Microsoft updates Windows 11 Camera, Media Player and Movies & TV apps

Microsoft is updating the Camera, Media Player and Movies & TV apps for Windows 11 testers in the Dev Channel, officials said on July 13.

Microsoft is adding QR Code and barcode scanning to the existing capture modes that it has in its Camera app. The updated Camera app (version 2022.2206.2.0) already has support for camera, video, document and whiteboard capture modes. The Camera app also is getting some UI enhancements to make it feel more like Windows 11, officials said.

The updated version of the Media Player app (version 11.2206.30.0) now supports CD ripping, including the AAC,m WMA. FLAC, and ALAC formats. Microsoft already added CD playback support to the app in March. And the company is rolling out an update to the Movies & TV app (version 10.22061 and higher) that brings an improved experience for users on Arm64 devices. Microsoft also is migrating video file type associations from Movies & TV to Media Player. The migration will only impact file types that are already associated with Movies & TV after the app is opened for the first time.

Microsoft also released a new Windows 11 Dev Channel test build, No. 25158, to Insiders in the Dev Channel today, July 13. Microsoft is adding notification badging for Widgets in this build. It also is removing “lightweight interactive content” on the Windows desktop. (I think this means the team is removing the addition of the Search bar on the Windows desktop.) And officials are going to test different ways to represent visually Search on the taskbar, by rolling out to different testers various new options.

Test build 25158 also includes a host of fixes and updates. ISOs of this version are available for any testers who want them.