7 features I wish would come to Windows from macOS

Needless to say, PC vs. Mac is a decades-old rivalry in the tech space. While Windows leads with a healthy market share, macOS continues to be a go-to option for creatives and professionals. I have a MacBook Pro for convenience and travel purposes, and a Windows PC to get work done at my desk. I am a Microsoft 365 subscriber, and I definitely prefer Microsoft’s desktop OS over Apple’s. After switching between both operating systems for work purposes, here are the top features I would like Windows to adopt from macOS.

Windows offers notification banners in the bottom right corner. They are large, take up space, and can be irritating during work hours. The situation is even worse when you take a screenshot or receive notifications from apps like OneDrive, which have media files in preview.

In contrast, macOS has small notification alerts in the top right corner. They are easy to glance over, don’t take up much space, nor interfere with your workflow.

macOS has a simplified toolbar and control center at the top, so that you can easily check your active apps and access other essential functions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness, sound, and more.

Microsoft cramps everything into the Windows taskbar at the bottom, which already looks crowded and busy with apps, the start menu, widgets, Copilot, calendar, and more. The software giant should simplify the toolbar and consider changing its position to the top.

6 Focus modes

Focus mode is another area where macOS simply triumphs over Windows. macOS offers different Focus profiles, such as Do Not Disturb (DND), Driving, Personal, Sleep, and Work by default. You can also create a custom profile for Gaming, Writing, or otherwise per your preferences.

With each Focus mode, you can set exceptions for specific apps and contacts to still receive certain notifications. You can also set time, location, and app-based automation for Focus profiles. For example, I have created an automation where Work Focus gets enabled whenever I launch the Slack app. The possibilities are endless here. For instance, you can set the system to enable Productivity Focus whenever you reach the office.

In comparison, Microsoft only offers a Do Not Disturb mode, which you can set to enable automatically based on certain programmed hours.

5 Preview app

Preview app is one thing I miss the most whenever I switch from my MacBook Pro to my Windows PC. Whether you want to open your images, PDFs, documents, or spreadsheets, you can simply select an item and press the space bar to take a quick view.

On Windows, I have to open these files in their respective apps to have a quick glance. To make matters worse, the default Photos app on Windows feels quite slow when opening large images.

On Windows, you can pin your frequently used folders to the taskbar or the Start menu. You can even favorite specific files for easy access. While this is fine to give you quick access to important files, macOS is simply ahead with tags in the Finder app.

You can right-click on any file or folder and assign a relevant tag. You can even customize these tags as per your preferences. For example, I have created tags for Writing, Invoice, Important, and Screenshots. This enables me to easily filter and access all of my Mac, OneDrive, iPhone, and Android screenshots together.

3 Optimized battery charging

While many Windows OEMs like Samsung, Lenovo, and Asus offer optimized charging, the function isn’t built into Windows. On macOS, the system learns from your usage and suspends charging at 80% to reduce battery aging. It’s a must-have feature for those who plan to keep their laptop for five years.

On Windows, you have to use third-party apps to suspend charging at a specific percentage.

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2 Better search experience

Spotlight Search on Mac is miles better than Windows Search. They are not even comparable.

Firstly, Windows Search doesn’t really respect your preferred browser and search engine. No matter which browser you use, the system searches your queries via the Bing search engine on Microsoft Edge.

Furthermore, Mac search is smarter. You can search “sky” and also get all of your relevant pictures from the Photos app.

Spotlight Search doesn’t take up much space, and it’s well integrated into system apps. For instance, when you search for Paris weather, Spotlight Search extracts the data from the Weather app. On the other hand, Windows Search uses the Bing search engine to display the temperature.

1 Password management

On Windows, you can create and manage your password entries via Microsoft Wallet in the Edge browser only. It doesn’t even support time-based one-time passwords (TOTP), which can be crucial for security in this era.

macOS has a robust integration with a dedicated Passwords menu in Settings. You can create new entries, add notes, and even set up verification codes to add an extra layer of security. Microsoft should offer a native Wallet app that’s easy to access and can go toe-to-toe with other password manager apps.

Make Windows a productivity powerhouse

These are just some of the features where the macOS implementation surpasses Windows. With Snap Layouts, AI features, a robust File Explorer, and modern UI elements, Microsoft is already doing a solid job with Windows 11. That being said, there is still room for improvement, and Microsoft can learn a trick or two from its top rival to make Windows a productivity powerhouse.

Microsoft already offers some of these features via the PowerToys app on Windows. Although they are fine as an add-on, they don’t integrate well with the system.