Windows 10 is set to allow you to automatically archive apps you don't use

[Karlston]

Windows 10 is set to allow you to automatically archive apps you don't use

Microsoft is set to allow you to start offloading apps that you don't use, as spotted by Windows Latest. The feature can be found in the latest Windows 10 Insider Previews from the development branch. Once you try to use an app that's been archived, the system will automatically download the app again for you to use.

 

If this sounds familiar, it's because Apple does it. This is actually a feature that debuted back in 2015 when Apple finally introduced an Apple TV that had its own App Store. In order to sell a 32GB device when a key selling point was the ability to load it with games, the firm came up with the ability to offload apps that you don't use. The feature later came to iOS.

 

And now it's coming to Windows, although presumably, it will only work for apps that come from the Microsoft Store. The system does need to be able to have a place to pull those apps down from. Inbox apps are probably a good place to start here, although any other Store app should work.

 

As for when this will arrive for non-Insiders, that's anyone's guess. The Dev channel isn't tied to a specific feature update.

 

 

Windows 10 is set to allow you to automatically archive apps you don't use

 

[Sylence]

great feature, can't wait to use it

[Karlston]

First look at new Archive Apps feature of Windows 10

Eagle-eyed Windows 10 users who have taken a look at the latest Windows 10 Insider build already may have spotted a new feature under Apps in the Settings application. A new "Archive Apps" option is displayed there. It is enabled by default, at least in this first Insider version that has it, and it can be disabled from the page with a click or tap on the slider.

 

The description offers some insight on the functionality of the feature:

To save storage space and Internet bandwidth, apps you don't use frequently will be archived automatically. Your files and other data will be saved. The next time you use an archived app, it'll connect to the Internet to restore the full version (if it's still available).

Microsoft has not announced the feature yet and the description is all to go by at the time of writing. It appears that the feature is designed to save storage space on the local device by removing apps from the device that are not used frequently. User data associated with the app is saved, but Microsoft fails to mention where and how.

 

 

While it is most likely that the data is saved in the cloud, as an Internet connection is required to restore functionality when the app is launched, it is also possible that Microsoft could use compression to reduce the size of the user data on the device itself.

 

Microsoft notes that the possibility exists that apps cannot be restored; a likely explanation is if an app is removed from the Store after it is archived on the device.

 

The time it requires for an app to be inactive to be archived is not revealed by Microsoft, but you can take a look at (some of) the apps that Microsoft considers inactive at that point. The list is found elsewhere in the Settings, and there is no direct link that points to it from the Apps settings page.

 

 

You need to go to Settings > System > Storage for that. There you find the "Apps & Features" listing and can check how much storage space apps and features use on the device.

 

To find out about the applications that Windows 10 recommends to archive, you'd have to select "see cleanup recommendations" and expand the unused apps listing on the page that opens.

 

 

The listing includes only Windows Store applications and not classic Windows programs.

Closing Words

The Archive Apps feature may be useful to Windows 10 users who install Store applications frequently on their devices, e.g. on devices that only support Store apps and not classic Windows programs. It may help free up disk space on these devices, but this comes at the expense of delayed startups of these applications as they need to be reinstalled on the device when launched by the user.

 

 

First look at new Archive Apps feature of Windows 10

 

[cosy]

I don't think, this feature is of any use, if at all.

For a normal user, not even necessary

It looks for me as if someone just had a "crazy idea", maybe 😃

[BimBamSmash]

I agree with cosy.

 

This feature makes sense on iOS, since users don't have access to the documents and data these apps generate on the device, and no manual backups of individual app's files and settings can be made. On Windows, however, everything is accessible.

 

Of course, by default, all the core data for Windows store apps' (i.e. the main target for the archive feature) are locked and hidden inside the Program Files sub-folder, but that can be circumvented rather easily if one really needs it. Besides, these apps hardly generate any customization footprints for users to back up for. Those few that do, they seem to be storing a copy of everything on the cloud to begin with, anyway.