Microsoft appears to have removed Windows Maps and Movies & TV apps from new installations of Windows 11, starting with Windows 11 Build 25987.
The update arrived this week for Windows Insiders, Microsoft’s official community for Windows enthusiasts and industry professionals, where they try out previews of new versions of Windows and features.
To be clear, if you’re using an earlier version of Windows 11, you won’t be affected, even if you upgrade to Windows 11 Build 25897. Your Windows Maps and Movies & TV apps will remain on your device. Furthermore, Microsoft has reportedly not given any indication that these apps are being discontinued, as you can still get them from the Microsoft Store and they will continue to be updated.
What it does mean is that starting today, if you do a clean install of Windows 11, these two apps won’t come pre-installed. Microsoft confirmed all of the above in a Windows Insider Blog post but has not elaborated on why it made this decision. NeoWin points out that you can delete them if you want, and that doing so only frees up a few megabytes of disk memory. It’s hard to say at this point what the fate of these two apps will be, given that they are rarely updated and that Microsoft recently removed offline support for Windows Maps.
What is the impact of this step?
Most Windows users may not even be aware of these apps, so they probably won’t be much missed by those who do a clean install of Windows 11 from now on.
However, it appears that Microsoft is taking steps to optimize and streamline the Windows 11 operating system overall. In the most recent major version update, Windows 11 23H2, we saw Chat removed and its functionality included in the free version of Microsoft Teams. We also saw the removal of the old Mail app.
In my opinion, these are more minor changes, but this kind of attention to detail can be worth it, as Windows sometimes has a reputation for being a rather cluttered and bloated operating system, especially compared to macOS and ChromeOS. I think this bodes well for the type of operating system Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 into, especially with the new intense focus on AI with Windows Copilot and hybrid computing.