The latest Windows 11 update is here and it has 4 features I'm very happy to see

The Windows 11 update for May has just arrived
It includes a new Xbox mode that will be welcomed by players.
There are also new features for haptic touchpads, useful changes for voice typing, and updates to the Windows 11 interface in general.

The Windows 11 May Update has arrived and it’s quite a busy one, bringing several changes for those who install the patch. There are some good things here and I’m going to summarize the highlights in this article.

Read on to find out what the KB5089549 patch includes, which is for versions 24H2 and 25H2 of Windows 11, and if you’re currently trying to decide whether or not it’s worth going straight for it. Although I’d always recommend a bit of caution when directly downloading an update, as it’s worth waiting a day or two to see if there are any nasty bugs in the works.

Please note that some people who installed the optional update for Windows 11 may have already implemented these changes, which became available in late April (as it was a preview version of this May patch).

1. Xbox Mode: very important for gamers

One of the main changes in the Windows 11 May update is the implementation of Xbox mode. This is certainly a long-awaited feature for many Windows 11 players, especially those with portable devices like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.

Xbox Mode is a full-screen experience (in fact, it used to be called that, or ‘FSE’ for short) with a simplified interface that’s easy to control and also controls Windows 11 resource usage to help games run more performantly. When you plan a gaming session, this is the mode you can switch to on handheld, laptop, or desktop devices.

Please note that this feature is in a controlled rollout, meaning you may not see it right away or, in fact, it could take some time to arrive (and we’ve discussed this elsewhere today).

Close-up of touch panel of Asus laptop

(Image credit: future)

2. Haptic goodness

The May update brings haptic feedback for supported input devices that will occur during certain actions: Microsoft mentions adjusting or resizing windows, or aligning objects in PowerPoint. It should be a feature that seriously improves the experience of laptops with haptic touchpads, as you’ll get a nice physical “snap” when those objects are aligned, for example.

Note that this also applies to supported pen hardware including the Surface Slim Pen 2, Asus Pen 3.0, and MSI Pen 2. Microsoft adds that some mice, like the Logitech MX Master 4, should work well with this feature in time (but not yet, only when the hardware is updated).

A man wearing headphones with a microphone.

(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)

3. Voice typing gets better

Voice typing is one of those Windows 11 features that flies under the radar, but it’s something I still use from time to time (and in the past, I’ve found it invaluable and used it a lot to help fend off repetitive strain injury symptoms).

So it’s good to see that you can now rename files using voice typing, and in addition, the May patch “improves the persistence of the Fluent Dictation setting in voice typing.” In other words, the Fluent Dictation feature, which removes filler words (“you know” or “like”) and automatically corrects grammatical and punctuation errors, will now remember the settings you use (instead of randomly resetting them).

On top of that, the use of voice typing when you open the Windows 11 touch keyboard has been improved, as there is no longer a full-screen overlay and voice typing animations appear directly on the keyboard’s dictation key. That’s a much cleaner way of working and a useful setting.

Happy woman sitting on a bed with a coffee and a Windows 11 laptop

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Yuganov Konstantin)

While it’s not a single feature as such, a lot of work has gone into refining the Windows 11 interface and fixing issues with it, and this is part of what makes the May update worth downloading.

This work includes, but is not limited to, improvements to File Explorer, such as ensuring that your viewing (and sorting) preferences are maintained more consistently (while, as you may have noticed, opening certain folders resets the view layout to something else, which is very annoying). Speaking of very annoying, this new update also (finally) puts an end to the ‘flashbang bug’ where distracting white flashes would appear on the screen in certain circumstances (such as when opening ‘This PC’).

There is also a performance tune to ensure that File Explorer processes start correctly when you close it, so as not to consume unnecessary system resources.

Away from File Explorer, Microsoft has made Windows Hello facial recognition more reliable, which will be useful for those who use it to log in to their laptops. They also improved the overall reliability of loading the system tray (on the far right of the taskbar). Certain ‘unexpected’ errors when installing applications from the Microsoft Store have also been fixed.

As this year progresses, we will no doubt see many more interface improvements and performance improvements, which will be part of the big effort to fix Windows 11 in 2026.