Windows Widget Panel will soon be able to accommodate third-party widgets. The first could be developed by Meta, who just integrated one into their Messenger application.
You also never use the widgets present in the Windows taskbar? Microsoft may change your mind soon. Third-party widgets are about to officially arrive in Windows. At least that’s what the latest insider build of Windows 11, published by Microsoft on the Developer Channel, suggests.
Facebook Messenger, Windows’ first third-party widget
Thanks to the release of the Windows Apps SDK 1.2 a few months ago, developers were able to start exploring Windows Widgets. And the first third-party widget to appear could very well have been developed by Meta. In its blog dedicated to Windows Insider builds, the Redmond-based company unveiled the first known third-party widget, which could therefore be Messenger. However, to test it, you need a computer with Windows 11 running build 25284. Then you need to download or update the Messenger application from the Microsoft Store, with the widget built into it. Finally, after deploying the widget panel, you can activate it by clicking the “+” button at the top right.
©Microsoft
If this first third-party widget isn’t going to revolutionize the use of Windows 11’s dedicated panel, it should finally give it a breath of fresh air. Because since the release of Windows 11 in October 2021, Microsoft has only offered in-house modules, most of which are completely uninteresting. However, the company had announced its intention to open it up to third-party developers, but the process obviously took longer than expected.
For now, the Windows 11 widget panel mainly displays a news feed, which is difficult to customize and doesn’t allow manual selection of your information sources. Microsoft only allows you to personalize your areas of interest without giving you control over the sources that interest you. The news it contains comes from Microsoft Start (formerly MSN News), Microsoft’s news portal.
Source: microsoft