Microsoft has released new updates for several built-in Windows apps, including Calculator, Camera, Clock, Media Player, Paint, Photos, and Sound Recorder.
The company has also started publishing dedicated release notes for inbox Windows apps in its official documentation. This means users can now track app changes in one place, with updates listed in chronological order.
Microsoft had earlier announced several Windows 11 improvements for the June 2026 update, including Shared Audio, NPU metrics in Task Manager, multi-app camera support, Windows Hello improvements, USB fixes, and setup changes. Those system-level features were covered in an earlier article.
This update focuses on changes coming to Microsoft’s stock Windows apps.
The Photos app now includes AI watermarking for AI-generated or AI-edited images.
Users can choose whether images should carry a visible Copilot watermark. The available options are Never, Always, and Ask Every Time. The feature is turned off by default.
Microsoft has also improved support for small images and pixel art. Tiny images can now zoom in more clearly without looking blurry.
The app also lets users select detected text in images using the keyboard. Users can move through text with arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A. Microsoft has also fixed a crash related to text recognition.
Paint has received several useful editing and stability improvements. Users can now adjust eraser transparency, giving them more control while editing images.
Microsoft has also fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. Another useful change affects rotated JPEG files. When users open a rotated JPEG and press Save, Paint now overwrites the original file instead of unexpectedly asking them to use Save As.
The app will also show a clear error message when users open a damaged or invalid image file, instead of closing unexpectedly.
Microsoft has also restored classic selection behavior, where the selection outline hides while users move, resize, or rotate a selection.
The Camera app now has better zoom support. The zoom slider works on more cameras, follows system zoom settings, and updates instantly when those settings change.
Microsoft has also fixed an issue where some devices only showed three zoom steps even when they supported finer zoom levels. The front camera should now work on more wide-angle devices.
The app also shows more video resolution options that were previously hidden. Instead of removing those options, it now shows a warning when needed.
For QR codes, if a scanned link points to something with no matching app, the Camera app now copies the link to the clipboard and shows a notification.
The calculator now gives more accurate square-root results. Microsoft fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero, such as sqrt(2.25) – 1.5, returned a very small leftover value instead.
The app should also launch more reliably after upgrades from older versions.
Microsoft has also improved text readability in High Contrast themes and fixed layout issues for right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.
The Clock app now keeps timers counting after they hit zero. When a timer ends, it continues counting upward in negative time, such as -00:27:31, so users can see how much time has passed.
Focus Sessions now include an Off option for users who do not want to set a daily goal. Alarms now offer a new 15-minute snooze option.
The Countdown Widget can now run up to three countdowns at the same time, up from two.
Microsoft has also improved screen reader behavior, fixed timer notifications from the widget, and made World Clock comparisons smoother.
Media Player now supports custom captions. Users can personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling linked to Windows caption settings.
Microsoft has also added an indexing banner in the play queue to explain why some items may not appear while the media library is still being scanned. The app should now have fewer playback failures due to improved file type detection.
Microsoft has also stopped users from saving playlists with blank names and improved the message shown when a file needs a missing codec.
Sound Recorder now shows the live waveform correctly when recording through Bluetooth audio devices. Microsoft has also fixed a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started.
The app now handles quick deletion more smoothly and no longer shows a broken horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of the waveform unless the user has zoomed in. Microsoft has also turned off markers for WAV recordings because the format cannot store them.
Get the latest tech news, telecom insights, and product launches wherever you prefer.
Add ProPakistani to Preferred Sources and see more of our stories in Google Search and Top Stories.