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UWP vs WinUI: Which should you choose?

Posted by JaneDoe on September 9, 2025

I'm evaluating options for a new Windows desktop application. Should I go with a traditional UWP project or adopt the newer WinUI 3 framework? What are the key differences in terms of performance, API surface, and future support?

Key Points to Consider

• UWP provides a sandboxed environment with built‑in store deployment.
• WinUI 3 allows you to target both Win32 and UWP, offering more flexibility.
• WinUI receives frequent updates independent of the OS release.

Sample Code

// Simple WinUI 3 window
using Microsoft.UI.Xaml;
public sealed partial class MainWindow : Window
{
    public MainWindow()
    {
        this.InitializeComponent();
    }
}

What experiences do you have with migration paths? Any gotchas?

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