For those who want more than one image for their lock screen, Windows 8.1 includes a personalization option that allows for a slideshow to play. For Windows apps developers, this feature is a great opportunity for them to make their app the sole provider of images for that slideshow.
In Windows 8, the lock screen feature introduced the feature that gave users a way to change the single image for each person logged in to the device. In Windows 8.1, you can now have as many photos as you’d like. Users can choose photos from their local hard drive, OneDrive or apps. Apps can provide users with an RSS feed of images they can use in the slideshow by using an RSS feed API.
The Windows App Builder Blog covers best practices detailing how to appeal to users into selecting apps that provide images through an RSS feed. Here’s the pitch to developers to pay attention to this feature: “Apps provide a great way to share this media through social channels and update it dynamically through the tagging and sharing amongst their users…By leveraging these existing enclosed RSS feeds, users have access to all their content hosted in an app that they already use for photo storage and sharing. Because only one app’s feed can be selected at a time for photos, your app will become the sole provider of images for the current user’s lock screen slideshow!”
To find out how to do this for your app, head over to the Windows App Builder Blog.
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Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff