6 free Microsoft Store apps that make using Windows 11 more enjoyable

When I first started using Windows 11, one aspect I regretfully overlooked was the Microsoft Store. While Windows 11 is a versatile operating system, it doesn’t include everything you need right out of the box, such as specific productivity tools and detailed customization options. Although you can download many programs from the internet to fill the gaps that Microsoft has missed with Windows 11, I’ve learned over time that the Microsoft Store is arguably a much more secure and easier way to do it.

All the apps available on it are verified by Microsoft, ensuring they are free of malware and safe to download, and it is packed with a variety of apps that serve different purposes, such as tools that make Windows easier to use or completely transform its appearance. Here are the free apps from the Microsoft Store that I use the most and think you should try too.

TuneIn Radio

Take a break from Spotify

I used to spend a lot of time commuting, often listening to music or the news on the radio. Now that I work from home more often, I sometimes miss my car radio during the day, and that’s where the TuneIn Radio app comes in handy. This free Microsoft Store app lets you listen to local radio stations and stations from around the world.

If you have a favorite radio station for news or music, chances are you can find it on TuneIn Radio. The app has a user-friendly interface, and on the home screen, you’re shown radio station suggestions based on your location. If you can’t find the station you’re looking for, you can also search for it using the search bar. When you find stations you like, you can favorite them so they’re easy to find again.

Whenever I’m tired of listening to my playlists on Spotify, I usually open up TuneIn Radio and listen to different stations throughout the day while working to hear the latest news, and I’ve found it a nice way to stay connected to the world when I work from home.

EarTrumpet

Easily adjust audio on the fly

One thing that drives me crazy about Windows 11 is that, by default, clicking the volume icon in the system tray only lets you adjust the overall system volume, not the volume of individual apps. To access the Volume Mixer for all apps, you need to right-click the volume icon and select it, which then opens a full settings page to scroll through — making it anything but a quick, on-the-fly volume adjustment.

Luckily, that’s where EarTrumpet comes in. This free, simple app adds a new volume control to your system tray. Clicking it opens a small pop-up menu, letting you quickly adjust the volume of all the apps on your PC. I find this very useful for changing the sound of a game or music while talking to friends, or when an app is too loud — it’s much easier to turn down just that app instead of lowering the overall volume of my PC. EarTrumpt is one of my favorite utilities, and it solves an issue that Microsoft should’ve addressed in the first place with Windows 11.

Seleen UI

Give Windows 11 a new coat of paint

If you’re tired of the default look of Windows 11 and want to spice things up, then Seleen UI may be what you’re looking for. By downloading and launching the app from the Microsoft Store, your desktop instantly transforms into a much more modern and aesthetically pleasing Windows desktop that is fully customizable. This means there is no need to download multiple apps to overhaul Windows; Seleen UI can do it all in one shot.

I’ve been using Seleen UI on and off on my Windows 11 laptop, and it reminds me a lot of using a MacBook. By default, Seleen UI converts the taskbar into a macOS-style dock, and all the system settings and notifications you’re looking for are relocated to a top menu bar. If you want to customize or change how Seleen UI looks, it offers a ton of different settings to mess around with, and you can download various resource packs to further alter the look of Windows.

PDFgear

Never struggle to edit a PDF again

I spend a lot of time editing and filling out PDF files, and Windows 11 doesn’t offer a great built-in way to do that. When you open a PDF in Windows 11, it automatically opens with Microsoft Edge, which lets you annotate and print, and that’s about it. If you’re like me and often edit, convert, and merge PDFs, then you’ll want to download PDFgear from the Microsoft Store.

This free, handy app makes viewing and editing PDFs easy. When you open it, you’re greeted with many options, like converting your PDF to a Word or PNG file, splitting or merging PDFs, or simply editing and filling them out. One of my favorite features of PDFgear is its ability to compress PDF file sizes, making them easier to send via email. Even if you don’t work with PDFs every day, chances are you’ll need to fill one out at some point, and you’ll be glad to have PDFgear ready to go.

QuickLook

Bring one of macOS’s best features to Windows

Quick Look is a free app that excels at a simple task: previewing files. Once you download it, you can quickly see the contents of any file in File Explorer by pressing the spacebar, whether it’s an image (as seen above), PDF, spreadsheet, or media file, without fully opening it.

By default, Windows 11’s File Explorer shows thumbnail images for files and a preview pane that you can enable. However, if you want to quickly view something in more detail without opening it, you can’t do that natively, but downloading Quick Look solves that. If Quick Look sounds familiar, it’s because this exact file preview feature has been available on macOS for a long time, and this app simply brings it to Windows.

Microsoft PowerToys

Take Windows 11 to the next level

If I had to pick one free app from the Microsoft Store as my favorite, PowerToys would be it. It’s an app officialy from Microsoft that greatly expands the feature set of Windows 11, providing tools you probably didn’t realize you needed, such as Color Picker, Always on Top, and Command Palette.

In particular, Command Palette is the PowerToys feature I use most often. It adds a macOS-style Spotlight search to Windows, allowing you to quickly open apps, search for files, or even run commands. There are a few other useful productivity tools it offers, like Keyboard Manager, which lets you remap keys and create shortcuts, and Mouse Without Borders, which enables you to smoothly move your cursor across multiple Windows PCs — perfect if you have a Windows 11 desktop and laptop. For a deeper look into PowerToys, you can check out my other Pocket-lint story where I explored some of its most valuable features.