My favourite Home windows 11 app actually does nothing

When Microsoft launched Windows 11 back in 2021, one of many extra placing visible components throughout the replace was the introduction of a brand new digital materials often called Mica. Microsoft describes Mica as being “an opaque, dynamic materials that comes with theme and desktop wallpaper to color the background of long-lived home windows corresponding to apps and settings.”

Proper from the start, I used to be keen on Mica. Its sampling of the desktop wallpaper to create a pleasing tint instantly resonated with me, and I nonetheless discover the impact to be placing inside native Windows 11 apps like Settings, Calculator, and Photographs. Each time a third-party Home windows app is constructed with native UI components and features a hearty dose of Mica inside its interface, I am delighted.

Then I stumbled upon the free Mica™️ app on the Microsoft Retailer. Pitched as a single-purpose app designed to show the Mica materials throughout a complete uninterrupted window (or a number of home windows), I used to be intrigued by its purported simplicity and its head-scratching lack of practical utility.

And, so, being the Mica fan I’m, I promptly downloaded and put in Mica™️ onto my Home windows PC. Since that trustworthy day, I have been working the app constantly every day, and it is joined the canon of Windows 11 Fluent-style apps which have me enthusiastic about the way forward for the platform as an entire.

Merely put, Mica™️ is quietly sensible

The app completely balances simplicity and customization choices

Mica™️ is brilliantly easy. When launched, it shows a clean window endowed from high to backside with Microsoft’s Mica materials. As anticipated, it dynamically adjusts its look primarily based on my at present chosen PC wallpaper, and so no two setups will look precisely alike. You may also launch a number of home windows at a time with no restrict in place, every displaying its personal occasion of Mica.

Proper-clicking wherever throughout the Mica™️ app’s window will reveal the settings web page. From right here, there are a shocking variety of customization choices to select from. You possibly can toggle between mild and darkish themes, power the Mica impact even when the app window is not in focus, alter opacity utilizing a slider, and manually tweak the colour accents to your liking.

Under the personalization settings is the consequences part, and, in my view, these degree up the Mica™️ expertise. You possibly can combine and match the next three animated results: Aurora (a Home windows Aero-era impact that simulates the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights), Bloom (a Home windows 11-era impact that slowly pulses a blue mild on display screen), and Crimson Bloom (a variation of Bloom that pulses crimson mild versus blue mild on display screen).

Mica™️ is multifaceted

On the floor, the Mica™️ app may not seem notably helpful. Outdoors of being a tech demo for Microsoft’s Mica materials, the app would not present any utility from a productiveness or leisure standpoint. It is not a stretch to say that the app basically does nothing.

Then it clicked for me.

In reality, Mica™️ is definitely an extremely pragmatic piece of software program. As a screensaver, there’s nothing fairly just like the Mica impact blended along with Aurora and Bloom. It is a mesmerizing impact, and it is the type of screensaver impact that I am unable to imagine Microsoft itself hasn’t applied (Redmond’s neglect of Home windows Screensavers is another story entirely). When working in a multi-monitor setup, filling my secondary show with a pulsing Bloom-filled Mica materials is each aesthetically pleasing and genuinely conducive in direction of stress reduction.

I generally discover myself watching a Mica™️ window in between spurts of writing, and it affords the identical type of calming impact that I usually get from a crackling digital hearth or a digital aquarium. In reality, I might like to see the developer behind Mica™️ lean into this additional, maybe by introducing a full-screen mode that removes the shut, resize, and reduce buttons, in addition to the system taskbar (I might desire not having to allow automated taskbar hiding from inside Home windows 11’s Settings app).

An optionally available tab bar would even be a much-appreciated addition, with the flexibility to set every tab with a distinct coloured Mica impact and any mixture of Aurora, Bloom, and Crimson Bloom. Customized Mica™️ presets can be a cool addition as effectively: say, a holiday-themed impact that blends collectively a delicate hearth animation with heat orange and crimson Mica shade tones.

Even with out these additions, the Mica™️ app has formally develop into certainly one of my favourite Home windows 11 apps out there from the Microsoft Retailer. The developer has additionally created separate apps for different Microsoft design supplies — specifically Acrylic™️ and Tabbed™️ – however I am personally keen on Mica’s tinting fashion and dynamically opaque nature. The app stays a go-to for these instances once I’m in search of Bloom-filled stress reduction, and the ambiance it fosters when used as a screensaver is second to none.

Associated

These 5 things are holding Windows 11 back from greatness

Home windows 11 is a robust and feature-rich working system, but it surely’s being held again from greatness in a number of key methods.