Mid-month on September 15, Microsoft released Windows 11 22H2 Insider Build, 22621.2359, in the Release Preview channel under KB5030310. Sharp-eyed Neowin readers mzta cody and bikeman25 noticed that the PSF file size for the update had increased by 190MB which indicated new code had been added. The new code was the result of activating features 23H2 (moment 4).

User X (Twitter) and Windows fan PhantomOcean3 Noticed some of these undeclared features and these included:

• Settings home page
• New Bluetooth phone link replacement and devices
• Support for reading additional archive formats (7z, RAR, TAR and more)
• A new Windows backup app
• More inbox apps to uninstall (Camera, Cortana, People, Photos)

You can read about these features in detail in our dedicated feature article.

At yesterday’s Surface 2023 event, alongside all the new Surface devices, Microsoft surprised everyone a bit by announcing that more of these so-called Moment 4 update features will be available on September 26th, which is less than a week from today. Much of the press and media, including Neowin, assumed that the company chose this date to release its 23H2 feature update, as the tech giant had already announced availability in Q4.

However, it quickly became clear that this was not the case as Microsoft, b Blog post, clearly stated that these features will be provided as part of the 22H2 itself. Most of the features announced centered around adding AI-based apps and AI-related capabilities to existing apps. You can read about them in detail in the linked articles:

• Copilot on Windows (in preview)

• Draw with Cocreator (in preview) alongside other features like background removal
• Photos with artificial intelligence background blur and more
• The cutting tool updates
• Clipchamp with automatic writing and more
• Notepad with auto save
• New Outlook for Windows
• A modern file explorer
• Improvements in voice access
• Windows backup application

Additionally, in a separate blog post, Microsoft also announced security-related improvements, including passwordless switchover with passkeys and more. Microsoft says:

We’re improving the key experience for Windows users, who can go to any app or site that supports keys to create one and then use the native Windows Hello experience (face, fingerprint, PIN) to sign in.

Microsoft 365 Launch and Microsoft 365 Switch also reach General Availability (GA) status on the same day.