The channel includes one new feature (for 22631.1835), the addition of new natural voices in Chinese and Spanish (Spain and Mexico), and a change adding a new toggle in Settings > Network & Internet > Cellular to control whether or not to use cellular when Wi-Fi is available but poor.

You can learn more about this build and the Beta Channel over at the Windows Insider blog post.

Dark Mode

Paint will already default to your system settings for Light or Dark Mode or theme settings, but you can now change this option just for Paint with a new settings page.

Zoom Controls

We are also rolling out improvements to the zoom controls as well to give you more flexibility and control over the view of your content on the canvas. The classic presets are still available, but you can now also zoom in and out with finer granularity increments on the zoom slider or set a custom zoom value for even greater precision. We are also introducing a new fit to screen option to quickly optimize zoom to match your window size.

Image Properties

Image Properties now more closely aligns with the Windows 11 design style, and now has “many accessibility and usability improvements to dialogs throughout the app,” and improved keyboard shortcut support.

Are you a Paint user? Check out the new Paint app update and tell us what you think.

Featured Image via Windows Insider Program

Included in these new builds are a number of new fixes for both varieties, including one new item:

• New! This update provides the full amount of storage capacity of all your OneDrive subscriptions. It also displays the total storage on the Accounts page in the Settings app.

Be sure and check out the Windows Insider blog post for all the details.

Along with these Beta Channel builds, Microsoft has released the second Canary Channel build this week, this time it’s 25375. This build includes one new feature, support for Microsoft Endpoint DLP on Windows on Arm (Arm64):

You can now extend Microsoft Endpoint Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies and actions to endpoints running Windows on Arm (Arm64) which allows you to detect and protect sensitive data in files part of your digital ecosystem. This enables you to introduce policy controls for scenarios such as when an information worker using a Windows endpoint powered by Arm chipset from accessing sensitive files and trying an egress action such as copying to a USB, or copy to clipboard, notepad, etc.

You can learn more about the Canary Channel on the Windows Insider blog post, be sure to check it out.

Fixed in 22624.1755 is a crash in Settings “when attempting to uninstall an app while using grid view,” and an issue with the Pinyin IME’s insert button.

Both versions of the build receive a fix for a race condition in LAPS, the Windows Local Administrator Password Solution.

There are a couple of known issues, including some issues with the Bing button in the search box taking a long time to settle in after a computer restart, and placeholders appearing for widgets in the widgets board for a 2 column layout even if your machine supports three columns.

The new feature in this case is an Evolved Widgets Board:

We are beginning to preview a revamp of the widgets board experience with a larger canvas (3-columns if supported by the device) and new zones to provide users quick access to glanceable widgets from their apps and services as well as enable users to take a high-value break with their personalized feed.

The previously announced app defaults are included in this build, with app pinning features coming in a future build. Along with that there are a number of fixes, changes, and improvements, be sure to check out the Windows Insider blog post for all the details.

And speaking of details, there apparently won’t be a new Canary Channel build today:

Nothing for Canary today.

— Windows Insider Program (@windowsinsider) April 27, 2023

Included in the 22624 version of this build (the “new features rolling out” one) are new languages added to Live Captions, specifically Danish, English (Ireland), French (Canada), Korean, and Portuguese (Portugal).

Also added is an update to the 22624.1610 addition of a “get updates as soon as they are available” toggle:

• Turning on the new toggle under Settings > Windows Update for “getting the latest updates as soon as they are available” introduced in the previous build should now offer a “Windows configuration update” offered via Windows Update for Insiders on Build 22624. This update is designed to help us make sure this new toggle is connected to our backend services correctly. A Update Stack Package update (version 413.2122.0) is required.

From there, there’s a whole list of fixes and known issues, be sure to check out the Windows Insider blog post for all the details

If you have a device with compatible presence sensors, you can now manage your privacy and block/allow certain apps from accessing these sensors. No images or metadata is collected by Microsoft and all processing is done locally on the device hardware to maximize privacy. You will find these settings under Settings > Privacy & security > Presence sensing here if your device supports it. App developers with devices with compatible presence sensors can target apps to request and read user presence information after requesting a human presence capability. Learn more about the API here.

Both versions of this new Beta Channel build are also getting a preview of a new experience for “getting the latest updates as soon as they are available:”

Insiders in the Beta Channel who are on Build 22621 and toggle this on will get updated to Build 22624 via the enablement package. Insiders in the Beta Channel already on Build 22624 and toggle this on will see a “Windows configuration update” offered via Windows Update that is designed to help us make sure this new toggle is connected to our backend services correctly. This configuration update introduces nothing new for Insiders.

Along with these changes there is the usual list of fixes and known issues, be sure to check out the Windows Insider blog post for all the details.

Canary Channel (25336)

The Canary Channel receives three improvements in this latest build. Performance in search within Settings has been improved, you can now choose which of your discrete graphics adapters (if you have more than one and no integrated graphics) is considered high performance, and a limit of 20 most recent tabs has been placed on tabs in ALT + TAB and Snap Assist.

Beta Channel (22621.1546 and 22624.1546)

The latest Beta Channel build with new features rolling out (22624.x) has a bit of a mea culpa from the last build:

• In the previous flight, we documented that Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) works on desktop PCs – however, it does not. We have updated that blog post. Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) also needs to be enabled by the OEM (the manufacturer of the device). As a result, this feature is not available on all laptop or 2-in-1 devices.

22624.1546 also adds the three improvements from the Canary Channel, above. In addition, there are a number of fixes, check out the Windows Insider blog post for more.

Dev Channel 23430

23430 gets a new experience for urgent or important notifications when do not disturb is on and apps are in full screen, the notifications will now show a “view notification” button. The Dev Channel also gets the CABC update, the 20 most recent tabs limit, and a new setting for developers, found in Settings > Privacy & Security, to enable “end task” when right clicking an app on the taskbar. However, this setting, while available, does not currently work and will be fixed in a future release.

Check out the Windows Insider blog posts linked above for all the details on these new builds.

For build 22624.1537

Access Keys in File Explorer

This change adds single key access to commands in the context menu, making the (right click) menu more accessible. To use the feature, open the context menu and press the Menu Key on your keyboard to get a display of these single key shortcuts. Insiders may have to wait as this feature is rolling out, even within the 22624.x version

Live kernel dumps in File Explorer

This feature makes it easier to capture live kernel dumps for gathering troubleshooting data while allowing the OS to continue, and can be accessed by right clicking on the System process and choosing “Create live kernel memory dump file.”

CABC on desktop PCs

Also coming to the Beta Channel is the ability to use CABC (Content Adaptive Brightness Control) to balance reduced power consumption and visual experience by adjusting screen brightness by content, to save power. This feature is well known in laptops to preserve battery life, but is now coming to plugged in devices too.

For both 22621.1537 and 22624.1537

Both versions of this new Beta Channel update include the following changes:

• New! This update adds many new features and improvements to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. For more information, see Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
• New! The search box on the taskbar will be lighter when you set Windows to a custom color mode. This will occur when you set the Windows mode to dark and the app mode to light in Settings > Personalization > Colors.

You can check out the rest of the changes, fixes and improvements over at the Windows Insider blog post.

Widgets Board evolution

Microsoft is “beginning to preview a revamp of the widgets board experience” with a larger canvas and a separation between widgets and feed content:

USB4 Settings Page

Microsoft is expanding the new USB4 settings page it introduced in yesterday’s 23419 Dev Channel release, and it’s included here in this Canary Channel build.

Password copy/paste unsafe warnings

This change to the way phishing protection works in Windows 11 22H2 adds warnings to copy/pasting passwords, as it does when users currently type in their passwords.

SHA-3 Support

Starting with this build, we are adding support for the SHA-3 family of hash functions and SHA-3 derived functions (SHAKE, cSHAKE, KMAC). The SHA-3 family of algorithms are the latest standardized hash functions by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Support for these functions has been enabled through the Windows CNG library.

Supported SHA-3 hash functions: SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512 (SHA3-224 is not supported)
Supported SHA-3 HMAC algorithms: HMAC-SHA3-256, HMAC-SHA3-384, HMAC-SHA3-512
Supported SHA-3 derived algorithms: extendable-output functions (XOF) (SHAKE128, SHAKE256), customizable XOFs (cSHAKE128, cSHAKE256), and KMAC (KMAC128, KMAC256, KMACXOF128, KMACXOF256).

Also included in this build are the additions of the Bing Chat link in the taskbar search experience if you have access to The New Bing, additions of animated icons for Widgets on the taskbar, and more. Check out the Windows Insider blog post for more.

Beta Channel 22621.1470 and 22624.1470

Beta Channel Insiders are also getting a USB4 settings page in 22624.1470, along with the ability to copy/paste 2FA passcodes from notifications from PC apps or Phone Link apps, the glanceable VPN icon change, and an option to show seconds on the system tray clock (woohoo!).

Both versions of the Beta Channel builds include a lighter search box on the taskbar, and there are the usual list of fixes and improvements, check out the blog post for all the details.