New Microsoft Team Aims for 100% Native Windows Apps, Ditches WebView Approach

Rudy Huyn is building a new Windows-focused engineering team aimed at improving Windows 11 performance and user experience, signaling a potential shift in Microsoft’s development strategy.

Native apps take priority in new Windows push

In a recent tweet, as spotted by Windows Central, Rudy Huyn confirmed that his team will focus on building apps that are fully native, avoiding WebView or other web-based UI layers.

This move directly targets one of the biggest long-standing issues in Windows 11, its fragmented UI stack.

Currently, Windows relies on a mix of frameworks, including Win32, UWP, WinUI, WebView, and even React Native. This combination often leads to inconsistent design, uneven performance, and slower responsiveness across different parts of the OS.

Users have already noticed this inconsistency in newer features. For example, the upcoming Agenda View relies on WebView, and Microsoft’s Copilot experience has also shifted back toward a web-based implementation.

Microsoft has leaned into frameworks like Electron in recent years due to faster development cycles and cross-platform flexibility. However, this approach has drawn criticism for negatively impacting performance and system responsiveness.

Microsoft aims to fix the inconsistent Windows experience

Huyn’s new team appears to signal a course correction.

By prioritizing native frameworks like WinUI, Microsoft could deliver faster, more responsive applications with a more cohesive design language across Windows 11.

Native apps typically reduce latency, improve system integration, and avoid the overhead associated with web-based rendering layers. This could address common complaints about sluggish UI elements and inconsistent behavior between system apps.

The shift also suggests Microsoft wants tighter control over the Windows experience, rather than relying on hybrid or web-driven solutions that can dilute overall performance.

While no timeline or specific features have been announced yet, this initiative could represent a long-term investment in making Windows 11 feel more unified, faster, and polished.

If executed properly, the move back to native development may become one of the most important changes to the Windows ecosystem in recent years.