FYI: Updates for Windows 10's stock apps are being paused temporarily for Windows Insiders

Along with the release of Windows 10 build 16232 for PCs and build 15228 for Mobile, Microsoft today announced that the company is temporarily pausing updates for some of the apps in Windows 10. Notably, this isn’t the first time Microsoft is temporarily pausing updates for the stock apps in Windows 10.

In a blog post, Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar explained that the software giant is temporarily putting testing of updated stock apps on hold in order to provide users with the “highest quality inbox [stock] apps.” The short-term change will mean that Windows Insiders won’t get updates to some of the apps that are included in the OS, including the likes of Outlook Mail and Calendar, Windows Maps, etc.

It’s also important to note that if you are performing a clean install of the latest Windows 10 build, you won’t be able to try out some of the new features on some of the stock apps. For instance, the Story Remix features in the Microsoft Photos app will likely be missing as you will be getting the older version of the app out of the box and there isn’t any way of updating the app to get the new features.

Here’s the full statement from Sarkar:

“In order to provide Windows customers with the highest quality inbox apps possible, we will pause testing new versions of our inbox apps with Windows Insiders. This means that Insiders will not receive app updates from the Windows Store for our inbox apps that are newer than the apps included in the build. Insiders may notice that some features we were testing in our inbox apps – including recent updates to the Photos app – will temporarily disappear. This is because some of our inbox apps won’t have all the latest new features without getting an update from the Store.

It is critical that Insiders are experiencing the same version of Windows that will be released as the default version for all Windows users. Insiders will once again start receiving app updates in the very near future. As always, your feedback will help us tremendously to define the overall Windows experience and insure the quality of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is excellent for our customers.”

App updates for the stock Windows 10 apps will only be paused for a short period of time, and Windows Insiders will continue to be able to receive updates for the stock apps in the “very near future” so there is really nothing to worry about. For now, anyway.