Some Windows 11 stock apps might soon be much faster to load and more responsive in general

Microsoft is working to make some of its default apps run faster in Windows 11, specifically the clients using Windows App SDK.

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Faster loading and snappier apps mean happier Windows 11 users (Image Credit: Microsoft)

That software development kit is used in the likes of the stock Photos app in Windows 11, or Phone Link, but apps leveraging the SDK can often exhibit sluggish behavior when loading, or in terms of general responsiveness, as Windows Latest notes.

However, the tech site has spotted a support document from earlier this month which tells us that Microsoft has brought in native Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation for Windows App SDK.

Apps developed to use native AOT - or updated with it - will benefit from a considerable performance boost.

Microsoft is estimating something in the order of 50% faster launch times for apps thanks to this new feature, which is a huge leap in speed - so applications like Photos will no longer boot so sluggishly.

Other benefits include app packages being some 8x smaller, and applications using less memory thanks to native AOT, so there are a few wins here.

We need to take in-house benchmarking with some seasoning, of course, and as ever the exact benefits will vary for every piece of software. Also, existing applications will need to be updated by the developer to support the feature (so if they aren't in active development anymore, clearly that won't happen).

Still, this looks to be a useful boost for some of the default apps in Windows 11, and maybe more besides if the uptake from developers for native AOT gets rolling nicely.

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