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The change was spotted by X user phantomofearth, who also shared a video of the feature in action.

Category view works in a similar way to how apps are organized on iOS or Android.

Windows 11 Start menu

The Start menu on Windows 11 will soon feature a category view, though Microsoft has not announced the feature yet.

App icons appear within subsections, making it easier to find specific apps.

Icons don’t look natural within their grid layout and hover effects still seem to be a bit off.

Windows 11 Start menu woes

The Windows 11 Start menu has received criticism since its early days.

Windows 11 Start menu with recommendations turned off but still showing a prompt.

The fact that you cannot disable the Recommended section of the Start menu is one of many issues brought up by Windows 11 users.

Design preference is subjective, of course, but there are some common complaints about the menu.

Others dislike the lack of customization options within the Windows 11 Start menu, often turning toward programs likeStart11.

The tech giant also added features that few requested.

Windows 11 Start menu

For example, the notification dot in the image above isn’t for anything pressing.

Instead, it’s a prompt to add my phone number to my Microsoft account.

I’m fairly certain Microsoft already has that information somewhere, but I doubt the Start menu knows that.

Windows 11 Start menu customization settings

“Anything but removing Recommended,“said Meric Baglayan.

That comment refers to the fact that you cannot hide the Recommended section of the Start menu.

I don’t hate the general concept of the Windows 11 Start menu.

The Windows 11 Start menu apps list.

A few design changes and customization options would go a long way for the Start menu.

Windows 11 Search

Start11 runnning on Surface Pro X

Windows 11 system features

Windows 11 battery usage

Copilot Vision for Windows announcement

Promotional screenshot of characters from Zenless Zone Zero

Moto book 60

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition power adapter in box

Microsoft Edge Vertical Tabs

Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark running on MSI Claw 8 AI+.

Blue Prince