Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 Preview Build 25217 to the development channel, adding support for third-party widgets. Developers can now start developing and testing widgets for their third-party apps, and third-party widgets can be added to the widget panel.
Support for third-party application widgets has been added to the Windows App SDK 1.2 preview released earlier this week. Because it is a preview release, developers do not yet have permission to publish apps with widget support in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft also mentioned that third-party web apps will also be supported in a future update of Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft is also teasing a major update to the Teams chat feature on Windows 11, which will put more emphasis on video calling. When users open the chat panel, they will immediately see a video preview of themselves, and the panel itself has been redesigned in other ways, including a new search bar.
In addition to this, Windows 11 build 25217 also brings some typing improvements for users of the Chinese Input Method Editor (IME). A new cloud suggestion feature has been added, which provides suggested words based on popular Bing searches.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has rolled back previous changes to the Settings app that allowed users to use a new drop-down menu to select when the touch keyboard should appear. Microsoft says it hopes to bring the feature back again when it has refined the experience.
Microsoft has also rolled out an update to the Microsoft Store in the Dev Channel, making it clearer whether the game is playable via Game Pass. The buttons have been redesigned to allow games to be downloaded via Game Pass or purchased directly. The update also includes improvements to the performance of the library page.
