Microsoft Starts Testing Energy Saver Feature on Windows 11

Microsoft has started testing a new energy saver feature on Windows 11, which is designed to improve the functionality of the existing battery saver mode on laptops. The new energy saver feature is live in the just-released Windows 11 Insider build 26002 for testers on the Canary Channel.

“We are introducing energy saver, which extends and enhances battery saver. It is an easy way to extend battery life and reduce energy use by trading off some system performance,” the Windows Insider team explained today.

While energy saver is mostly designed for laptops and tablets running on battery, the feature can also be enabled when PCs are plugged in (including on desktop PCs) to save energy all day long. Moreover, the feature can be configured to automatically kick in once the battery drops below a certain percentage.

Energy Saver can be turned on in System > Power, and it’s also accessible from the Quick Settings flyout in the system tray.

The Windows 11 Insider build 26002 also includes two other notable changes for Quick Settings: a new split toggle makes it easier to turn a single VPN on and off with a single click, and a new refresh button has also been added on the Wi-Fi section of the flyout menu.

In addition to the Windows 11 Canary build 26002, Microsoft also released the Windows 11 Dev build 23595 today. This build moves the Copilot icon to the right side of the system tray on the taskbar, similar to how Copilot on Windows 10 works. Moreover, Microsoft is improving Nearby Sharing by allowing users to share files with their Android devices in discoverable mode through Bluetooth.