Microsoft’s sneakily killing one of Windows 10’s most hated features

Microsoft is going to retire Live Tiles from Windows 10 in the very near future, according to recent reports.

The news broke via Windows Latest earlier this week, which claimed getting wind of the change via an unnamed source.

The report didn’t give a firm date when the feature will be cut, outside of the fact it will be sometime in the second half of the year or early in 2020.

Trusted Reviews has contacted Microsoft for confirmation, but at the time of publishing hadn’t heard back. We’ll update this article when we do.

If the rumour is accurate, it’ll be welcome news for most Windows users. Live Tiles are a feature Microsoft forced on users in its misguided Windows 8 update. The tiles are dynamic app shortcuts are intended to offer quick views to things like incoming messages, or calendar alerts.

Related: Best laptops 2020

The feature originally took over all of Windows 8 home screen, leading to mass complaints, with many feeling the UI was too cluttered.

Microsoft subsequently hid the feature in the Start menu in Windows 10. The firm has since parked the feature and hasn’t given it a significant overhaul for years.

If the report is accurate, the tiles will be replaced with basic, static icons, like the ones used in Windows 10X. Windows 10X is a custom variant of Microsoft’s OS designed for dual-screen devices.

It was unveiled alongside the company’s Surface Neo and Surface Duo, which are due for release at an unspecified point later this year.

We haven’t had a chance to test the OS yet, but it looks like a fairly interesting proposition, especially on the dual screen Neo convertible.

Considering Microsoft’s push to unify its software across all devices it would make sense for the company to tweak regular Windows 10 UI to match the X-variants.

The news comes just before the release of the Windows 10 20H2 update. The update is expected to be a minor release that improves back end Windows 10 issues.