Windows Universal Apps on Windows Phones

Question

In Visual Studio 2015 there are various project types for making an Windows Phone app. These are:

1. Windows -> Universal
2. Windows 8 -> Universal
3. Windows 8 -> Windows
4. Windows 8 -> Windows Phone

Question: If I use option 1 (Windows Universal), will the app run on:

1. Windows Phone 8.0 phones
2. Windows 8.0 tablets
3. Windows 8.0 desktops
4. Windows Phone 8.1 phones
5. Windows 8.1 tablets
6. Windows 8.1 desktops
7. Windows Phone 10 phones
8. Windows 10 tablets
9. Windows 10 desktops

Additional commentary/comments welcome.

Answer 1

Windows Universal - will create a single binary that will run on all Windows 10 devices. Phones, tablets, desktops etc. It will not run on Windows 8 devices.

Windows 8 Universal - will create separate projects for Windows phone and Windows Tablet/Desktop and they will create separate binaries. They will run on Windows 8 and windows 10 devices.

But keep in mind that the desktop versions of these apps are the newer style desktop apps (rt, metro or whatever you want to call it) and not "true" Windows desktop apps.

Hope this helps.