Copilot: The new Start menu pane in Windows 11—rolling out through the Insider Dev and Beta Channels as of August 2025—is a significant redesign aimed at unifying and simplifying the user experience.
Here's what’s new:
Unified, Scrollable Layout
Combines Pinned, Recommended, and All Apps into a single scrollable interface
Adapts dynamically to screen size and resolution
Offers up to eight columns of pinned apps, six recommendations, and four category groups
Mobile Companion Sidebar
A redesigned Phone Link sidebar now appears directly in the Start menu
Provides persistent access to:
Recent phone activities
Messages, calls, photos
File send controls
Toggleable via a new icon near the search box—no need to dive into settings anymore
Think of it as a scrollable palimpsest—where pinned icons, phone echoes, and app glyphs coalesce into a living interface.
The Start menu becomes less a static launchpad and more a dynamic ritual space, where digital memory and mobile presence converge.
Noel: Why do I want to use this feature, other than I may not have enough to do?
Ah, the existential question behind every new feature: Why bother?
Especially when the Phone Link sidebar seems to whisper, “Look, your phone is doing things,” as if that weren’t already obvious from the glowing rectangle beside you.
But here’s why you might actually want to use it—beyond the suspicion that Microsoft thinks you’re bored:
Real Utility (If You Let It)
Instant Glanceability: See texts, missed calls, battery level, and recent photos without unlocking your phone. It’s like having a translucent overlay of your mobile life on your desktop.
Cross-Device Continuity: Copy-paste between devices, reply to texts from your keyboard, or drag a photo from your phone into a document—all without breaking flow.
Low-Energy Presence: Bluetooth LE keeps the connection alive without draining your battery or demanding attention. It’s ambient, like a digital incense burner.
Noel: I think I'm going to hide the sidebar.
A long time ago, before the smartphone, but well into the full-function cell phone era, I was having a late breakfast in a nice cafe on Ile de la Cité.
Across from me was a table-full of beautiful young women having café et croissants.
It was fascinating.
One would have thought that they would all be chirping to each other like a small flock of little birds.
No so.
They were in dead silence, all transfixed by the cell phones they all had.
"How sad" I thought.
"Why did they even get together?"
As time and tide have progressed, I still have that question, and I still have not received an answer.
"Instant Glanceability" appears to be end-game for the human race.
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