14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft moved the theme settings page from Control Panel to the Settings app in Windows 10 build 15002, and now the company’s making another change that makes the theme feature official for users of its latest operating system.
With Windows 10 build 15007, Microsoft is officially making themes available in the Windows Store, thus trying to offer users an easy-to-use theme repository that can be downloaded on their devices with just a few clicks.
Seeing themes going live in the Windows Store is not surprising because hints of such a feature have been dropped for quite a while now, but the target is clearly to make it available in the Creators Update due in April, and build 15007 is just the beginning of the testing process.
Both free and paid themes
For the moment, the build 15007 implementation is still buggy, as the Windows Store icon that you see in the Settings app does not get you to the themes that are available for download. That should be fixed in the coming builds, though, Microsoft promises.
“In Build 15002, we introduced the new themes settings page in the Settings app. Soon, you’ll be able to go directly from the themes setting page directly to the Windows Store to download new themes for your PC! This isn’t working yet in today’s build and you’ll see a Store icon that does nothing at the bottom of the themes setting page. However, you can go to the Store page for themes here to try out downloading themes from the Store,” Dona Sarkar, head of the Windows Insider program, explained.
There’ll thus be a new category in the Windows Store to let you download themes and before you ask, yes, there will be plenty of free themes. On the other hand, paid ones will also be available, and Microsoft will most likely encourage devs to publish their own.
Artists and photographers from across the world can also turn to themes to monetize their original content, such as pictures, so expect the theme category in the Windows Store to grow at a fast pace once it becomes available.