While Windows 10 Redstone 4 is in the final stage of its development lifecycle, Meanwhile we are hearing reports about an interesting feature. With Windows 10 Redstone 4 you will be able to run multiple instances of UWP apps.
Microsoft officially announced that with Windows 10 version 1803, developers can opt-in to support multiple instances of Universal Windows Platform app. As of now (Prior to version 1803), only single instance of UWP app could be running at a time. But things will be different with Windows 10 Redstone 4.
“If an instance of an multi-instance UWP app is running, and a subsequent activation request comes through, the platform will not activate the existing instance. Instead, it will create a new instance, running in a separate process.” Microsoft explains.
You can check out the detailed information and some code snippets of how to handle this functionality in the UWP apps from here. And of course, as you suspect background audio tasks or apps do not support multi-instancing. Furthermore, the developers are also able to customize the new instance of UWP app separately.
Actually, it turns out the multiple-instancing has been available with the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17074 and also in the Windows 10 SDK 17069. Keep in mind that multi-instancing is only supported by UWP apps that target desktop and Internet of Things (IoT) projects.
In latest Windows Community Standup episode, Microsoft has discussed how various Universal Windows apps can handle this functionality. Microsoft also highlighted that there will be no limit on the number of active instances of an app. Even if a single instance crashes, it won’t affect others.
This is surely an exciting feature coming to Windows 10. Windows 10 Redstone 4 aka Windows 10 Spring Creators Update is scheduled for March-April 2018.
