Windows 10 April 2022 Update review: It's about the little things

Starting next calendar week, Microsoft will begin rolling out a make new feature update for Windows 10. Dubbed the "April 2022 Update," (or Version 1803 for short,) this release is the fifth major feature update to Windows 10 since its original debut in July 2022. Microsoft has committed to releasing two feature updates every year, and Version 1803 is the first for 2022. This release brings with it new features and refinements, but dissimilar previous releases, this one focuses more on the refinements and less on the new features.

While that may sound like a bad thing on the outside, this makes for a far more 'well-rounded' release that'southward one of the meliorate Windows 10 updates as of late. There aren't so many new blockbuster features shouting in your face up; instead, Microsoft has focused on continuing to modernize the OS, make things work better, and improve on things that were broken or redundant.

So, without farther ado. This is our full Windows 10 April Update review.

Video walkthrough
General experiences
Windows Timeline
Microsoft Edge
Cortana
Nearby Share
Focus Help
Miscellaneous
Conclusion

Video walkthrough

Reading not your thing? Check out our in-depth video walkthrough showcasing all the noteworthy new changes and features in the April Update!

More Fluent

As with every Windows 10 release, Microsoft has made a few changes to both the Offset bill of fare and Activeness Center. However, these changes are not major in any way. Microsoft has merely added a few new UI effects and additional behaviors to improve usability. The most notable change to both the Get-go menu and Action Center is the inclusion of more Fluent Design effects, something that Microsoft began implementing with the Fall Creators Update terminal yr.

With the Apr 2022 Update, users will now notice a hover outcome that follows the cursor around the Showtime carte du jour's live tiles and apps listing, as well as in notifications and Quick Actions in the Action Middle. These are minor changes that add to the 'delightfulness' of Windows, something the OS has been severely lacking in previous releases. Version 1803 is the first Windows x update that I think focuses more on the delightful aspects of an experience, something macOS has nailed for years.

You lot'll as well find these effects in a lot more places than just Start and Activeness Eye. In this update, Microsoft has focused on adding hover effects to all kind of places in the Os, including the Settings app, most apps, and fifty-fifty some elements of the taskbar such every bit the Date and Time flyout, and more than. Microsoft has also added a new blur result to the taskbar that looks great when using the right wallpaper. Otherwise, information technology'southward an unnoticeable change unless someone tells yous virtually it commencement.

In addition to the hover effects (which are officially referred to as Reveal effects,) Microsoft has added the Documents and Pictures folders to the Start menu's hamburger carte by default in an endeavor to aid users find those locations more hands when powering on a new computer. You can remove these if you want, but this alter is in the proper noun of making more File Explorer locations easily discoverable like in Windows 7 in an attempt to ease the transition from the 2009 OS.

As well new in this release is the power to spring straight into an app's settings past correct-clicking it in the Start menu. Previously, if you wanted to go any info on an app you had installed, you lot had to open the Settings app and manually navigate to the Apps area, and then observe the app you wanted to know more about. In Version 1803, you but have to right-click an app's icon, select More > Settings and that's it, you get taken straight to the app settings area.

The Activity Heart is more or less the same equally it was in the terminal update, except users with a trackpad can now dismiss notifications by using a two-finger swipe gesture. Finally, My People has been improved with a few new settings and behaviors. You tin can now drag contacts to accommodate them on the taskbar and pin excess contacts in the hub who you demand to frequently contact but don't deserve a space on your taskbar.

You lot tin can as well now customize how many people show upward on the taskbar. Three is the default limit, only you lot can push it upward to ten if you lot have a monitor that's big enough, but I tin't imagine everyone has that many best friends. Microsoft has also updated the My People hub with a new design, featuring the new Reveal and blueish effects, and the hub itself will now link to the Shop where you can detect more than apps that support My People.

Windows 10 Timeline

Windows 10's Timeline feature is the merely major new feature coming in this update, and it'due south pretty great. Timeline lives in the Job View button on the taskbar and is substantially a glorified contempo apps screen that syncs activities across all your devices up to 30 days in the past. In short, Timeline allows users to go back in fourth dimension and pick upward where they left off apps and documents that they had open in the past, on whatsoever device that'southward logged in with the aforementioned Microsoft Account.

For example, I can be working on a Word document on my Surface Volume and resume that same Word document on another device logged into the aforementioned account iii days later. Just open up Timeline, scroll downward three days ago, and select the certificate I was working on. It even has a search role, which is incredibly useful if y'all can't be bothered to go dorsum through your timeline to find the thing you lot were working on; search for it instead!

Timeline picks upwards all kinds of activities, including websites visited in Microsoft Edge, articles read in the MSN apps, emails, notepad, Part apps, and more. Information technology doesn't pick upwards activities from every app, however; developers volition demand to add together support for Timeline if they desire their app to show up there, meaning you won't see activities from Chrome or Open Office unless they add together support for it. Hopefully developers prefer this characteristic over time, simply for now it only really works with Microsoft's ain apps.

Timeline has been designed in a way that makes it feel similar you lot're scrolling through fourth dimension to open an app or document that was open previously. Job View itself has been redesigned to accommodate this; currently, open apps are shown at the very top, in the "now" office of the timeline. This is the normal Task View experience you lot know and dear. Below that, are all the apps you lot don't have open currently just did take open in the past. You lot tin can scroll through this listing, select ane and open information technology to pick up exactly where you lot left off. That app then gets moved to the "now" section, and the bike starts again.

Virtual Desktops are also still here, although they accept moved to the acme of the screen due to Timeline taking up most of the infinite within Chore View. This does hateful more mouse travel when clicking the Task View icon, but information technology's a small price to pay for such a useful feature. I really like Timeline, and it's peculiarly useful if you have multiple devices that you are often switching between. Timeline makes those devices feel continued and in-sync, and I love information technology.

For those that are privacy conscious, y'all'll be happy to know that Timeline doesn't sync activities across devices by default. That'due south an option y'all have to manually enable to take. Timeline itself is enabled by default, even so, significant information technology will collect your activities and showcase them in within Timeline out-the-box, simply merely locally. Yous tin can plow information technology off, but since it'south non syncing anything to the cloud unless you lot tell it to, I'chiliad non certain many people will care. The option is there regardless though.

The truthful usefulness of Timeline will depend entirely on how oft y'all need to open a webpage or document you were looking in the past, and whether or non y'all use multiple Windows 10 devices that are logged in with the same Microsoft account. I find being able to resume activities that I started on another device incredibly useful and convenient; it makes all my Windows devices feel similar one, and that's neat.

One really odd issue I've noticed with Timeline is a collection of graphical bug that seem to span beyond a diverseness of devices. Timeline is very animation heavy, and it appears Microsoft still has work to do in optimizing those animations. Even on my high-finish PC, the animations volition often drop frames. On my Surface Studio, the animation doesn't fifty-fifty brandish properly. I've besides had problems with Timeline not showing up at all at times, which is incredibly frustrating.

Microsoft Border browser

With this release, Microsoft Edge has yet again been improved a fair fleck, and that's peachy news. Every Windows 10 update since Windows 10 was released back in 2022 has improved Edge in some manner, and that trend continues here with the April Update. I've been using Edge since it was first fabricated bachelor in preview, so I can definitely run into where the improvements have and haven't been made.

I'm happy to report that Microsoft Edge, at least for your average Joe or Jane, is more than than fine as a daily browser at present. It'southward stable, with Edge crashing about as frequently as Chrome does for me, and it's a lot faster and cleaner than it was previously. Microsoft has updated the Border UI with Fluent Design furnishings and has even improved the blur-effect found in the title bar that allows your wallpaper to bleed through more than evidently. Information technology looks excellent.

What's more than, Microsoft has redesigned the 'Hub,' which stores all your Bookmarks, Downloads, Books, History, and Reading Lists. No longer is it a pocket-size sidebar that's bars to the very right of your screen; instead, information technology's a large panel that slides out and takes upwardly equally much room as it needs, making the overall experience experience less cramped and more than inviting.

Other than that, the categories within the Hub are more or less the same, except for the Books area. The Books area has been redesigned to showcase Books that are available to purchase a read right now, which increases discoverability of the Microsoft Store. Unfortunately, the Book Store itself is limited to the United States, meaning those outside of the States won't see this category at all.

On the subject of books, the Book reader itself has been redesigned too. It's at present much easier to use, with a scrubber at the lesser allowing you to apace whorl through pages in a volume and a whole bunch of features and options at the top. These features include a read-aloud way, grammar checker, highlight capabilities, bookmarks, annotating capabilities, and notes. The Edge book reader is one of the better book readers I've seen out in that location, which is great to come across.

Most of the other changes made to Edge are smaller yet useful. For example, Edge finally has a mute-tab button now, significant if you're someone who browses with multiple tabs open at i time and i of them starts playing an ad or music, you can easily find it and mute it without having to click into it and find the media that's playing. Also new is Edge'due south power to automatically fill up out preferred data in accost boxes, proper noun forms, and so on, just like in Chrome.

Nether the hood, Microsoft has done lots of piece of work to enable something called 'Progressive Web Apps', which substantially allow some websites to conduct like apps on your PC. For case, you'll now detect that some sites can request to send you notifications, which will deliver regardless of whether or not yous accept Edge open, simply like an app on your phone.

Overall, many of the improvements made to Edge in the Apr Update are minor but useful. The most notable improvements are to do with book back up, just I can't imagine many people utilize Border as a book reader, and since the Book Store itself is limited to the United states of america only, it's not something most people are going to even know almost. Everything else is great, and I actually love Edge in this release.

Windows 10 Cortana

Cortana is in a actually weird place in the April Update, because its experience is seemingly scattered across the search function and the Action Center now. Microsoft has ripped out the old Cortana Home UI that used to present itself whenever you lot'd click the Cortana button or search bar and is now showcasing some of that information in the Activeness Eye instead ... but search is still called Cortana, even though Cortana's main features aren't in at that place anymore.

If you're someone who actually uses Cortana for the 'at-a-glance' twenty-four hours view, yous're going to be in for an unwelcome surprise with the April Update. Since Cortana's Home UI is no longer there, at that place'south no fashion to hands meet your upcoming appointments, latest news, or packages that are beingness tracked unless you get into the notebook offset or ask Cortana directly. I don't call up many people used Cortana for this anyway, simply if you did, the Apr Update makes getting to these things a piffling tougher.

Microsoft says a lot of Cortana's proactive content (such as selection upward where you left off, reminders, package tracking, etc.) will now popular up in the Action Center when it is necessary to the user. It won't be there all the time, only say if a package ships, Cortana will pop a notification to tell yous that, which will live in the Action Middle until you dismiss it. It's not a perfect replacement for the Cortana Domicile UI, merely it's ameliorate than cipher.

The good news is the Cortana Notebook has been redesigned with a much more welcoming UI that, depending on your land, will better surface different tasks and skills that Cortana is capable of. Each of Cortana's capabilities is now categorized, and in the US, the ability to add more skills to Cortana is now better presented to the user.

There's likewise a new Cortana Lists feature, which automatically adds things to lists that Cortana thinks you might want to accept listed. For example, when browsing on Amazon, Cortana will enquire you if y'all desire to add whatsoever it is you lot browse for to your shopping list, just in case you lot're interested in ownership something but don't currently have the coin. This way, Cortana can save it for you, and then you tin cross it off the list once you buy information technology.

In reality, this feature is more useless than useful. I'yard nonetheless to find myself being thankful for Cortana'southward suggestions hither; more often than not I just prefer creating my own lists, that's when I remember the feature exists. It's cached in the Notebook, and doesn't show upwardly equally a dedicated app in the Start bill of fare nor does information technology feature a live tile.

And so, Cortana isn't in the best state in the April Update. The removal of the Cortana Home UI makes for a clunky, jarring experience, as Cortana is now showing up in multiple places of the Os. This is because Microsoft is in the middle of rethinking Cortana, which will involve slowly moving Cortana into the Activity Center full time, forth with introducing a new chat-based UI alike to the likes of Google Banana on Android.

Those changes aren't coming in the April Update, yet, so for now we're going to accept to put upward with Cortana being all over the place. Not neat.

Windows 10 Nearby Share

One nifty new characteristic in the April Update is the ability to share spider web pages, documents, photos, and basically anything that supports the Windows 10 share feature with devices that are physically nearby via Bluetooth. Gone are the days of needing to transfer something from 1 device to another merely not having a USB around, resulting in y'all having to e-mail yourself which is a cumbersome experience. With Nearby Share, you can share directly to other devices wirelessly, kind of similar AirDrop on Apple devices.

This isn't tied to your Microsoft Account, either, significant you can share things with devices nearby that aren't yours. This is swell if you need to transport a friend or co-worker a file, but don't take a USB around to practice it. Just tap on the share icon, select the device that'south nearby, and send it. The receiver will have the option to accept or decline the file, and if accustomed, the file will transfer over Bluetooth. In my testing, it works pretty fast for basic things similar photos, documents, and web pages. I wouldn't trust it with super big files, though.

This is one of those features that you likely won't utilize oftentimes, only volition prove incredibly useful when the time comes to it. It's off past default, but y'all can enable it easily via the Action Center. Microsoft has made it into a quick action that can be toggled on and off whenever you feel like it. I exit mine on, merely you might desire to plough yours off if you find yourself in public spaces and don't desire to constantly receive requests to receive files from strangers.

Windows 10 Focus Help

Microsoft has redone the Tranquility Hours function in Windows 10, giving it a new name and a couple of new capabilities. No longer is Quiet Hours a simple tool for shushing notifications for a period of time. Instead, Focus Assist is designed to aid you stay focused when y'all need it; shutting out notifications in smarter, automated ways without you really needing to recall most it.

For example, whenever y'all launch a game, Focus Assist will come on to make sure no notifications pop up during an intense match with your friends or enemies. It'll too enable itself whenever yous project your screen to ensure no saucy messages from your pregnant other pop upward during an important coming together with your boss. Once done, Focus Assist will turn off and show you a summary of all the things yous missed while Focus Aid was enabled.

You can fifty-fifty customize which apps and people tin can break through when Focus Assist is on, so if y'all have an app that you absolutely must see notifications from regardless of whether you need to focus or not, you can fix that up likewise. I do wish Microsoft added the ability to customize which apps enable or disable Focus Assistance; for example, information technology'd exist absurd if I could set it then whenever I open Word, Focus Assist comes on automatically. Alas, that's not a feature, at least not yet.

Finally, and I think this one is the coolest; you can setup Focus Assistance so that it automatically comes on when you're at home. This is a characteristic primarily designed for those who employ their laptop for work and dwelling related stuff. When at work, notifications most meetings and projects are important, merely at home, you likely don't want all that racket. Focus Assist tin automatically turn on once you reach your home then that you don't get bombarded with piece of work-related stuff exterior of piece of work. Pretty neat!

Other useful changes

Equally with every new update, at that place are all sorts of new settings and miscellaneous changes that don't fit into whatsoever other categories, the biggest of which is Microsoft's continued modernization of the old Windows Command Panel. The Apr Update is the biggest yet in regards to this ho-hum transition, moving over lots of older Win32 applets into the new mod Settings app.

For example, y'all can find things like Fonts, Language Packs, Sounds and Devices, System Startup Apps, and even Deejay Cleanup in the Settings app now. Microsoft is slowly but surely deprecating the Control Panel, and while the Control Panel still exists in the Apr Update, information technology's slowly becoming less relevant every bit more of it gets moved into Settings.

Microsoft has as well added updated display options which help with how Windows scales legacy apps. In that location'due south a new "Fix blurry apps" notification that pops upward whenever Windows brandish scaling changes, which is designed to help brand legacy apps non look blown out or super small when that happens.

Bigger changes accept been made to Windows Update, which will now showcase an icon in the Arrangement Tray when there'due south an update pending installation, which should assistance give the user a heads up that a restart will be required soon. Microsoft knows that updates are an inconvenience to the user, and is trying to give them as big a heads-upward as possible.

Microsoft has also done lots of work behind the scenes to make updates install a lot faster once a reboot has begun. In fact, Microsoft has sped up this process considerably, then that almost modernistic PCs should merely be out of action for less than 20 minutes. This is a huge improvement over the 60 minutes or more it used to take on some devices, and a welcome change that I'm sure many will appreciate.

At that place'due south now a new "one-click" Bluetooth pairing mode that works with a handful of Bluetooth peripherals. Just like how yous can connect a pair of AirPods to an iPhone with ane click, the same can at present be done with some Bluetooth devices on Windows x. For example, if I try to pair my Surface Precision Mouse with my Windows 10 PC, Windows will pop a notification asking if it can connect to it. Tap yes, and that's it. It's super easy and quick, although it doesn't work with all Bluetooth devices.

The on-screen keyboard has been given the blur effect treatment, and the larger keyboard at present supports shape-writing. Microsoft has also updated support for eye tracking, with an improved navigation bar with more options and features. For pen users, when tapping on a text field, a pen field volition at present popup allowing yous to write directly into the field with ease. This is a much better organisation than before, which required y'all to write into a dissever pen field.

Those using concrete keyboards in the United states of america tin can now accept advantage of new on-screen suggestions, similar to the suggestions you get on a virtual keyboard on your phone. You can utilise the arrow keys or mouse to select the works, which can prove useful for when you're trying to blazon out a word y'all tin can't quite recall how to spell. I personally don't recall it enhances my writing speeds, simply perhaps that's because I'm already pretty fluid in my typing capabilities. This feature is also off by default, which is interesting.

Also new in this release is the ability to set input and output audio devices per app. This can exist done via the Settings app, and lets you lot manually cull where you want audio to come up from in a specific app, which is excellent. And so for example, you tin can at present make information technology and so Google Chrome outputs audio to your headphones, and accept iTunes output sound to your PC'south speakers. Pretty neat!

There are also lots of new security improvements, as with every release. You can learn more than almost the new security enhancements in the April Update here.

Final thoughts

The Windows 10 April Update is a good update. Nosotros're in an historic period now where new versions of Windows don't bring huge new changes, and that's okay. Most users don't similar it when everything changes at once anyway, so I think information technology'due south smart that these new updates are only bringing small, incremental changes that make for lots of alter over a long menstruum of time.

If y'all go dorsum and utilize the original version of Windows 10 that launched in July 2022, and so much has changed. But, going from update to update, those changes aren't noticeable. Windows 10 today is a much better and far more well-rounded product than the Windows x that originally launched, all without anybody really noticing.

Timeline is super-useful, at least for me, but that usefulness volition depend on whether you employ apps that back up it and whether or not you have multiple devices or reopen things you had open in the past. I like being able to get dorsum in time and see everything I had done on my PC on a certain 24-hour interval in the past, and rapidly resume whatsoever tasks or projects I had going at that time.

What's less good most this update is Cortana, and how Cortana seems to exist in a weird limbo as she moves out of Windows Search and into the Activeness Center. The missing Cortana Home feel is going to bum out some people for sure, and there's no real replacement for it, at least non even so. You tin notwithstanding get access to all the things Cortana is watching for you lot, merely you've gotta dig for it or ask Cortana to bear witness information technology. That's not bang-up.

The other not great thing most the April Update is Microsoft's continued lack of commitment to anyone outside of the United States. Lots of new and improved features in the April Update are United states-only, which is absurd for a company as big as Microsoft. Unless you're in the United States, the merely new feature you're getting in Cortana is the new Notebook UI; everything else doesn't work.

Book back up is U.S.-only, on-screen suggestions are U.Due south.-only, Cortana Skills are US-only, devices in the Microsoft Shop are US-simply, and I'thousand sure there are many other features that I'm missing that are region restricted. Microsoft is beyond bad at supporting users outside of the U.s., and unfortunately, this trend is showing no sign of stopping.

Microsoft is running the largest beta and feedback program ever. The Windows Insider Program is total of willing participants all over the globe who are happy to test and submit feedback most Windows features before they're ready. How Microsoft is unable to ship features outside the Usa at launch is ridiculous based on this fact lonely. It's non like Microsoft doesn't have the information, considering they do.

Apple does a amend chore at this; heck so does Google. The just visitor failing at this is Microsoft, and it'southward unacceptable. I assumed that when this trend start started with Windows 10, it was simply temporary as Microsoft was nonetheless finding its feet with Windows as a Service, but it's been three years now, and information technology's still happening. Why should everyone outside of the US buy a Windows machine if Microsoft isn't committed to bringing those users the latest features and capabilities?

Luckily, the biggest changes in the April Update are available outside the The states, including things like Timeline and Nearby Share. Overall, the April Creators Update does the job, and since it's the latest version of Windows, I ever recommend updating if merely for the security improvements and the fact that yous're remaining upwardly-to-date over anything else.

The Windows 10 April Update starts rollout out on April 30.

Pros:

Timeline is useful.
Nearby Share is great.
Focus on refinements.

Cons:

Lots of US only features.
Cortana Dwelling house is gone.
Timeline is laggy.

See at the Microsoft Store

More than Resource

Windows 10 Support Forums at Windows Primal
Windows 10 News
Windows 10 Tips, Tricks, and How-tos

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