Today, Microsoft is announcing the general availability of WebView2 for Win32 C/C++ apps. The new component can be used across various Windows versions, and Microsoft says that it's releasing a forward-compatible SDK.
WebView2, if it's not obvious, is the successor to WebView, and it's based on the new Chromium-based Edge browser. It's been promised since the Redmond firm first said it was building a new browser from Google's open source Chromium. The original WebView was based on EdgeHTML, and the old Edge browser is now referred to as Edge Legacy.
Apps' use of WebView are still supported and will continue to be supported. While WebView2 is available for Win32 apps today, there are more versions on the way. It's part of Project Reunion, so you'll have to wait for the general availability of WinUI 3 to use it in a UWP app, and GA for WinForms and WPF will be later this year.
Microsoft plans to introduce a new WebView2 SDK every six weeks, timed with Edge updates in the stable channel. The WebView2 that's available today is considered to be Evergreen, meaning that it will continue to be updated with the latest version. Coming later this year is a Fixed Version, which won't get updated.
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