





Hello Windows Insiders!

Today we are excited to be a) hosting our very first Insider webcast from the brand new #BeamMachine AND b) doing our first ever build release during a webcast. We are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16184 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15208 to Insiders in the Fast ring.

What’s New in Build 16184 For PC

My People: Technology is all about making it easier for you to connect with your most important people. Whether you want to share a photo, make plans for dinner, or get an answer from a friend or coworker – My People is here to take it to the next level and bring the people you care about most to the center of your experience.

You can now:

Pin your people to the taskbar – we’ll suggest some to start with, or you can pick your own! (Note: you are currently limited to having 3 people pinned to your taskbar currently.)

– we’ll suggest some to start with, or you can pick your own! (Note: you are currently limited to having 3 people pinned to your taskbar currently.) View multiple communication apps together and filtered to each person on your taskbar.

and filtered to each person on your taskbar. Choose the app you want to use to chat and we’ll remember for next time.

By now, you are wondering ‘but how do I host this party in my taskbar?’. To start with, go to the Store app and make sure you have all the latest updates for the Skype, Mail, and People apps. Then click on the People icon in the taskbar to activate the first run experience and get setup.

Note: Contact syncing is enabled by default following system settings in versions 11.13+ of Skype. If you have an older version of Skype you will need to manually enable contact syncing via the Skype app settings.

Have feedback you want to share with the team? We want to hear it! You can send us feedback by tapping the ellipsis in the People flyout and selecting “Send feedback”, or by opening the Feedback Hub and sharing your thoughts in the Desktop Environment > My People section. We have some more work on its way for this that will soon be lighting up for Insiders, including our improved Share story for People, so stay tuned!

New experience for Gmail accounts in Windows 10 Mail & Calendar apps: Last week, we announced we’re introducing a new experience for Gmail accounts in the Windows 10 Mail and Calendar apps that brings our latest features such as Focused Inbox and richer experiences for travel reservations and package deliveries that were previously only available to those with an Outlook.com or Office 365 email address. Windows Insiders will be the first to try out the new experience as the roll-out gradually happens over the next few weeks. You’ll know the new experience is available for your account when you are prompted to update your Gmail account settings.

Changes, improvements, and fixes for PC

We fixed an issue where night light could get stuck in a disabled state.

We’ve updated Start to use the improved XAML scrollbar style announced during Creators Update development.

We fixed an issue from recent flights where dragging an app from Start’s All apps list into the tile grid would result in Start crashing.

We fixed an issue for those using Windows in Japanese, where on first login after an upgrade certain apps would unexpectedly appear at the bottom of the Start’s All apps list for an hour or until being launched, instead of the normal sorted position.

Since the preview picture in Start Settings only previewed background and theming changes, which are already available to be previewed on their corresponding Settings pages, we’ve made the decision to remove it.

We’ve improved the loading performance of the Notification Settings page.

Some audio drivers have an “encoding Audio Processing Object” feature; this is commonly known as “Dolby Digital Live” or “DTS Connect”. This takes the output of the Windows audio engine mix, encodes it (as Dolby Digital, DTS, or some other format) and sends it out over a S/PDIF optical link for decoding by an external audio receiver. An issue was introduced which resulted in this feature no longer working, which is now fixed.

We fixed an issue from recent flights resulting in Photos crashing if you opened a picture from the Collection page and then pressed the back button in the title back.

We fixed an issue resulting in Counter Strike Global Offensive hanging or freezing during game play on the latest builds (16176+).

We fixed the issue where pressing F12 to open the Developer Tools in Microsoft Edge while F12 is open and focused may not return focus to the tab F12 is opened against, and vice-versa.

Known issues for PC

ADDED: PC Reset via Settings > Update & security > Recovery will not work on this build.

Some Insiders have reported seeing this error “Some updates were cancelled. We’ll keep trying in case new updates become available.” in Windows Update. See this forum post for more details.

Double-clicking on the Windows Defender icon in the notification area does not open Windows Defender. Right-clicking on the icon and choosing open will open Windows Defender.

Surface 3 devices fail to update to new builds if a SD memory card is inserted. The updated drivers for the Surface 3 that fix this issue have not yet been published to Windows Update.

exe will crash and restart if you tap any of the apps listed in the Windows Ink Workspace’s Recent Apps section.

Insiders who use Simplified Chinese IMEs or the Traditional Chinese Changjie or Quick IME to input text will find that the candidate window doesn’t appear when typing into certain apps. If you press space, the first candidate will be finalized. Using the number keys will not finalize any other candidate. If the candidate you need is not the first one, for now you will have to enter your text into an app where the candidate window appears, such as Notepad, and copy it into the desired text field.

Navigating to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update may crash Settings app. You can simply re-open the Settings app again and it should work again.

The “Save” dialog appears to be broken in several desktop (Win32) apps. The team is investigating. This will break things such as Chinese IME, etc.

Localized apps on localized x64 Windows 10 Insider Preview builds will not work.

We’ve heard some reports that the Action Center isn’t opening as reliably in recent builds, and are investigating.

Changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile

We’ve fixed the issue where some Insiders were unable to open both the Connect UX page and/or the “Add Bluetooth or other devices” setting on the Bluetooth Settings page.

We fixed an issue resulting in an unexpected extra ~20 sec being added to the phone shutdown process due to a deadlock if you tried to shut down soon after switching from one network to another.

Known issues for Mobile

A small percentage of devices may experience text message backup loss related to backup and recovery of the messaging database.

The copyright date is incorrect under Settings > System > About. It shows as 2016 when it should be 2017. Thanks to the Windows Insiders that reported this!

Insiders may experience random shutdowns on some devices.

In some cases, the WeChat app may crash on launch.

Community Updates

Many Windows Insiders have asked to be introduced to members of the team beyond the four of us they engage with daily on the Twitters/forums. This is something we’ll do in these blog posts and publish them on our SHINY new website that will debut in June. Today we’ll start with the Windows Insider team.

First a quick walkthrough of how our org works.

Windows and Devices Group – thousands of people who build Windows, our apps, devices and services. Within WDG are a group of people called.

– thousands of people who build Windows, our apps, devices and services. Within WDG are a group of people called. Community Champs + FlightOps – Engineers throughout WDG who live and breathe customer data/feedback – these are all the lovely humans who help make flight/no flight decisions based on data and feedback from Windows Insiders. Each person is responsible for a specific area from Core UX to deployment and are the main evangelists for customer feedback for their area. Within this group are a bunch of folks you all probably know well.

– Engineers throughout WDG who live and breathe customer data/feedback – these are all the lovely humans who help make flight/no flight decisions based on data and feedback from Windows Insiders. Each person is responsible for a specific area from Core UX to deployment and are the main evangelists for customer feedback for their area. Within this group are a bunch of folks you all probably know well. Windows Insider Team – a scrappy group of six who represent the Windows Insiders both internally and externally. Here we are below left to right with our Twitter handles. Please get in touch with us if you want to know about the things we’re working on!

Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) – Chief #NinjaCat wrangler Dona’s main responsibility is making sure the right bugs and features are being invested in by the engineering teams for this release and future releases and communicating back to Insiders. Another responsibility is engaging with all of the other community engagement programs in Microsoft and figure out how they can Insider like Windows does. A third area of investigation is figuring out how to empower Insiders to grow and use their technical superpowers to create a lasting impact in their world.

Blair Glennon (@jbglennon) – Baseball loving Blair leads the Windows Insider Program for Business sub-program and owns Insider Insights. He is the one who partners with our AMAZING data science team to understand the happiness and health of our overall community. Through both quant and qual data (cluster/trend analysis, surveys, side convos at meet-ups), he helps us determine what we need to do to better co-create Windows and the Insider program with you all.

Jason Howard (@northfacehiker) – #TeriyakiTuesday-loving Beam Master Jason leads social sentiment from Insiders to communicate to the overall WDG org. He also spends a ton of his time helping Insiders get unblocked on build issues and rolling up lists of top issues to the product teams. He is also the creator and owner of the monthly Insider Beam webcasts.

Tyler Ahn (@skrelnick) – Chihuahua-mom Tyler leads the Global fan programs and the Insider MVP Program. She is partnering with Brandon on the website spec and launch and thinking about how to create Insider-in-a-box so you can run Insider programs within your own organizations! She has over a decade of experience doing business development in emerging markets and has the superpower of taking an activity and figuring out how to scale it globally eg CAT-in-a-box, forums, etc. She has been an INVALUABLE asset for our team as we think about building products and services to empower EVERY person and organization on the planet to do the thing.

Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) – Bat’leth wielding Brandon owns the main communication to Insiders. He works with the Community Champs to make sure the features and bugs are represented in our communication. Brandon is working on the Insider all-up social media strategy as well as content creation for our shiny new website.

Jeremiah Marble (@jeremiahmarble) – Global negroni hunter Jeremiah is the architect of the Windows Insider Program. He drives projects for our core audiences and projects, deciding where and how to grow our community. This year, he’s focusing heavily on global entrepreneurs and creatives. He also leads our “Co-Creating with Sub-communities” initiative, which will launch its first pilots in June. As a third area, he’s looking at ways to better connect Insiders seeking to help others. Jeremiah was a founding member of the Windows Insider Program and our current “village elder”.

Keep hustling team,

Dona <3