Microsoft updated its Windows App Studio to include new functionality, while revealing that more than two million users have created one million app projects since the service was launched in August last year.

App Studio is a set of tools intended to make Windows Phone development easier. Close to 50,000 titles for Windows Phone Store and Windows Store have been published using the technology to date.

According to Microsoft, App Studio is also being used in schools around the world to teach the basics of app development while small businesses are using it to ramp up their app capability.

The new beta version adds sideloading capability for Windows Phone 8.1, meaning apps can be installed on devices for testing purposes without being distributed via the Windows Phone Store.

Nine new languages have been added to the service, in addition to English: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish

New app layouts specifically for tablets and PCs have been introduced while the App Studio fits with Microsoft’s ‘universal app’ strategy in which the same apps work across all devices powered by Windows.

Other tweaks include a new Detail Layout optimised for text, which will allow end users to adjust the size of text in apps and for the interface to adapt to the orientation of the device.