WebView is a web control that basically allows you to display web elements inside a Windows application, without needing to launch the full browser experience. It essentially embeds a browser engine inside the native application window to render HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web components without explicitly launching the browser separately. You may have encountered it when you try to sign in to Teams or any other Microsoft app.
Meanwhile, WebView2 is Microsoft Edge's Chromium-based implementation of this web control. Starting with the Patch Tuesday update released for Windows 11 today, Microsoft will allow Entra ID app sign-ins taking place through Web Account Manager (WAM) to be powered by WebView2. The tech giant notes that this transition is critical in enabling a secure authentication experience that is also consistent.
Microsoft has highlighted many advantages of WebView2 such as support for the latest web technologies, including React and Fluent UI. It also features support for advanced scenarios like passwordless sign-in, passkeys, and conditional access (CA) policies. Finally, all of this also ties in to having better compatibility with third-party identity providers and apps that rely on modern web standards.
For most customers, this eventual transition to WebView2 should be seamless. IT admins should ensure that their environments are compatible with WebView2 runtime requirements, but it should theoretically work for anyone who has seen their authentication flows work in Microsoft Edge. IT admins can also follow the guide detailed here to enable or disable WebView2 in the Entra ID plugin. It requires modifying registry values, so do so at your own risk only.
Microsoft emphasized the importance of this transition by noting that:
Moving to WebView2 is more than a technical upgrade — it’s a strategic investment in secure, user-friendly identity experiences. We’re committed to evolving Entra ID to meet the needs of modern organizations and developers.
In future Windows releases, WAM authentication will be powered by WebView2 as the EdgeHTML WebView will be deprecated.
13 Comments
Load the comments and join the conversation!
Read the comments, ask the editors questions, show respect and join the conversation.