TikTok is now an official app on Windows 10 and Windows 11
Amongst the hubbub of Windows 11 arriving yesterday for those on the Windows Insider program (and qualifying hardware) was TikTok appearing in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Of course, it’s not a native app built for Windows, but is, instead, a progressive web app (PWA). This is a similar strategy to the official Twitter and Facebook apps, which leverage Microsoft Edge to power the app experience.
The one thing TikTok is missing, though, is a dark mode. The bright white background becomes a bit overwhelming on a laptop or PC, but hopefully, TikTok can add this feature later. Being a web-based application, TikTok can make on-the-fly adjustments to the app without users needing to update through the Store.
Progressive web apps are becoming increasingly important to fill in the mobile app gap for Windows. Even Instagram is reportedly getting ready to finally let users upload photos via the web through its PWA. And, over time, we’ll see these PWA become even more native-like, making them nearly indistinguishable from natively-coded apps.
We will likely see more companies leverage Edge Chromium for official apps in the Microsoft Store. But even if not, there is no reason why you can’t install Google Maps, Google Photos, Gmail, YouTube, Disney+, Amazon Kindle and more as “apps” for your Windows 10 PC right now.
That said, on Windows 11, some of this may be moot. With the coming addition of the Amazon Android app store, the ability to run Android apps natively, and even sideloading APKs, you can have a choice between PWA or Android. And really, that’s all that matters in the end: choice.
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If you want the best gaming laptop, you want a Razer Blade 15
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Don’t have TPM support? Try one of these motherboard modules.
If your PC somehow does not have trusted platform module (TPM) support through firmware and your UEFI BIOS, we’d recommend checking your motherboard manual for a TPM header. If you have one present, you can try to see if one of these will be compatible to get you ready for Windows 11.