Windows 11 Insiders Get Quick Settings in Xbox Mode and a Broader Search Box
Windows 11 Insiders can now reach Quick Settings from inside Xbox mode, the full-screen shell Microsoft built for gaming hardware. The change arrived in the latest Insider builds, Beta Build 26220.9836 and Experimental Build 26340.9843, which The Verge reported on October 31, 2026. Microsoft had announced new builds for October 30 in its Windows Insider blog.
Xbox mode shortcuts now let users change Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and power settings without leaving gaming mode. Quick Settings is the panel of system toggles Windows normally shows over the desktop. Before this change, a controller-driven user who needed to toggle a radio or switch power profiles had to exit the shell and return to the standard desktop. The new path keeps that task inside the full-screen session.
The same builds expand what the Windows 11 search box can do. According to the Experimental build release notes, Microsoft's Windows Insider documentation, search results can now be filtered by Settings as well as by Files & Folders and Actions. Users can scroll to see more results before applying a filter. Filters for files, actions and web results are part of the same update.
The search box can also run actions directly. Per The Verge's report, it can change screen brightness and volume, and it can act on a connected phone, including placing calls. File results show when a file was last modified and who authored it. Web-sourced results can include charts for stock prices and weather forecasts. Users can train the ranking by clicking inline thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons, which signal whether a result was useful.
Some of these capabilities trace back to earlier Insider work. On July 13, 2026, Microsoft's Windows Insider blog described a setting in Settings > Privacy & Security > Search that controls whether web and Microsoft Store suggestions appear alongside local results. On October 7, the same blog published a post titled "From searching to doing: Building a faster, more streamlined Windows Search," and said the streamlined search preview can be enabled through Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program > Feature flags. A feature flag is a switch that turns an unfinished feature on for selected testers.
Quick Settings also gained a new tool in an earlier Experimental build. Insiders running Experimental Build 26340.9767, documented on October 23, 2026, can run an internet speed test and see the results directly in Quick Settings, without being redirected to a browser.
The broader context here is a steady shift in what the Windows shell is expected to do. Search started as a file locator, then gained app launching and web results. The current builds push it toward executing system commands and reaching a paired phone, which moves the search box closer to a general control surface. Quick Settings inside Xbox mode extends the same idea to a different input model, one built around a controller and a television-distance display.
In my view, the questions that matter most for this preview are about reliability and privacy rather than feature count. Actions that change brightness, volume or radio state, and calls placed through a phone link, all depend on hooks into hardware, drivers and companion apps. Testers will want to see how those actions behave across the wide range of configurations Windows supports. The web and Store suggestion controls in the July update show that Microsoft has already needed to give users a way to limit what search blends in, and the new filters and web charts will raise the same expectation.
For IT administrators and power users, the practical takeaway is that these features are still in Insider channels, and the preview paths are opt-in. Anyone who wants to test the streamlined search has to enable the feature flag. The changes that reach stable Windows 11 will be the ones that survive that testing, and the Insider notes are the place to track which ones do.
