April 2025 Patch Tuesday Updates Are Now Available on Windows 11 and 10

Microsoft has just released the April 2025 Patch Tuesday updates for all supported versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10. On Copilot+ PCs, the latest version of Windows 11 (24H2) is adding a new AI-powered Windows Search experience plus improvements for the Voice Access and Live Captions features.

This month, Windows 11 users are also getting a new gamepad layout for the touch keyboard, an emoji shortcut in the system tray area of the taskbar, and new top cards in the Settings that display key PC specs.

You can find the main changes included in the KB5055523 patch for Windows 11 version 24H2 and the KB5055528 patch for Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2 below:

Gamepad keyboard layout for the touch keyboard: This new Gamepad keyboard layout makes it easy to type text with an Xbox controller. The keyboard keys have also been vertically aligned to improve controller navigation patterns.

Emoji icon in the taskbar: A new emoji icon in the system tray area of the taskbar provides quick access to the emoji panel.

Top Cards in the Settings app: In Settings > System > About, new “Top cards” show key details about a PC’s processor, RAM, storage, and GPU. On managed PCs, a new home page will show some existing cards like “Recommended settings” and “Bluetooth devices” as well as two new enterprise-specific device info and accessibility preferences cards.

Task Manager: The app now uses standard metrics to display CPU workload consistently across all pages and align with industry standards and third-party tools.

Voice Access improvements: The accessibility feature now supports voice commands in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Users with Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PCs can also speak commands in natural language instead of using predefined commands.

Windows Search changes for EU users: Microsoft is improving support for alternative web search providers in Windows Search for users in the EEA. When Bing is set as the default web search provider, Windows Search will now open search results in the default browser instead of Microsoft Edge.

AI-powered search (24H2 only): On Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PCs, users can find documents and photos (including OneDrive pictures) using natural language prompts within File Explorer and Windows Search on the taskbar. The search bar in the Settings app can also surface settings by just typing what’s on your mind.

Live captions improvements (24H2 only): Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PCs can now translate 26 languages in Chinese (simplified) in real-time. AMD and Intel-powered models can also now translate more than 44 languages into English.

Windows Studio Effects button in taskbar (24H2 only): On PCs with an NPU, an icon will now appear in the system tray when using an app that supports Windows Studio Effects. Clicking the button opens the Studio Effects page in Quick Settings.

Widgets improvements (24H2 only): EU users can now add, remove, and rearrange lock screen widgets such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, Traffic, and more. Any widget that supports the small sizing option can also be added.

For Windows 10 users, today’s KB5055518 update for the version 22H2 only brings bug fixes and no new features. Keep in mind that free security updates for Windows 10 will stop after October 14, 2025, but consumers and organizations wanting to keep using the OS beyond that date will be able to pay for Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates program.