Windows Phone 8.1
Image Courtesy: AAWP

We’ve known for a while that Windows phones have no future and the software giant has stopped developing updates for Windows Phone 8.1 devices. It appears that situation will soon get worse.

Microsoft today announced that it’s ending support for Windows Phone Store next year and the developers won’t be able to publish new updates for their apps in Store for Windows Phone 8.1 and older versions. On the other hand, Windows 10 Mobile is in maintenance mode and support is projected to come to an end in late 2019 but it’ll continue to receive all kind of apps updates.

Starting July 1st, 2019,  Microsoft will stop distributing app updates to Windows Phone 8.x or earlier devices.

“You’ll still be able to publish updates to all apps (including those with Windows Phone 8.x or earlier packages). However, these updates will only be made available to Windows 10 devices,” Microsoft writes in a blog post.

“October 31st, 2018 – Microsoft will stop accepting new app submissions with Windows Phone 8.x or earlier or Windows 8/8.1 packages (XAP or APPX)This will not affect existing apps with packages targeting Windows Phone 8.x or earlier and/or Windows 8/8.1,” the company explains.

About The Author

Mayank Parmar

Mayank Parmar is an entrepreneur who founded Windows Latest. He is the Editor-in-Chief and has written on various topics in his seven years of career, but he is mostly known for his well-researched work on Microsoft's Windows. His articles and research works have been referred to by CNN, Business Insiders, Forbes, Fortune, CBS Interactive, Microsoft and many others over the years.