to get Spotlight images from Microsoft. You can also find more images on Bing and save them as JPG, PNG or BMP. It also allows us to set that image as wallpaper.

8 bytes

Application client Bytes allows you to watch the videos you follow, or randomly every day, and comment or rate the videos. You can also use it to follow users and topics just like TikTok.

Swift browser

Swift browser supports synchronization between Windows 10 devices and has Adblocker, Dark Mode and KeePass built in. You can save web pages for offline viewing and use your browser's reading mode to get through text more easily.

This application is the easiest way to keep up to date with UWP Community projects. You can check out ongoing projects and register your projects to be featured on this app.

Some projects have not been released yet

Some developers weren't ready to release their apps in time for Launch 2020, but they didn't forget to share about their upcoming apps.

Dynamic Shell

This app will allow people to customize the look and feel of Windows 10. It will support AudioFlyout v2 and has the ability to prevent swipe gestures from the edges of the screen (or touchpad).

Strix Music

Formerly known as Spotimo, this Spotify client is getting some improvements. It now uses 30% less memory than before, and the developer is working on a number of new features, including a Zune-esque Now Playing view.

Project Input/Project Screen

Project Input allows you to send mouse, pen (touch) and gamepad input from one device to another. The developer, Christopher Black, also known as Ryken, will prioritize working on this project once he completes myTube 4.0.

DirectXStudio

This application is a UWP IDE for developing .NET applications and games. This is a rich code editor and includes a 3D scene.