Microsoft appears to be testing a new taskbar feature called “companions,” and it might be yet another AI addition.
Windows Latest previously learned that Microsoft is looking at ways to add “AI” actions to the taskbar. References, which were recently spotted by Xeno on, X appear to confirm that Companions might be the “AI” feature coming to the taskbar. Taskbar Companions is in line with those expectations.
Microsoft watcher Phantom, who is always solid with their findings, told me that references to companions were first spotted in Windows Server Build 26454.
In addition, Windows 11 preview builds have a string for “Agentic” Companions for the taskbar, and this is in line with what Windows Latest previously learned. AI actions for the taskbar and Agentic Companions could be the same thing.
“Controls visibility of agentic companions on the taskbar,” a string in a recent Insider build reads. There are also references to “Taskbar Extensibility,” which might be related to Taskbar Companion. Again, none of these features work in Windows yet, and settings toggles also don’t show up.
This is not the first time Microsoft is looking at new features for the taskbar. Previously, Microsoft was working on adding a “recommendations” feature to the taskbar, but that idea has been shelved after Mikhail Parakhin departed. Mikhail Parakhin, who was head of Copilot and Bing, had plans to add taskbar “recommendations” as one of his ideas to push more Bing/web content.
Other taskbar-related features coming to Windows 11
While not exactly “taskbar” stuff, Microsoft is testing support for “shared audio.”
This will allow you to connect multiple audio devices to a PC and play music from each one of them at the same time. This feature works with Bluetooth devices because newer Bluetooth adapters allow you to play audio from multiple outputs at the same time.
Another noteworthy feature coming to the taskbar is support for seconds in the clock. Right now, the Calendar flyout does not have seconds. You can only see the hour and minutes, but it’s finally getting updated to include seconds.
As you can see in the above screenshot, the calendar flyout now has the full-fledged clock.
This feature is coming to Windows 11 in the next few weeks. It’s already being tested with Windows Insiders. It’s already rolled out to Windows 10.
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source https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/08/03/windows-11-is-testing-taskbar-companions-and-it-might-be-another-ai-feature/