As of today, my apps that were available on the Windows app store, will no longer be available. I also don’t currently plan on releasing any new apps on that app store in the future, but that’s subject to change depending on different factors. One of the main reasons why I’ve come to this conclusion is because of the low amount of downloads I get on the Windows app store. When it comes to downloads, most of mine come from the Apple app store, followed by Amazon, then Google Play, and then at the very bottom is the Windows app store. I’m an indie developer that works on all aspects of my apps myself, from the beginning of creation to the publishing, marketing, customer service, and upkeep. So I honestly don’t have much time to spread myself across four app stores, and it doesn’t make sense to spend time on an app store that I don’t get much traction on. Not only does it take time to make a port for a different app stores operating system, but there’s also the act of making assets, publishing, and updating when needed or when adding new features or content.

I’ve been planning on exiting the Windows app store for the past few months, but one thing that pushed me to do this sooner than later is because Window recently unpublished some of my apps because a low active presence on their app store. Their official report stated that the reason these apps were unpublished was “App Policy 10.1.4 Active Presence – Apps must have an active presence in the Store. When determining “active presence”, Microsoft looks for factors including but not limited to: acquisitions rate, update frequency, and adoption of new platform features/capabilities.” I think it’s ridiculous that they would remove apps for these reasons and after I quick search online I discovered I definitely wasn’t the only developer that this has happened to. The only time I would have updated an app on Windows is if it had somehow became broken or inoperable because of a Windows update or device interference. There were times when I updated the Apple and Android(Amazon & Google Play) versions of some of my apps with new features and/or performance improvements but skipped the Windows version. However, since they weren’t ever broken or had crashing issues I would consider that a good thing overall and keep apps with those criteria available. I highly doubt they checked the other versions of apps to see what they consisted of in comparison to the Windows version, but who knows maybe they did randomly.

Well anyhow, I was planning on exiting Windows so now it’s official. It was a neat experience overall at times, Microsoft customer service was quick & effective the few times I was in contact with them and they had some neat promotions and incentives during the beginning of their push for app store growth. Also my app Jumbo Egg Hunt reached the top 100 paid download section in the Windows app store so that was great. I do think Microsoft have made some neat products with some of the Windows phones and with the Surface tablets. However it seems Apple and Android are the majority owners of the smartphone market and also the tablet market with Amazon as well. I don’t notice many people with Windows mobile devices or being advocates for them. Windows Phones have been unsupported and discontinued by Microsoft too, but they’re till trying to grow the Surface tablets. I’ve never seen nearly as much hype behind Windows phones and tablets as I do for iPhones, iPads, Google Pixel phones, Kindle Fire tablets, and Android phones made by Samsung & LG, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Overall it was nice having some of my apps available to Windows users all around the world, and Microsoft is a big company that has made a grand impact in technology so I’m thankful for the opportunity to be a part of their mobile app story. In conclusion, my apps are still of course available on the Apple, Amazon, & Google Play app stores and I don’t plan on leaving any of those areas anytime soon  so be sure to check my apps out on those app stores. Take care!