Microsoft is Testing New Design for Media Controls on the Windows 11 Lock Screen

Microsoft has started testing a new design for media controls on the Windows 11 Lock Screen. The Windows 11 Insider build 22635.4082 released on the Beta Channel yesterday has moved media controls from the bottom right corner of the lock screen to the lower bottom center, right below the new widgets for weather, finance, traffic, and sports information now appear.

With this change, Microsoft also made the media controls box on the lock screen slightly slimmer. You can see the new design below and compare it to the current design in the featured image above.

This change will be rolling out gradually to Insiders who’ve turned on the Windows Update toggle to get the latest updates as soon as they’re available. Two other changes will be rolled out in the same manner, and the first one is an option to turn off the suggestions to disable notifications from certain apps. It’s available when pressing the “…” within a notification, but users can also find it under “Notification Suggestions” in Settings > System > Notifications.

The third change in this new Beta build is a new design for the “Delivery Optimization” page in the Settings app. As a reminder, this is where you can turn on downloads for Windows updates and apps from other devices on the Internet or your local network. The updated design for this page now respects the Windows 11 design language.

It’s not unusual for Microsoft to test new features and changes on a less “advanced” channel, in that case the Beta Channel, which is getting updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2. The next version of the OS (24H2) is currently available on the Release Preview Channel, and we’re now getting closer to its public release in the fall season.