You can now preview more than 6 top free apps on the Microsoft Store without leaving the homepage

Earlier this week, the Microsoft Store was updated to support a much faster performance. The Redmond-based tech giant allows users to skip the platform’s splash screen resulting in a lightning-fast experience when opening it up.

We just started rolling out a new version of the #MicrosoftStore to #Windows Insiders featuring some major performance improvements. The splash screen can now be entirely skipped in most cases and launching the app feels a lot faster! Try it out and let us know what you think! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/5ZG2iCcsOH

— Sergio Pedri (@SergioPedri) April 3, 2024

The Microsoft Store has no splash screen, and no loading indicator and the startup feels almost instantaneous, product pages are loading about 40% faster than before, and the new store also manages entitlement and licensing better which results in the Buy button appearing 1.5 times faster than before.

However, according to Windows enthusiast @PhantomOfEarth, Microsoft Store also allows more than 6 top free apps to be displayed on its homepage, without ever leaving it. Microsoft added previous/next buttons, that can be accessed to see more than the original 6 top free apps.

One of the other new changes in Microsoft Store 22403.1401.0.0 is the addition of previous/next buttons to sections like "Top free apps", which let you see more than just 6 apps from that section/collection without having to click its title. pic.twitter.com/ebmMYIzL6B

— PhantomOcean3 🌳 (@PhantomOfEarth) April 4, 2024

This is quite useful given that Microsoft Store might be interested in the top free apps of the week, and now they can choose from a greater pool of options.

Before this week’s update, only 6 top free apps were displayed at the same time on the homepage, and when trying to see more than 6 apps, the Microsoft Store would open the dedicated page, prompting the user to leave the homepage.

However, now you can click on the new buttons to go through Microsoft Store’s top free apps, and when we tried it, we could access more than 50 apps; clicking on the buttons also refreshed the next batch of apps, so there it will take some time until you cycle back to where you started.

This is quite useful: you can now install your preferred apps without ever leaving the store’s homepage, all while having a seamless experience on the platform. Coupled with Microsoft Store’s newfound faster performance, this could be a winner for many users out there.

What do you think of the improved Microsoft Store?