The redesigned Microsoft Photos app with AI and web features has been available for some time now. After the redesign in early 2024, Microsoft updated the Photos app again in April 2024 to use the Windows App SDK platform, which brings the best of classic and modern Windows APIs. However, there’s a catch—the new Photos app could launch slowly.
While previously, UWP was supposed to be the future of Windows apps, Microsoft now believes that Windows App SDK is the best platform. It has slowly updated most of its apps to use Windows App SDK. For example, Phone Link is also one of the apps that uses Windows App SDK, but the problem with the WinAppSDK is its performance.
Some people have complained that Windows App SDK-based apps take longer than usual to launch. Microsoft hides this impact by using the splash screen (the app logo that appears before the app loads).
However, the company has a workaround that some people might not like. Microsoft plans to run the Photos app in the background automatically so it would launch without the splash screen. This is possible because the Photos app is already running in the background, which makes it launch faster.
You’ll notice a new option within the Settings that turns off the “feature”, but it’s turned on by default.
Microsoft is moving ahead with the Windows App SDK, and the Photos app based on it will also begin rolling out on Windows 10.
“In our continued effort to create consistent, performant experiences across all app versions, we’re also bringing this platform upgrade to the Photos app on Windows 10,” Microsoft pointed out in a blog post.
The new-new-new Photos app is still available for those in the Windows Insider Program, but I’m sure it will begin rolling out to everyone by November.
Photos app is also getting a couple of new features on Windows 11.
Photos app is getting more features
You’ll notice that the Gallery’s section is now much faster. It’s more usable and stable especially when finding your local content. After the update, you’ll notice that the Gallery app now showcases images from all places – your local storage, OneDrive or even iCloud if you’ve linked your Apple account.
There’s also a new “This PC” section that lets you find all content from your Windows local storage. This section showcases images that have been detected by the Microsoft Photos app on your system.
Finally, another notable feature and probably something most of you would love to use, is image search with Bing. It’s a lot like Google Lens integration in Google photos app.
With “In the viewer”, you can use Bing to search your images, and learn more about their data, such as the original source of the image in your gallery or what it actually means.
This feature is powered by Bing’s existing Visual search.