Microsoft is too busy with AI to fix Windows 11's design — so developers stepped up

FluentFlyout highlights how independent developers keep filling the design gaps Microsoft continues to leave in Windows 11.

Windows 11 may have just gained another must-have app. FluentFlyout adds fresh and functional flyouts for media on your PC. After a brief bit of testing, I'm both impressed by the app's developers and frustrated with Microsoft not making these features.

FluentFlyout adds media controls to Windows 11 that appear when you press media keys, such as play, pause, volume up, or volume down. The flyouts are customizable, but all of the options feel natural on Windows 11.

Of course, Windows 11 has built-in media controls, but they appear above the Quick Settings menu. I prefer the approach of FluentFlyout.

You can download FluentFlyout for free through the Microsoft Store. If you pay $2.96 for premium, you'll get access to a taskbar widget. You can also download FluentFlyout through GitHub and gain access to all of its features at no cost.

FluentFlyout has some nice little touches, such as an experimental feature that shows what media is about to play when a song ends. You can also customize what appears within the flyout, pick the flyout's position, and set the theme of the app.

To Microsoft's credit, the company has shown a bit more effort related to design lately. The Run dialog box was refreshed for the first time in 30 years recently. Dark mode improvements are also working their way through Windows 11 slowly but surely.

But when UI improvement cycles are measured in decades, it's fair to criticize Microsoft. Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden illustrated the unfinished state of Windows 11 last year.