14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just started the public testing of a new Microsoft Launcher version, and the first beta build can now be downloaded by users worldwide too.
Microsoft Launcher 5.6 beta comes with a series of welcome improvements, and one of the most notable is the improved support for adaptive icons.
Beginning with this version, the launcher lets users configure the same look for app icons with multiple choices for shapes. As everybody knows already, offering more customization options is the right way to go especially on Android, so version 5.6 is definitely a welcome step in this regard.
What’s new in this version?
The new release also introduces better support for Microsoft Teams. Microsoft explains that users can now join Microsoft Teams meetings in the Calendar card in the feed, so if you weren’t using the feed already, you should really give it a try.
Additionally, Microsoft Launcher now displays the flagged emails from the Microsoft account or work and school accounts in the Tasks card, so once again, the feed is getting quite a lot of refinements in this update.
And last but not least, Microsoft says it has focused specifically on refining the launcher under the hood, which should lead to a somewhat improved experience overall.
“Launcher settings experience has been optimized so you can discover and find what you're looking for quickly,” Microsoft says in the official release notes.
What’s very important to keep in mind is that this is just the first release of the new Microsoft Launcher 5.6 beta, so occasional bugs here and there could be encountered. This is something that makes sense given the beta flag, but the experience should be substantially refined by the time the go-ahead is given to the production build.
This should basically happen sometime next month, but it all depends on how the development work of this update advances.