The Microsoft Store is the default app store on Windows PCs, and it has become much more usable over the past few years. There’s now another helpful improvement rolling out: direct downloads in the web browser.

The web version of the Microsoft Store received an overhaul in 2023, making it easier to find and browse applications and games in a web browser (usually from web search results). However, installing an application from the site still required a few clicks: you had to allow the browser to open the link in the Microsoft Store, and then finally click Install in the Store window after that is finished loading.

When you click Install in the web version of the Microsoft Store, the site will now download an installer executable. Microsoft’s Rudy Huyn said in a Twitter/X post that it opens “much faster than the Store” and works if the Store has been removed or “has not been updated for months.” The installer files are also small (my download for the iCloud app was a 703KB executable) without any files for the selected app, similar to the installers for popular apps like Google Chrome.

Rudy Huyn from Microsoft said, “The feedback from developers and users who participated in the initial three rounds of our experiment has been extremely positive, and the results clearly demonstrate this. This new method of installing Store applications has, on average, led to a 12% increase in installations and a 54% increase in the number of applications launched after installation.”

The new installer downloads are not yet rolled out to all applications on the Microsoft Store. For example, I tried clicking the Install button on OneNote and it opened in the Microsoft Store, but the Install button on the iCloud app downloaded an installer. That should change as Microsoft generates installers for more apps listed in the store.

Microsoft has rolled out a few improvements to the Store since Windows 11 arrived, including faster app installation and more design updates. However, it has also become yet another place for Microsoft to show you advertisements. The Microsoft Store started allowing promoted apps on search results in early 2023, similar to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Source: Rudy Huyn (Twitter/X)