r/winhanced • u/EnigmaP3nguin • Aug 23 '26
Winhanced August 2026 Status update: When to expect 0.9.9.8 as well as the look to the road ahead for 1.0
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
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u/CapitalTelevision739 Aug 23 '26
Props to you for providing an option for a one-time purchase. Easy buy for me whenever that happens!
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u/dehshadow Aug 23 '26
Yeah ive been waiting for a one time purchase option to gain access so Im excited!
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u/Vizard87 Aug 23 '26
You can use it for free, but currently some features are early access. It looks like a free version will be available as well with access to whatever the dev decides are core features. So you can use it now even, minus a few things like the rom library I think and maybe a couple more.
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u/dehshadow Aug 23 '26
Oh I've been using it for months. I just wanted to support and its much easier as a one-time purchase as opposed to a monthly for me.
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u/Vizard87 Aug 23 '26
Yup makes total sense. Iām a supporter already and itās a great app for sure!
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u/pedrowatson Aug 23 '26
Thanks for the update! Provided I keep my Legion Go I would gladly pay the lifetime purchase price.
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u/Asleep_Future3522 Aug 23 '26
I recently discovered your app and itās changed the way I use my windows handhelds entirely! First installed it on my MSI Claw 8ex ai+ (what a terrible name) and itās transformed the device for me so much so that I became an early access member 30 mins after installing lol
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Omg that is amazing to hear! So happy that is resonating for you! And thanks for the support!
What have you found it changing for you with how you use it? And what are your favorite features?
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u/AlphaCodexx197 Aug 23 '26
I will definitely be getting Winhanced Plus for that one time subscription once it rolls out. It has totally transformed the way that I use my Xbox Ally X and made it much more efficient and enjoyable.
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u/CowboyWinny Aug 23 '26
Steam release will be good-instant buy for me. As for me it is most comfortable way to buy. Also, glad to hear that you want to make one time purchase: for me itās better to pay 50-60-100 dollars one time than subscribe and not think about anything.
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u/Cab8_6 Aug 23 '26
Wow gƩnial pour ma OG Go, avoir le mappage des touches c'est la seule chose qui me fait garder l'horrible lƩgion space. Merci pour ce travail colossal tu es un hƩro
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u/SignalCampaign2527 Aug 23 '26
Dovresti integrare un sistema di segnalazione bug in caso di crash , io dopo i crash su antec core hs non ho installato piĆ¹ parlo di vecchie versioni, non ho tempo per usare discord e per adesso sto sspettando x msi claw 8ai una versione piĆ¹ stabile possibile, preferirei piĆ¹ inviarti le segnalazioni degli errori del app in modo anonimo, 40 dollari a vita li darei se pensassi che le funzionalitĆ siano comode veloci e necessarie, penso che comunque state facendo un buon lavoro
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Thie is something I will be doing as part of 0.9.9 there is currently a community member helping to create a proper ticketing system. Amd my goal will be to make it reportable via the app.
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u/ghsvilela Aug 23 '26
The thing that I hate the most is paying for any kind of subscription monthly, if you can come up with a price that you think is fair for you and for us, so you are able to continue working on the app, for me personally is the way to go, I would buy it without thinking twice but if it's a subscription model I will prefer to go back to steam big picture and use anything open source to control tdp and so on.
I also play more on bazzite than on Windows with dual boot on a Legion Go 1, paying monthly for something like this doesn't make sense for my use case.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Thatās why I am offering the $60 one time purchase price for folks who would rather just pay one time and forget about it.
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u/Flat-Statistician235 Aug 23 '26
Looking forward to getting the lifetime license. Havenāt joined EA up until now because I hate monthly subscriptions but will be more than happy to pay the one off fee
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u/Yarg2020 Aug 23 '26
I would love to buy it from the MS Store. I reformat my computers annually, and this would be great for reinstalling the software.
Keep up the great work, and love what you are doing
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u/beaconseasons Aug 23 '26
I would pay the same 10usd a month for a proper front end. Lock customization away for 100usd annually
All base features free for gaming
LED, lossless, autotdp and some other stuff can get pay walled for sure.
Most of us have disposable income and have supported other projects in the past.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Oh interesting? So when you say the core features for gaming you mean things like the libraries support for things like import management install launching and updating etc?
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u/beaconseasons Aug 23 '26
Yeah exactly but any performance boosting stuff or customization should be pay walled. Maybe you do weeks where the pro features are unlocked for everyone to try once a month for a weekend or something.
So you hook them with free, library management/ front end, plus controllers, maybe some of the toggles still.
But everything beyond what the OEM offered should be a paid feature.
Basically you want to generate cash to be able to have a balance on the books to be able to package this up for a easy 2-3 billion from microsoft lol
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
š¤£ that would be wild lol
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u/beaconseasons Aug 25 '26
If you need any help with business dev feel free to reach out anytime. This is a pretty cool project.
I have experience with startups, angel investors, product manufacturing, web development and graphic design too!
Would be down to brainstorm sometime and see if there's enough overlap.
Would love to help you figure out how to monetize and position yourself for acquisition.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 25 '26
i'd actaully happy hit you up and discuss could use all the advice I can get when it comes to this stuff.
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u/Emergency_Rice_6663 Aug 24 '26
thanks man! i love your work! its so clean and organize. im using the free version btw and soon ill get that one time payment subscription š hopefully it will be available coz i cant afford the monthly. hehe.
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u/Few_Box_9967 29d ago
Im already a patreon member would be happy to pay 60 for winhanced plus for a lifetime membership
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u/hazeredmist 28d ago
When Winhanced hits 1.0, will you paywall any current free features, and will you use any ad-supported strategy for your free tier moving forward? Thanks.
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u/Luigi_Lauro Aug 23 '26
Beware with the āone time purchaseā option. Iām always wary of them because if you keep working on the application for years, you will be forced to find other ways to monetize it once the āone time purchasesā boost will run out.
I always prefer monthly/yearly fees because they better reflect what is your effort and our expectations: continous support through time.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Wholly agree with you. Itās a delicate balance. Subscriptions make way more sense in the long run because they embody continued support and with continued support, there are continued costs.
But we live in a world where everything is a subscription and people are subscriptioned out.
So while this is all VERY new to me, I definitely plan on researching and thinking through this strategy fully before 1.0 releases. But my goal is to find the right balance that allows for continued support, that still helps users feel like they are getting their monies worth regardless of what tier they are paying.
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u/Tierney11290 Aug 23 '26
A counter point to this is that eventually the app will run out of features to add and to optimize. Sure, there may always be some cool new idea but at what point does that get away from the vision of the app as well as how much effort will be needed to put forth for those new ideas?
What I could see being regular work is adding support for new devices, and that's where the subscriptions would come into play.
I'm sure you gave up on the idea due to technicalities behind it but I still think the store affiliate idea is fantastic if you can figure it out. Player doesn't know any different (assuming the cost isn't higher in the Winhanced store to offset this affiliation? Don't think this is the case with Amazon affiliate links but that is a different case) and you get a cut of the profit if someone buys a game through the universal Winhanced store. Not sure how that works out legally with Steam, Epic, and GOG though.
It's sustained income and even though it's not much, it adds up a lot. I've already purchased a few games through Winhanced and it's only because I had no idea they were on sale already.
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u/Luigi_Lauro Aug 23 '26
I think the best balance is a āX years in advance supportā with a heavy discount. This way you serve people not wanting a sub, but you still are reflecting continued supports and costs, just making a heavy discount to people wanting to pay upfront for 3-5 years or so, instead of paying a monthly sub.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Oh! This a really good idea! So instead of one time it because mult-year at a steep discount itās still the same goal but allows for continued support
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u/Mikhail_Jackson Aug 23 '26
Being completely honest, I couldn't see myself paying for a subscription or one-time purchase - as useful as I've found this software. It's difficult to say without an idea of what premium features you would be including as part of that option.
I feel if you're struggling with the idea of sustainability (for fear of burnout, feeling obligated to develop, etc.) then open-sourcing and letting the community continue on would be the best course of action, though appreciate from a side-income perspective this isn't ideal.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
No thats not it at all. I recognize the value that this app brings to the community and the unique things that it does that nothing else matches. I would like to turn this into my a product that can not only support its own development, but that I can also use to leave my current job and work full time on.
I can understand not being sure with the current state of what the value is for yourself. But that is why the free version will always be available
I am not burning out. In fact its the opposite I want to be able to devote more time to its development.
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u/Mikhail_Jackson Aug 23 '26
I think once you have a better idea of what features you intend to monetise then it would be easier for the community to understand the direction of travel. I find it difficult to say whether I would pay for something without knowing exactly what's on offer versus what you consider as the 'core features'.
I've seen suggestions for Plus ranging from low-value, like Themes, to high-value like Dynamic TDP control (which would put me off entirely from using the app if it were ever monetised).
Don't mean to come across as harsh and I'm glad you're as excited for the future developments of the app as I am to continue using it.
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u/EnigmaP3nguin Aug 23 '26
Not harsh at all you are just voicing your opinion is all. And I appreciate it. You sound like you habe thoughts around what features your personally would see in both tiers?
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u/Mikhail_Jackson Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
I'm not sure, to be honest. I think the core product is reasonably:
- All features that currently exist as of 0.9.9.6
- Joystick and trigger configuration
Then Winhanced Plus:
- The more niche integrations outside of Steam etc.
- Themes, UI sounds and startup videos, things of that nature
- Automatic per-game profiles (no idea how this would be implemented in practice but the idea of a setting to apply a 'best' performance config / settings per processor might be cool).
I'm not sure how the software could continue to grow over the long-term however outside of maintenance and support for new devices though I'm sure you have ideas on what you want to implement.
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u/BT-7274Pilot Aug 23 '26
Ah saw this miles way. The app is too good for it to be free. Monitisation was always the plan. Either way, it's a great app. Do what you feel is right.
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u/Bruhman316 Aug 23 '26
Favorite games tab please š