App development tools & resources
As an app developer today, you have many choices and we are here to help. Explore this site whether you are a beginner or an expert who starts from an existing code base. Whether you want to host your app's backend in our cloud or you want to ride the Windows 10 wave, you can use our great development tools, including familiar libraries and cross-platform tools, to quickly bring your vision to reality. Let’s dev this!
Welcome!
Windows 10 is an exciting release for developers, with support for universal Windows apps that run across all Windows 10 devices. Explore this section to find out more about the opportunity, the Windows 10 SDK, and the tools, emulators, libraries, headers, and other files you need to develop apps for Windows 10.
Windows 10 empowers you to build a single universal app experience that can reach every device running Windows 10—every phone, tablet, PC—and soon—Xbox.
The Windows Store is the single place to acquire Windows apps, games, and more. For developers, the new unified Windows Dev Center dashboard lets you publish and manage your apps for Windows devices.
Desktop applications
Developing Win32 apps, coding for .NET, and creating amazing desktop applications are more your thing? You have come to the right place! Explore the Windows Dev Center for desktop applications.
Want to get your amazing desktop application in front of millions of Windows 10 users? Look no further and start by downloading the Windows 10 developer tools.
Cloud backend
Most applications today have some type of cloud backend to enable value-added services for users. Microsoft offers developers excellent choices in this space, independent of which platform your app lives on (Android, iOS, or Windows). Let’s explore.
Microsoft Azure App Service enables you to create web and mobile apps for any platform. You can rapidly build, deploy, and manage these apps using a single backend and using your existing languages skill—.NET, Java, NodeJS, PHP, or Python. Check it out at the Azure portal or watch a quick video that shows you how to start.
Build custom solutions across all your mobile, web, and desktop solutions that connect to Office 365 by using industry open standards, such as OAuth and OData. Connect securely to Office 365 APIs to access email, files, calendar, and people information and the petabytes of data that are stored there. Create an app with Office 365 APIs.
Cross-platform
Create mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows with Visual Studio and beyond. Explore solutions for native, hybrid, and web app development using your preferred coding language. Let’s dev this.
Create mobile applications for iOS, Android, and Windows from a single JavaScript code base with Visual Studio’s Tools for Apache Cordova. A single shared JavaScript API provides nearly 100% code reuse across platforms and access to native device capabilities using a familiar, concise syntax. Download Visual Studio Community for free today and get coding!
Calling all C# fans! Create rich native apps using C# across iOS, Android, and Windows while maximizing code reuse. Share code across device platforms with shared projects or portable class libraries. With 100% of the native APIs exposed, you have full access to device capabilities. Explore the Visual Studio and Xamarin solutions now.
Managed code is not for you? Share, reuse, build, deploy, and debug your cross-platform C++ mobile code. Create projects from templates for Android native-activity applications or create high-performance shared libraries to include in other solutions. You can also bring your existing C++ code to mobile platforms with minimal work. Download Visual C++ Cross-Platform Mobile.
Getting started with Windows is easier than you think. Whether you’re currently building for the web, other mobile platforms, or building a traditional Windows application, we want to help you bring your experience to the Windows platform. The Universal Windows Platform Bridges are here to help.
