Microsoft is rebuilding the Photos app on Windows 11. Giorgio Sardo, a Microsoft vice president, described the new app in a Windows Experience Blog post on October 15, 2026. It has a new gallery, a new editor and a new viewer.

Erase the bag, fix the light

In the editor's Repair section, you circle or brush over something you don't want, like a bag in the foreground, and the app removes it. Microsoft says an improved AI model gives better results, faster.

Relight lets you change the lighting after you take the picture. Microsoft says you can place up to three lights, pick their colors and choose where they point. There are also one-click presets, such as golden hour. Microsoft says Relight is coming to all Windows 11 devices.

Search by describing the photo

The new gallery pulls photos from your PC, OneDrive and Apple's iCloud into one place. Microsoft says you can search in your own words, like "sunset at the beach," and filter by the people in your pictures. For photos in OneDrive, a feature called Moments groups related pictures into slideshows.

The editor can also save HEIC and WebP files in their original format, keeps HDR color, and has crop templates for social media.

Faster, Microsoft says

Microsoft says the editor opens 25 percent faster and the viewer opens up to 30 percent faster. Those are Microsoft's own test results, and it says real speed depends on your PC.

When you get it

Microsoft says the new Photos app started rolling out to Windows Insiders on October 15. It says everyone else on Windows 11 gets it later this year. That is a plan, with no exact date.

What you can try

If you are a Windows Insider, update Photos, open a picture with something in the way and try Repair. Then try a Relight preset on a dim indoor shot.

Source: Windows Experience Blog