Windows 11’s new hidden feature finally makes the battery indicator useful

Many aspects of Windows have remained relatively untouched for years, even in Windows 11. For instance, while other operating systems have made better and more visually helpful battery indicators, Windows has had the same old for who knows how long now. Fortunately, a hidden feature within the Windows 11 Dev build shows us what we might expect in the future, and it looks great.

Windows 11’s battery indicator gets a much-needed makeover

This change was spotted by PhantomOfEarth, which earned a name for itself by digging through Windows Dev and Beta builds and finding hidden features. Microsoft likes to hide work-in-progress features in the testing branches before making them visible when they’re ready for testing. This time, PhantomOfEarth has unearthed (pun intended) a new feature within the Dev build:

The new indicator comes with some handy new features. For example, if Energy Saver has kicked in, the battery bar will turn yellow to let you know your laptop saves as much juice as possible. It also comes with a handy chart that lets you track how much battery you’ve used over a specific period.

If you want to try these features, download the Windows Dev build and ViveTool. Then, use the following commands to bring the new battery charging icon out of hiding:

Updated battery icon: vivetool /enable /id:48822452.Section labels for the battery usage graph: vivetool /enable /id:53092139. If these commands don’t work, enable 48433719 and reboot.

Once done, you can then give the battery feature a try. If you don’t want to do all this, don’t fret; it should become available to everyone on the testing branch soon.