Windows 11: new wallpaper stickers and tablet mode features

Microsoft appears to be working on several new Windows 11 features that the company has not yet publicly announced. References to stickers for desktop wallpapers, the ability to hide the taskbar for tablets, and a sustainability section in Settings have all been discovered in the latest test version of Windows 11. The new features have been uncovered just days after Microsoft announced it would test more experimental Windows 11 features.

The new customization feature to bring stickers to desktop wallpapers in Windows 11 has been shared by Windows enthusiast Albacore on Twitter. Screenshots show you’ll be able to pick stickers, commonly found in messaging apps, for a wallpaper and edit them from the desktop. Currently, widgets exist in Windows 11 but they can’t be pinned to the desktop, so stickers could be an alternative for desktop customization.

Stickers could be limited to a single monitor though, and references to the feature in Windows 11 include policies around education usage. Microsoft is currently shipping Windows 11 SE on new low-cost laptops for students, and it’s optimized so apps always launch fullscreen on a single display. It’s possible that the new stickers feature could be part of Windows 11 SE, or consumer-focused versions of Windows 11.

Albacore has also discovered references to what might be parts of tablet mode returning in Windows 11. A new taskbar setting has appeared, labeled “Automatically hide the taskbar when using your device as a tablet.” Microsoft largely walked back most of its traditional tablet-mode features in Windows 11, but the company had been planning a lot of gestures and modes for its canceled Windows 10X project and dual-screen tablet devices.

Image: Albacore (Twitter)

Elsewhere, a new sustainability section of the Windows 11 Settings looks like it will offer recommendations on energy saving and device recyclability. Microsoft also appears to be renaming Focus Assist to just Focus, with options to schedule the quiet mode through Outlook.

These features are currently not available to most Windows 11 testers, and Microsoft has not acknowledged their existence yet. The software maker did acknowledge that Windows enthusiasts, like Albacore, “have discovered that some features are intentionally disabled” in the latest Windows 11 test builds. Microsoft says it “will only communicate about features that we are purposefully enabling for Insiders to try out.”