Month: November 2019

Disney + is all the news today. With Star Wars, Marvel, and all that original Disney catalog for just $ 7 a month, it’s an engaging online service. Disney has also done an admirable job of launching on almost every device available, including the Xbox One.

While Windows 10 users can install the Disney + site as a web app, it’s a mystery why users can’t use the Xbox app on Windows 10. All apps on Xbox One are part of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), which means with a few tweaks, the Xbox One app can work on Windows 10.

Windows Central main editor Zac Bowden managed to get the Xbox file, and it installs just fine on Windows 10 PCs (unfortunately it was not compiled for ARM64). While the app lacks keyboard and touch controls (you can navigate with a mouse), it’s also obvious that most of the coding is complete for Windows 10. Compared to the web-based Disney +, the Xbox app uses the higher HEVC H. Codec .265, which provides exceptional audio and picture quality. It certainly sounds better than the web version.

As to why Disney isn’t choosing to optimize and release its Disney + app for Windows 10, I have no idea. Seems trivial to bring to PC after app coding for Xbox is complete. And it’s.

According to early Microsoft Store reviews, a lot of other people aren’t happy either. The app only gets two stars (out of 5) with 17 reviews. However, the complaints are that it’s not on Windows 10, not the performance of the app.

None of this is new for Windows 10. Amazon still doesn’t have an Amazon Prime Video app for Windows 10, but it does for Xbox One. AMC, CBS, Showtime, and HBO all follow the same disappointing path. I heard from a developer who works on these projects that engagement on Windows 10 is very low compared to Xbox. This makes sense because most people watch TV and movies in their living room, on a streaming box or console.

Yet with the arrival of Windows 10 on ARM and more laptops that are always connected, the desire to watch these services on the go is understood. Apple’s iPad has no problem with app adoption. While Windows 10 pales in comparison to the iPad for media-intensive use, it doesn’t help that even if you wanted to use the Surface Pro X or Surface Go for that purpose, you couldn’t.

I don’t know how Microsoft fixes this problem. One thing we can do is ask Disney to take a few more steps and release their UWP app for all Windows 10 devices. In the meantime, our friends at Aggiornamenti Lumia host the Disney + Xbox UWP app on MEGA, so go for it.