Microsoft rolls out smart Windows 11 feature

Microsoft has announced the rollout of a new beta release to Insiders, aiming to fix a Windows 11 issue users might not have realized they had: the microphone mute switch.

In a blog post, the company announced the new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22494 that lets users easily mute and umute their microphone directly from taskbar.

You will find a microphone icon automatically added to your taskbar when you are actively in a call.

This update might not seem like a big deal as all video calling apps have built-in mute buttons for the same purpose. But Microsoft seeks to make it even easier to mute the microphone during calls.

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Microsoft Teams will support the mute switch initially. The blog post said other communication apps can add the mute switch to their apps in the future.

The mute icon will appear in the Windows 11 Taskbar as seen in the image blow.

It will be easily accessible to users irrespective of how many windows you might open. It is noteworthy that this mute or umute switch works only for the current call, not the entire Windows 11 OS.

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Aside from this feature, the 22494 build also includes “a good set of fixes for some impactful bugs but also adds a few known issues”. Microsoft has however not announced when the feature will roll out in a public Windows 11 release.