Evergreen vs. Bring-your-own
The WebView2 control relies on the Microsoft Edge (Chromium) browser and currently has an evergreen distribution model – instead of packaging a browser in the app bundle, apps use the evergreen browser installed on users’ machines. The evergreen browser updates itself on a regular cadence, therefore apps targeting the evergreen WebView2 automatically get the latest feature and security updates for hosted web content. The WebView2 SDK is updated separately as new APIs become available. This is the recommended model for most developers. In the future, there will be a second bring-your-own (BYO) option that allows developers to bundle a redistributable version of the browser with their apps. BYO brings a locked platform, but requires a larger disk footprint for the packaged browser and developers will have to take on the responsibility of servicing and updating the control themselves.