Visual Studio App Center will face deprecation, but Microsoft offers alternatives
The platform will be deprecated on March 31, 2025.
3 min. read
Published on
Share this article
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial team Read more
It’s a sad day for software developers and IT companies everywhere, as Microsoft just announced the deprecation of its Visual Studio App Center, a hub that lets users not only develop desktop and mobile software but also test, release, and monitor it all from one platform.
Fortunately, the App Center will not be deprecated right away, but on March 31, 2025, leaving customers with more than enough time to assess the information and act accordingly. And users shouldn’t worry, as Visual Studio App Center will still get regular security updates until then.
However, past that date, login into your account won’t be possible anymore. What to do? Well, the Redmond-based tech giant has come up with a list of recommendations and alternatives, and those who are currently using Visual Studio App Center should consider them, as the deprecation is inevitable.
According to Microsoft, here’s what you can try:
| App Center capability | Recommended alternative solution |
|---|---|
| Build | We recommend migrating your builds from App Center to Azure Pipelines, leveraging the Export App Center Build feature. |
| Test | For app device testing, we recommend BrowserStack App Automate. BrowserStack provides access to 20,000+ real iOS and Android devices. BrowserStack has developed the Device Testing CLI to support migrating from Microsoft App Center to BrowserStack App Automate. You can find the full guidance for migration to BrowserStack here. |
| Distribution | We recommend Apple’s AppStore for iOS app production releases and Apple’s TestFlight for iOS app test releases. For Android applications we recommend Google Play for production releases and Google Play Console for test releases. Azure Pipelines tasks can be used for distributing to AppStore/TestFlight and Google Play. For Microsoft Store applications, we recommend using Package Flights feature available in Partner Center. |
| CodePush | We have prepared a special version of CodePush to integrate into your app and run independently from App Center. If you’d like to get access to the codebase of this CodePush standalone version, please reach out to our support team at [email protected] for more information. |
| Analytics & diagnostics | We recommend one of the Azure Native ISV services which provide rich capabilities for mobile analytics and diagnostics. By leveraging these Azure Native ISV services, you will be able to monitor your complete stack from device to your backend infrastructure on Azure. Click on each link below to see the documentation for Azure Native ISV service of your choice. Azure Native ISV Services:DatadogDynatraceNew RelicMicrosoft Store app developers can access analytics & diagnostics data through Partner Center Dashboard. Additionally, UWP applications published in Microsoft Store can log custom events through the Microsoft Store Services SDK. |
While Microsoft’s recommendations are well intended, they might be a bit overwhelming for users, especially since Visual Studio App Center has of all these in one place. However, there is still a year until the deprecation happens, and it’s enough time to get accustomed to them.
Microsoft has not announced the deprecation on the official web page of the Center, but it will most likely do so in the next few days.
The Redmond-based tech giant has been announcing the deprecation of several beloved platforms, lately, including that of the Windows Subsystem for Android, which shocked some users.
Microsoft hasn’t revealed the reasons it’s deprecating Visual Studio App Center.
