So instead of creating a tile using the TileUpdateManager.GetTemplateContent you use the TileContentFactory. The nicest thing about it in my mind is that you can treat the tiles like normal objects with properties and methods. After getting the package add an Imports NotificationsExtensions.TileContent to your code. The library is called NotificationsExtensions.WinRT and is published through NuGet. Turns out Microsoft thought the same thing and created a wrapper for doing live tile work without having to play with XML. There are plenty of blog posts that show the basics of creating and using a live tile like Ged Mead’s blog on adding a live tile ( ).īut I found that working with the XML can get tedious at times. A local update happens when your app changes the tile while it is running.

There are different ways to get a tile to update but the easiest is to create a local update of your tile.

One of the ways to make your Windows 8 Store App stand out from the crowd is to include a Live Tile.

Windows 8 live tiles