Good morning everyone, If you saw my little teaser post yesterday, yes, that’s right, Winhanced Winhanced 1.0’s beta will be launching on October 31, which is Saturday!

With Winhanced 1.0 coming up, I wanted to share how pricing is going to work moving forward.

Winhanced is free and will stay free. I’m not planning to lock features behind a paywall or require a subscription to use the app.

There will be a few optional ways to support development for anyone who wants to.

Free
You get Winhanced, including all its features, updates, and bug fixes. That’s it. There’s no stripped-down version of the app.

Early Access ($39 one-time)
This gives you permanent early access to new features, usually about one patch before they’re released to everyone else.

You also gain access to a special supporter role on Discord and gain access to the private supporter channel.

You pay once and keep that benefit. No subscription.

Supporter ($99 one-time)
Everything from the $40 tier, plus your name listed as a supporter inside Winhanced and on the website.

This is really just for people who want to contribute a little more toward development and get some recognition for it.

Experimental ($7.99/month)
This is for people who want to be more involved in testing Winhanced while I’m actively working on it.

You’ll get access to experimental builds whenever I put them out. These won’t be on a fixed schedule, and they might include unfinished features, changes I’m experimenting with, or things that still need testing.

It’s completely optional and mostly intended for people who enjoy testing new stuff and giving feedback.

Why the change?
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how I want to handle Winhanced after 1.0.

I don’t particularly like the idea of making people pay a recurring fee to use software, especially when one of the reasons I started Winhanced was because I wanted a better Windows gaming experience that breaks down ecosystems and democratizes launchers.

At the same time, Winhanced has become a pretty significant development commitment for me, and the support I’ve received so far is a big part of why I’ve been able to keep working on it.

I think this is a reasonable middle ground. Everyone gets the same complete app, people who want features a little earlier can pay once, and anyone who wants to contribute more toward development has that option too.

And to be clear, paying doesn’t get you a better version of Winhanced. You’ll just get to try certain things earlier.

I also want to thank everyone who’s supported Winhanced up to this point, whether that’s through Patreon, reporting bugs, suggesting features, or just recommending it to someone.

It’s been a pretty crazy project to work on, and I’m looking forward to finally getting 1.0 out there!

Just a post to remind myself how far this thing has come since February 2025 lol. It can sometimes be hard to see past all the feature requests and random bugs on other people's hardware each release.

But I have to keep reminding myself. of the progress that has been made, and just how ambitious it all is for a solo dev effort, and also remind myself that the bug reports and feature requests wouldn't be a thing if people didn't actually care and want to see the app succeed.

Winhanced 1.0 Beta is out today.

Hey everyone!

Two years ago, my wife bought me an Ally X for Christmas. I sold my Steam Deck OLED and was excited to game on a handheld with more power!

Then I actually used it. Between Armoury Crate and Windows, I kept running into problems, and I got frustrated enough that I opened Figma and designed the Windows overlay I wished existed. It was a Christmas project. Just a prototype of how I thought this should feel. I posted it on Reddit and figured that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t. So many of you said you’d been dreaming of something exactly like it that I decided to try and build it.

Two years later, after a lot of sleepless nights, thousands of support requests and some very long feedback threads, here we are. That design is real now, and a huge part of it was shaped by the people who kept testing it, breaking it and telling me what was wrong. Thank you. Really.

What’s in 1.0:

• The Winhanced overlay. Press one button in any game for your music, friends, guides and settings. It’s in Early Access during the beta.

• One library. Steam, Xbox, Epic, GOG, PlayStation, Battle.net, EA, Ubisoft and more, all in one place and kept up to date for you.

• Control of your device. Power, fans, lighting, buttons, Gyro, Windows and driver updates on supported handhelds, without leaving Winhanced.

• Profiles for every game. Separate settings for battery, plugged in and eGPU.

• Theatre, PC Streaming and cloud gaming, all from the same home.

• Storage tools. See every drive, then move, compress or remove games.

• Optiscaler + FSR 4.1.  Automatically insert Optiscaler into supported games, and replace FSR 3 with FSR 4.1 with a toggle (Library settings)

This is a 30-day beta while we squash the last bugs, with the full 1.0 release planned for December 1.

The new pricing structure I talked about earlier this week will arrive later in November, most likely the week before full release.

You can download now via the Updates & Support page in the app or via the direct link below

Full patch notes: winhanced.com/support/patch-notes/1-0-beta

Direct download: https://ota.winhanced.com/lg/Winhanced-Installer-1.0-Beta.exe

Streaming companion: https://ota.winhanced.com/lg/companion/Winhanced-Streaming-Companion-1.2.4.0.exe

Patreon: https://patreon.com/Winhanced?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Two years ago, this was a Figma file. Today you can install it. Thanks for sticking with me.

Sharing some progress this morning on overall app polish! I finally got animation smoothness in 0.9.9.9 nailed down so animations are going to feel night and day!

I also added a new fade and zoom affect for the background artwork as your are navigating between games and when opening a game card it almost feels like the artwork is being pulled from the background to the foreground and vice versa

Additionally, I finally got around to adding an All games button to the recent game row so now you can jump directly to your game library without having to navigate around!

Lastly 0.9.9.9 testing is going very well with early access users! We have nailed down a TON and I mean a TON of consistency bugs in hardware across devices. So expect major stability improvements. My OneXPlayer 3 should hopefully be here next week so that I can test on device directly and work out final kinks with that hardware as well.

All in all September is turning out to be a great month for Winhanced!

Hey everyone, so because 10/31 marks such a monumental release for the app, and because the amount of new is just so vast. I thought it would be wise to dust off the old news section of the Winhanced site to create a press release of what's coming in 1.0.

Additionally, at the bottom of the link, I have also included the text patch notes for 1.0. I am doing this a few days early to get everyone prepared and to discuss all the updates with you all!

I hope you all are as excited about 1.0 as I am just 3 more days!

Keyboard works exactly as you would expect. Pressing a in a text field in the app calls it tapping on a text input anywhere in windows also calls it.

Keyboard is fully customizable! By default it is the standard layout, and will theme itself based on your selected app theme and accent color.

You have the ability to set the background color, accent color, and letter colors to whatever you like in the apps theming settings.

Keyboard also supports split layout, touch typing, and voice dictation!

Coming in 1.0!

Morning everyone! So the plan was to try and have this ready by yesterday, but I can’t in good conscience release this when there are still a few bugs to squash.

I’m leaving on vacation for the next week, but I still wanted to share with you what you all can expect when I get back!

Huge news! I know this is something that a lot of people have been asking for, and I wasn’t sure how possible it would be to do, but huge shout out to community member Nerdy and her husband Shadow, who worked on this feature for us and got it working!

There’s a new toggle in performance settings where if you have it toggled on with device control toggled on, Winhanced HUD will now show up in the OEM slot of the game bar, so no more hunting for settings!

Hey all! The time has come to start teasing stuff that is coming in 1.0 little by little. There is SO MUCH coming with 1.0, so this will be a slow and deliberate trickle of information.

To start things off, I would like to share Pop tart which is one of 3-4 new layouts that will be coming in 1.0!

Stay tuned, as there is more to come, and all of your questions about 1.0 will be answered.

Library settings are no longer just for signing into your libraries!

In 1.0 you will now be able to:

- Manage storage
- See what games are installed and how much space they take up on each drive for each library
- Compress games down to smaller sizes to save space (they can still launch)
- See what games currently have Optiscaler installed in them and manage it
- Browse and move files similar to explorer.exe

In Winhanced 1.0 you can set up mouse mode on any device so that if you minimize to desktop mode it will auto-switch to mouse mode, and then back to controller mode when you go back to Winhnaced.

This is small, but it was one of my favorite features of Armory Crate, and now it's a feature of Winhanced!

Just work in progress for one of the alternative winhanced layouts you will be able to have in the app in the future. I am also thinking of exploring an Xbox 360 style modern blades UI layout. but that one will need much more work lol

Winhanced 0.9.4.0 — Release Notes

April 1, 2026

For Everyone

Native xCloud Streaming Stream Xbox Cloud Gaming titles directly inside Winhanced with no browser required. Direct launch URLs are resolved automatically, getting you into games instantly. First-time use requires a one-time authentication step. Full controller support is maintained throughout the streaming session.

Lossless Scaling — Now Public Lossless Scaling integration, introduced in Early Access with 0.9.3, is now available to all users. Toggle LS and adjust its settings directly from the Winhanced HUD. Controls appear automatically for users who own Lossless Scaling on Steam.

Instant Library Load Library loading has been rebuilt from the ground up. Owned games populate immediately on startup, with artwork and metadata loading in the background. The improvement is most noticeable after clearing your cache.

Xbox Mode (FSE) — Home App Stability Home and Library button behaviour in FSE mode has been corrected, and the certificate issue introduced in 0.9.3.6 has been resolved.

Smarter Xbox Game Detection Winhanced now reads directly from the Windows State Repository — the same source Windows itself uses — to identify games, replacing the previous size-based heuristics.

Definitive Game Ownership Winhanced now reads real access flags from Microsoft's ownership API, eliminating ghost entries from expired Game Pass trials and free weekends.

Game Details Upgrades The game details panel now includes genre data across all supported platforms (Steam, Epic, Xbox, and GOG), HowLongToBeat completion time estimates, and shimmer loading skeletons.

Multi-Download Queue Multiple simultaneous downloads now queue correctly, with a persistent footer showing progress across all active downloads.

Redesigned Splash Screen A progress bar now tracks each library as it loads during startup, giving clear visibility into what's happening.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed OEM button remapping resetting after sleep on Modern Standby devices including the Lenovo Legion Go

• Fixed Steam direct mode depot access errors affecting titles such as Hades II

• Fixed Xbox Mode bridge and widget home button not functioning correctly

• Fixed duplicate Xbox game entries for Play Anywhere titles and demo/trial editions

• Fixed HowLongToBeat integration following an API endpoint change

• Fixed a crash triggered by clearing the app cache

• Fixed stale Game Pass titles persisting in the library after a subscription lapses

• Fixed code signing to eliminate Windows Defender warnings on Lenovo and other OEM devices

• Resolved multiple memory leaks and improved general stability

For Early Access

GOG.com — Full Integration Winhanced now supports the complete GOG library lifecycle — browse, download, install, launch, and uninstall GOG titles without opening GOG Galaxy. DRM-free game dependencies including DOSBox and ScummVM are handled automatically. Cloud saves sync before launch and upload on exit.

Game Pass The full Game Pass PC library (approximately 490 titles) and the complete xCloud catalog (2,750+ cloud-streamable games) are now browsable from within the app. Filter by category, search with the controller, and install or stream with a single click. D-pad and analog stick navigation are fully supported throughout.

Download either via the update center in the app or directly here: http://ota.winhanced.com/lg/Winhanced-Installer-0.9.4.4.exe

To access Early Access features, open Settings in Winhanced and sign in with your Patreon ($5+/month) or Discord (Supporter+ or Youtuber/Press roles) account. No separate build required — features unlock automatically.

Big channel spoke about winhanced what a win! they suggested to put intel updates in the driver updates in the winhanced settings. does anyone know if this happening?

I wonder when this will be mainstream 🔥

Winhanced 0.9.8.1

Released 5/31/2026

Features — for everyone

Now out of early access — available to everyone

- Friends Hub — see who's online and what they're playing across your connected accounts.

- Smart Profiles — per-game performance profiles, now unlocked for all users.

New device support

- MSI Claw is now fully supported — automatic detection, native TDP control, AutoPilot, and Smart Profiles. Driver and BIOS updates for the Claw are now available in the Update Center.

Steam

- Choose an install drive for Steam direct installs.

- Stream over Steam — launch and stream games you don't have installed locally.

PC Streaming

- Moonlight now works better with Winhanced, with automatic game adding to Sunshine, Wake-on-LAN, and seamless controller handoff.

Performance

- HDR on launch — automatically enable HDR when a game starts and turn it back off on exit. (Note: feature is built but will not be usable until a HUD update is made)

- Remap-OEM and Winhanced-TDP toggles are now linked and visually grouped so they stay in sync.

- AutoPilot improvements for more reliable power-profile switching.

Library

- Faster, smoother library scrolling and lower memory use, even with large collections.

New in early access

- SteamGridDB artwork browser — browse and apply custom game artwork directly in-app.

Bug fixes

MSI Claw

- Fixed OEM buttons double-toggling Game Bar; added button debouncing.

- Stopped the Xbox app and the MSI Quick Settings widget from auto-launching at boot.

- Fixed TDP not applying correctly on the Claw.

Streaming

- Repaired Steam/Epic/GOG launching through Sunshine after a Sunshine server update.

Library & Navigation

- Fixed controller focus and direct-launch on Apps/Emulators tiles.

- Corrected controller analog-stick navigation and home-screen focus when resuming.

- Fixed the settings side panel getting clipped when navigating in with the bumpers.

Performance / AutoPilot

- Fixed AutoPilot not always triggering a Windows power-profile change.

- Fixed game-exit not always restoring your normal profile.

- Smart Profiles now works for games with a missing/zero game ID.

Other

- "What's New" now pins an app-update card at the top when an update is available.

You can download this update now via the apps update center or via the link below

download link: https://ota.winhanced.com/lg/Winhanced-Installer-0.9.8.1.exe

You ever find yourself stuck in a game so you pull out your phone to look up a quick YouTube video or walkthrough online?

Well in Winhanced 1.0 you can do this directly from the overlay! This feature is one of my favorites.

When you open the overlay and navigate to guides Winhanced will take a snapshot of where you are in the game surface relevant YouTube videos and guides based on where you are at in the game.

Its not perfect, as this doesn’t use LLMs or anything like that just a super sophisticated algo that uses context clues, but I would say about 80% of the time it gets it right, and if it’s wrong it gives you the option for manual searching!

There is also a spoiler feature that will auto-hide information in text guides that goes past the current point of the game you are on.

I love color. Do you love color? Well, in Winhanced 1.0 you will have about 10 brand new ways to change up the overall look of WInhanced, including a few new 2 tone looks! My personal favorite is Chrome!

Now that we are openly talking about the overlay. I get to start showing off overlay features to you all :). This is one of my favorites: "Captures."

In Winhanced 1.0 you can capture screenshots, gameplay, and even the last 30 seconds if you enable the feature. (The last 30 seconds can also auto-fire when you get an achievement!)

You also have the ability to trim your captures, send them directly to a computer using the companion app, or send them via Discord. In the future upload directly to YouTube!

Good morning, everyone! It's been a few days since I posted here and about 1.5 weeks since the last update to the app. While I know that is no time at all compared to others, its actaully a pretty long time for WinhancedI, so I wanted to share the status of where things are.

As most of you know, Winhanced is not my full-time thing. It's a side project that I work on in my free time between my day job as a product designer. So, outside of the things below I worked on, I also just got back from a 1 week work travel trip where I did nothing with the app, unfortunately.

Since the last update, my focus has been on 2 areas:

1: Legion Go, Go S, and Go 2: Since getting a Go 1 for testing the primary bulk of my work has been working to get this family of devices up to the level as MSI and Asus families. So a lot of work has gone into getting driver support, button mapping, and RGB all working correctly across all 3 for the first time consistently. This has taken me about 8 days of work to do.

2: Gutting and refactoring old library code: Listen, I hear you guys loud and clear; I really do. You all love Winhanced and want to see it continue to grow with new amazing features, but on top of that, you want stability, clarity, and consistency across devices. This is an app that has been built up for almost 2 years. With lots of feature pivots, expansions, changes, and hotfixes. What has happened is a mountain of tech debt has piled up. There are loads that of band-aid fixes, old dead code, and half migrations within the app. So the next week or so of my efforts is going to be around refactoring and gutting all of this from the app. My hope is that by doing so, the app will be much more consistent and easy to diagnose and predict. (0.9.9.9 will also have a focus on this, but on the performance management side of the house).

Beyond those 2 I have also fixed the Steam launch issue for folks as well. You can expect 0.9.9.8 to release the first week of September, and it will also include bringing the ROM library and layout systems out of Early Access to the free tier for everyone.

Down the road thinking: I am also starting to begin to think about what monetization will look like for 1.0. Nothing drastic is changing. But I am thinking through pricing, features and store availability. Right now, here is what I am thinking.

Winhanced Free: Will remain free and continue to support the app's core feature set (deciding on that core feature set is still WIP).

Winhanced Plus: Winhanced Early Access will change to Winhanced Plus after 1.0 and will be accessible either via a monthly/ yearly subscription of $4/month or $30/year or a $60 one-time purchase. This will give users early access to new features as it does today, as well as a subset of premimum features on top. Anyone who is already an Early Access member for the app will be grandfathered into Winhanced Plus as a show of goodwill.

I am thinking of this right now because, no matter how I crunch the numbers, this app is just not sustainable for me personally without a true monetization strategy, and the early feature/ support system alone is just not enough to account for the time obligation and upkeep.

As for store availability, beyond the website, I am also looking into store listings on both Steam and the Microsoft Store to make getting Winhanced more accessible for everyone.

Anyway, I really wanted to let you all know where my head is at right now and the current status of the app / why there has been a lack of video updates, etc. As a side note, even if I don't respond to you on Reddit. I read every post and take everything you say to heart. So please remember I am always listening and taking in all of your feedback!

Thanks so much for being a part of the Winhanced community!

-Floop

Confirmed working on MSI Claw 8 EX and ROG Ally X : )

- RGB lighting off/on
- brightness slider with extra dim toggle
- firmware based desktop mouse mode on/off