Windows UI Library
The Windows UI Library (WinUI) provides official native Microsoft UI controls and features for Windows UWP apps.
WinUI is the easiest way to build great Fluent Design experiences for Windows.
WinUI can be used in any Windows 10 UWP XAML app, or in a Xamarin.Forms app running on Windows 10 using native view embedding.
WinUI Community Calls
The WinUI community call is your monthly opportunity to learn about native UX development for Windows with WinUI.
In these calls we’ll discuss the WinUI roadmap, our status and your feedback.
You can watch them online here on YouTube at the Windows Developer channel.
Add the event to your calendar: ICS calendar file
WinUI 3.0 Alpha (February 2020)
As outlined in the roadmap we're currently working on WinUI 3.0, which will greatly expand the scope of WinUI to include the full native Windows UI platform.
You can now download an early build of WinUI 3.0 Alpha to try out - we'd love your feedback!
For more info see the discussion issue #1965.
Using WinUI
You can download and use WinUI packages in your app using the NuGet package manager: see the Getting Started with the Windows UI Library page for more information.
Packages
NuGet Package | Build Status | Latest Versions | Documentation |
---|---|---|---|
Microsoft.UI.Xaml Controls and Fluent Design for UWP apps |
2.3 release | ||
Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Core.Direct Low-level APIs for middleware components |
2.0 prerelease |
You can also build a WinUI package yourself from source. See Contributing to the Windows UI Library for more information on building and contributing to WinUI.
Documentation
WinUI usage documentation:
https://docs.microsoft.com/uwp/toolkits/winui
Release notes:
https://docs.microsoft.com/uwp/toolkits/winui/release-notes/
Sample code:
To view the WinUI controls in an interactive format, check out the Xaml Controls Gallery:
- Get the XAML Controls Gallery app from the Microsoft Store
- Get the source code on GitHub
Contributing to WinUI
The WinUI team welcomes feedback and contributions!
For information on how to contribute please see Contributing to the Windows UI Library.
WinUI features
Benefits
The WinUI Library provides some useful benefits when building apps for Windows 10:
-
Helps you stay up to date
WinUI helps keep your app up to date with the latest versions of key controls and features of UWP XAML and the Fluent Design System -
Provides backward compatibility
WinUI is backward-compatible with a wide range of Windows 10 versions: you can start building and shipping apps with new XAML features immediately as soon as they're released, even if your users aren't on the latest version of Windows 10 -
Makes it simpler to build version adaptive apps
You don't need version checks or conditional XAML markup to use WinUI controls or features: WinUI automatically adapts to the user's OS version
Version support
The Microsoft.UI.Xaml 2.3 NuGet package requires your project to have TargetPlatformVersion >= 10.0.18362.0 and TargetPlatformMinVersion >= 10.0.15063.0 when building.
Your app's users can be on any of the following supported Windows 10 versions:
- Windows Insider Previews
- May 2019 Update (18362 aka "19H1")
- October 2018 Update (17763 aka "Redstone 5")
- April 2018 Update (17134 aka "Redstone 4")
- Fall Creators Update (16299 aka "Redstone 3")
- Creators Update (15063 aka "Redstone 2")
Some features may have a reduced or slightly different user experience on older versions, particularly on builds before 15063. This should not impact overall usability.
Roadmap
For info on the WinUI release schedule and high level plans please see the Windows UI Library Roadmap.
Data/Telemetry
This project collects usage data and sends it to Microsoft to help improve our products and services. See the privacy statement for more details.
For more information on telemetry implementation see the developer guide.