The Guardian's Windows 10 UWP app is dead

The Guardian is a daily newspaper based in the UK, covering global politics, world news, and various other topics. It's also one of a dwindling number of news outlets willing to support the Windows 10 app store ecosystem, with its very own UWP-based app. Or at least, it was.

This morning, The Guardian posted a statement on its website, announcing that the Windows 10 app was dead.

Back in November 2015, we launched the Guardian app on Windows 10. After two years of service, we are discontinuing support for the Guardian app on the Windows 10 platform.

From today, the app will no longer be available for download through the Windows store. If you already have the app installed, you can continue to use the app on your phone or desktop. However please be aware there will be no future updates.

We don't take discontinuing services lightly and Windows continues to be an important platform for our readers. However, after taking a number of key factors into consideration - such as current usage, costs to support and effort to maintain parity with Android and iOS - we believe we can provide a better experience through our website for our readers using Windows.

From conversations I've had with other app developers on Windows 10, it seems that despite Windows 10's install base in the hundreds of millions, few people actually engage with apps from the store compared to Windows 10 Mobile. Windows 10 desktop competes with the web for attention, and it makes little sense for app developers to support that form factor in its current state.

The Guardian's website continues to function well on both Windows 10 Mobile and desktop PCs, though, so the only loser here is Microsoft, whose miss-steps in the mobile space continue to haunt its chances of ever building a viable app store ecosystem. Oh well.

Thanks to Justin for the tip.