For more information on building Windows desktop apps with the latest version of WinUI, see WinUI 3.
WinUI 2 is tightly integrated with Windows SDKs and provides official native Windows UI controls and other user interface elements for UWP applications (and desktop applications using XAML Islands).
Maintaining down-level compatibility with earlier versions of Windows 10 enables WinUI 2 controls to work even if users don't have the latest OS.
For details on the work planned for the next release and to provide feedback, see the WinUI 2.8 milestone.
New controls: WinUI contains new controls that aren't shipped as part of the default Windows platform.
Updated versions of existing controls: The library also contains updated versions of existing Windows platform controls that you can use with earlier versions of Windows 10.
Support for earlier versions of Windows 10: WinUI APIs work on earlier versions of Windows 10, so you don't have to include version checks or conditional XAML to support users who might not be running the very latest OS.
Support for XamlDirect: The Xaml Direct APIs, designed for middleware developers, gives you access to a lower-level Xaml features which provide better CPU and working set performance. XamlDirect enables you to use XamlDirect APIs on earlier versions of Windows 10 without needing to write special code to handle multiple target Windows 10 versions.
The source for this content can be found on GitHub, where you can also create and review issues and pull requests. For more information, see our contributor guide.
Windows developer feedback
Windows developer is an open source project. Select a link to provide feedback: