Elevate Your Windows Experience With These 2023 Microsoft Store Community Choice Winning Apps

Jun 09, 2023

Microsoft asked, you answered. Here are the best apps you can download on your Windows computer, voted by the Microsoft Community.

The Microsoft Store App Awards have become a much-awaited event since the first 2022 edition. Featuring the best apps chosen by the community and also the finest apps handpicked by Microsoft editors, the Microsoft Store App Awards have become a gold standard for users who want nothing but the best to customize their Windows experience.

The 2023 award winners were announced in late May 2023 and we have showcased the winning Community Choice apps here for you. Read on to explore and try out these best of the best apps.

The Microsoft Community nominated and voted for their favorite apps in the Microsoft Store on Windows. And though there were many great apps, only five stellar ones made it to the top spot in the categories of Utilities and Tools, Productivity, Audio and Video, Creativity, and Personalization.

As per Microsoft, the Utility & Tools category recognizes apps that are designed to make your life easier by performing a variety of tasks that you may need daily. And Torrex Lite is one such app that makes enjoying audio and video content easier than ever.

If you've used the Torrex BitTorrent client before, you would know how the nifty app lets you search for torrents and download your favorite content. Torrex Lite is a faster and nimbler version of Torrex. Torrex Lite now easily adapts to your favorite devices like the PC, tablet, smartphone, Xbox, and Hololens—thanks to its new Continuum ability.

The simple and intuitive interface will get you going on your torrent downloading journey, even if you haven't used a BitTorrent client. The app enables you to quickly find, download, and control torrents.

Developed to work perfectly with Windows, Torrex Lite does the job for you silently in the background. Moreover, with a built-in player for music, video, images, and text files you can watch your favorite content right in the app.

Plus, it's Time Jump feature streams your files after you start downloading. So you can watch a movie or enjoy music without waiting for the download to finish. Torrex Lite's extended vision lets you find torrent sources faster and you can also limit the speed and total amount of downloaded data.

Download: Torrex Lite (Free, in-app purchases available)

Among the apps that help you stay focused and boost your productivity, the fast, private, and safe Mozilla Firefox browser came out top in 2023. You'll agree that the browser is like an essential bridge connecting us to the web. And Firefox for Windows lets you do all that while protecting your data by putting your privacy first.

You can browse with the peace of mind that Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection will automatically block over 2,000 known online trackers from invading your privacy and slowing down your webpages. As per its developers, Firefox is the only major browser backed by a non-profit fighting to give you more openness, transparency, and control of your life online.

Plus a clean new design lets you do what you want more quickly. And you can take your privacy, passwords, bookmarks, and browsing history with you safely wherever you go—across devices.

Moreover, you can enhance your online experience with Firefox Add-ons. From add-ons that let you download videos easily, to security, news, and gaming, you can keep adding the extensions you like to customize and secure your browsing activity. Such as the Facebook Container extension that prevents Facebook from collecting your personal data and web activity.

Download: Mozilla Firefox (Free)

When it comes to playing and managing your audio and video content, few apps match up to the versatility and ease of use of the VLC media player. And that's what made this outstanding app the winning choice of the community.

VLC needs no introduction. First released over 20 years ago, VLC is a free, open-source cross-platform multimedia player and framework. You might have used this hugely popular media player that plays most multimedia files and DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

Be it a movie, your favorite songs, or home recordings of good times with family and friends, with VLC you can play it all smoothly. And if an unexpected issue prevents videos from playing on Windows 11, you can check out ways to fix the VLC media player. Moreover, you can also stream media over computer networks and transcode multimedia files using VLC.

Download: VLC (Free)

Sketchable Plus is an app you'll love for the power it gives you to unleash your creativity and realize your vision on Microsoft Surface and Windows devices. Designed for modern digital artists, architects, and designers, Sketchable Plus allows you to scribble a note, import and augment an image, or paint a masterpiece. And then easily share your creations with your friends, family, colleagues, and clients.

Just open Sketchable Plus, pick a tool, pick a color, and let your creativity take over. You'll enjoy working on the comprehensive yet clean interface designed for touch and stylus. You can work on up to 32 layers with customizable brushes, work on custom document sizes Up to 7k x 7k px, and use Masks to mark off a section that can't be edited.

Powering your creative pursuits is a GPU-Accelerated Painting Engine powered by Direct X that allows for real-time sketching on document sizes up to 4k. You can even export your mobile creations into an industry-standard desktop application with Photoshop PSD Export.

Download: Sketchable Plus ($19.99)

Lively Wallpaper was a worthy Community Choice Runner-Up among the 2022 Microsoft Store Community Choice award-winning apps. And in 2023, it emerged as the Personalization winner.

Your Windows desktop is a vast space on your PC that you can personalize with beautiful animations and wallpapers. Lively Wallpaper, as the name suggests, brings your screen alive with its stunning moving wallpapers and themes.

This free and open-source app lets you set GIFs, videos, and webpages as your desktop wallpaper and screensaver. So you can set scenic videos like those showcasing the wonders of nature as your desktop background.

Moreover, Lively Wallpaper also supports multiple displays of any aspect ratio and resolution.

And Lively Wallpaper has got smarter with the A1 feature. A1 includes innovations and creations like Depth Wallpapers that convert 2D images to 3D, making the scene more spectacular.

Download: Lively Wallpaper (Free)

With the best of the best Microsoft Store apps to customize Windows, your work and play are bound to get better, more powerful, and even more stunning. So check out these winners and enjoy the exciting experiences recommended by the Microsoft community.

While you're at it, you can also explore the best AI apps built by the developer community and Microsoft.

Neeraj is a postgraduate in Marketing and Advertising and has been exploring new products and technologies for over two decades as a professional writer and creative consultant. The wonders of tech and futuristic devices keep him adrenalized, happy, and forever curious.