At the Build 2026 developer conference, Microsoft announced that it would rename the WinUI 3 framework to WinUI. At the same time, Microsoft began to encourage developers to use the WinUI framework to develop high-performance native applications for Windows 11. The signal released by Microsoft seemed to be to stop condoning inferior applications based on Web technology and continue to drag down Windows 11. Of course, Microsoft was also a member of the original Web garbage.
Developers are encouraged to develop native applications:
Currently, the Windows platform is flooded with a large number of applications packaged based on Electron, React Native or WebView 2 Runtime. These applications occupy relatively high memory, slow startup speed, and have different interface styles. Of course, the most important thing is that the performance experience is very poor. For example, the Outlook experience developed by Microsoft based on WebView2 Runtime is very bad.
However, starting this year, Microsoft has decided to abandon web technology-based applications in Windows 11 and instead adopt more reliable native architectures, such as the Start Menu (recommended section). Therefore, Microsoft has also begun to encourage developers to use native frameworks to develop native applications with a better experience. However, for developers, using Electron can reduce development costs. It remains to be seen whether developers are willing to follow Microsoft's recommendations to develop native applications. After all, Microsoft's attitude changes very quickly.
Why WinUI 3 should be renamed WinUI:
Technology is based on name change, so now Microsoft has announced that it will rename the Windows application production-level platform WinUI 3 development framework to WinUI. The reason for the name change may be that Microsoft feels that releasing with a version number of 2 3 4 may make developers worried, that is, Microsoft keeps releasing new frameworks, and developers need to constantly adapt to new frameworks. If Microsoft makes major destructive changes, the developer adaptation costs will increase significantly.
Therefore, Microsoft emphasizes that based on long-term stability considerations, the WinUI framework has officially canceled the version number. Microsoft has no plans to develop a new UI framework in the future, nor will it make major destructive changes, so that developers can safely focus on application development based on the WinUI framework and bring a better user experience to the application.
Microsoft also revealed that more system-level Shell components in Windows 11 will be gradually migrated to WinUI to achieve consistency in interface style and performance across the entire platform. However, Microsoft will not exclude other frameworks, but Microsoft recommends developers to use WinUI instead of frameworks such as Electron.