App Platform

Welcome to the #WPDev Feedback site

This forum focuses on the application platform (APIs, runtimes, and controls) that you use to build great app experiences using Silverlight and XNA. Additional #WPDev forums are available using the links along the grey bar on the right of the page. Consumer features suggestions should be submitted to windowsphone.uservoice.com

Suggestions provided via the WPDev UserVoice forum (and the WP7 app) will be reviewed and read by the Windows Phone application platform team, providing feedback to help with planning ideas and to better understand how developers are using the WP development platform, and all suggestions will be considered.

Two important notes about this site: (a) List items (and item rankings) represent community interest in features, and does not represent an actual priority list for the product team; and (b) Suggestions made using this forum will be moderated if they do not actually represent a feature request.

How can we improve the WPDev application platform?

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    1. SMS Access API

      Please, provide a way to backup the texts.
      Or, at least, provide a API access to the texts to allow developers to implement an application for SMS backing up.

      5,467 votes
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        under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

        Thank you all for the spirited commentary! We understand that SMS Access is of vital importance to you and to our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

      • Bluetooth Data Transfer APIs

        Please provide developer platform support for bluetooth data transfer via SSP (Serial Port Profile). There are many bluetooth devices (e.g., medical devices, automotive, etc.) that we need to connect to.

        4,545 votes
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          under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

          Thank you all for the spirited commentary! We understand that Bluetooth Data Transfer is of vital importance to you and to our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

        • Qt Support

          This is an outctopping from the Native SDK suggestion (http://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-app-platform/suggestions/1755203-native-sdk). Please use this suggestion to vote and comment on your want/need for Qt support on the Windows Phone platform.

          4,210 votes
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          • Native SDK to support C++ Development

            There... I said it. Allow native code (maybe sandboxed like in newer versions of Chrome) for better code usability. The 1st party apps are written in native code, then why not let us do it? If the apps behave bad you are free not to approve the app!

            3,562 votes
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              under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

              Thanks all for the follow-up comments to Cliff’s note a few weeks ago. Repeating his note for those who missed it… "the comments and conversation around native C++ development are great. A few items:
              - OpenGL is a separate item; related, I know, but a different conversation (and likely should be a different suggestion — I created http://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-app-platform/suggestions/2440595-opengl-support for you to vote on
              – Qt support is also a separate item, the same as OpenGL — I created http://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-app-platform/suggestions/2440602-qt-support for you to vote on
              – For DirectX, please add your voice to the http://wpdev.uservoice.com/forums/110705-app-platform/suggestions/1755211-directx-access-for-3rd-party-developers suggestion
              – I think it’s safe to expect a C++ support we would provide would likely have the same device/data limitations as the managed code platform…I would probably call out sensors that you want access to as additional suggestions (please, don’t say ‘we need ALL of them!’ as that’s an easy one to simply say ‘too… more

            • Allow applications with push notifications to display them on lock screen

              Been hearing this one a lot, and i'm sure a lot of other developers could use this as well. But it would be great to allow applications with push notifications to display an icon on the lock screen just like email/messaging. Even though its convenient to simply unlock one's phone and check the live tile, it'd be even easier if they didn't even have to unlock their phone at all to see if they have something important going on. In the future, this could be really useful with messenger clients when socket support is added, twitter, google voice, etc etc.

              2,521 votes
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              • Skydrive API to backup user's IsolatedStorage app data

                A cloud-connected device is essential for a mobile device. This means giving app developers the ability to automatically backup data currently stored in IsolatedStorage to the user's Live Skydrive. If the phone is lost or damaged, the data is easily recoverable.

                2,392 votes
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                  under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

                  Thank you all for the thoughtful commentary. We understand that SkyDrive backup is of vital importance to you and to our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

                • Ability to Launch Apps with Live Tile Notifications

                  There are many parts to this, but I'll break it down into order of importance, and hopefully we get all of them:

                  1. Launch Hubs: Please give us access to launch all the Hubs: People, Phone, Email, Messaging, Games, Music+Videos, Pictures, etc.
                  2. Launch First-Party Apps and Settings: Calendar, Internet Explorer, Settings, ringtones+sounds, theme, email+accounts, lock+wallpaper, etc.
                  3. Launch Third-Party Apps: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
                  4. Access to Live Tile Notifications. What's the point of having pretty tiles on the screen without notifications? Can we tap into number of unread messages, updates, missed phone calls, or any notifications from first… more

                  1,972 votes
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                  • Allow creating screenshot from device

                    This would help in creating screenshots for the marketplace. While this is easy enough using the emulator, it is difficult to simulate some features in the emulator.

                    1,946 votes
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                      under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

                      Thank you all for the thoughtful commentary. We understand that creating screenshots from the phone is a key feature for you and for our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

                    • VPN Support

                      My country has banned facebook and twitter, which means i need use vpn 2 connect facebook.

                      1,513 votes
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                        27 comments  ·  Network  ·  Admin →
                        under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

                        Thank you all for the thoughtful commentary! We understand that VPN support is of vital importance to you and to our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

                      • In-App Purchase/Payments for Marketplace apps

                        By providing in-app payments you allow the developers more options for making money.
                        Hey..the other guys are doing it!

                        1,473 votes
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                          under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

                          We understand that in-app purchase / payment is of vital importance to our developer community. If you haven’t already responded, help us better understand the requirement by answering Cliff’s questions from earlier in December, “how are you using IAP today? Mostly consumables (items like gold, virtual currency, one-time use items) or durables (items, levels, etc.)? And exactly how ‘in-app’ does the IAP need to be for you?” Thanks!

                        • Advertising Support for Non US Developers

                          Currently advertising funded applications is only available in the US. Please make this available to all supported countries.

                          1,399 votes
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                            Reverted status to “started” in response to very fair criticism that adding 11 countries is not “complete.” Agreed. Keep your feedback coming!

                            International expansion of onboarding and payouts for the Microsoft Advertising solution for Windows Phone has been one of your top requests. With Windows Phone 7.5 our international footprint now reaches developers in eleven more countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2011/09/27/developers-get-more-with-windows-phone-7-5.aspx

                          • killing apps directly on multitask screen

                            it would be great to have the possibility to kill apps directly through the multitask screen(hold back button) instead of click+quit apps individualy.

                            1,384 votes
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                            • write access to calendar/contacts

                              Its usefull to access to be able to write on Calendar and contacts. For instance the Qanvas app would be able to create an appointment on the calendar, or an app that could add the events and birthdays to calendars like the facebook, or a birthday app.

                              For contacts it would be possible to integrate another contact info directly on persons hub to apps like Skype or Voip. The same idea as the extras funcionality on Zune or Bing Search.

                              1,344 votes
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                                under review  ·  Laura ReedAdminLaura Reed (Admin, Windows Phone Developer) responded

                                Thank you all for the thoughtful commentary. We understand that write access to calendar and contacts is a key function to you and to our Windows Phone users. Your feedback has placed it very high on the consideration list for future Windows Phone releases. Keep those suggestions and votes coming!

                              • Extend the API to query phone volume and vibration settings, maybe even set them.

                                Currently, when developing a alarm clock app, there is no way to tell if the user has his phone set to vibrate only, so a soundeffect set by the user is played even if he has set his phone to vibrate. I find this very confusing, even though the builtin alarm clock behaves the same way.
                                This would also be good to have for games, so when you launch a game in a quiet environment not all heads turn the user's way :)

                                1,294 votes
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                                • API to create emails with an attachment

                                  Modify the email launcher API to add an attachement

                                  1,243 votes
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                                  • Real device backup and restore functionality

                                    I would like an experience more similar to the iTunes/iOS backup/restore.

                                    If something goes wrong with my device and I hard reset or receive a replacement, I want to be able to simply plug it into my computer (or better yet, sign in with my live id) and have the option to restore *ALL* the data, apps and settings.

                                    1,208 votes
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                                    • Universal Plug and Play Framework - UPnP / DLNA

                                      Please add full support for UPnP 1.1 / DLNA for third-party applications - perhaps even DPWS for potential future devices. The phone as a media / device controller is growing in popularity (ex: Sonos controllers).

                                      1,067 votes
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                                        8 comments  ·  Network  ·  Admin →
                                      • Add Google + in People Hub

                                        It would be great to have Google + in People HUB, so we can easily sync our Google + account with Live and Facebook in the Hub. Every day many and many people are opening Google+ and leaving Facebook. So, Microsoft, don't be out of space and time. Make it real.

                                        957 votes
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                                        • Free minimal Azure instance for WPDev

                                          Live tiles are what separates WP from other platforms and providing developers free minimal Azure instance to host systems to support these notifications would increase use of Live Tiles and introduce more people to Azure.

                                          881 votes
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                                          • SIM-Toolkit

                                            SIM-Toolkit is essential for many users around the world. In Estonia we use PKI based authentication for everything and without SIM-Toolkit we cant use Mobile-ID to pay in bank or sign documents.

                                            801 votes
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