Microsoft’s new icons are starting to roll out to Windows Insider testers

After unveiling new, modern Windows app icons back in December, Microsoft is starting to roll some out to testers.

As spotted by The Verge, Windows 10 Fast Ring testers received updates to some of the operating system’s built-in apps, which include new icons. These icons follow Microsoft’s Fluent Design principles and sport more colour and modern elements.

Some of the apps receiving updates include Calculator, Groove Music, Mail, Voice Recorder, Alarms & Clock, Movies & TV and Calendar. However, Microsoft plans to update many more icons in the future. Additionally, the company plans to refresh some current icons with a more colourful appearance. Photos, for example, is just a boring white (or black, depending on the system theme you’re using) square with two filled-in triangles that represent mountains. The whole icon looks a minimalist polaroid picture.

The new version of Photos ditches that aesthetic for a colourful blue and grey icon. It still shows two mountains, but the new icon includes much more depth than before.

Finally, The Verge notes that the new Mail and Calendar icons turned up in the Release Preview ring for Windows 10, which means they could begin rolling out to all Windows 10 users in just a few days.

The new icon push is part of a broader effort Microsoft is undertaking to modernize the look of its software and services. Fluent Design is a significant part of that push, as well as the upcoming Windows 10X variant of its computer OS designed for dual-screen and foldable devices. Further, the new icons are part of a grander unification of the Windows ‘look and feel,’ with several of Microsoft’s services sporting the new icons across multiple platforms.

The company’s new Chromium-based Edge browser, for example, received a new logo shortly before it’s official release. Now, Edge on Windows, Android and iOS sports the same icon and a more unified look.

Image credit: Microsoft

Source: The Verge