Microsoft quietly updated its Photos app for Insiders to add image background edit features

In the past, Microsoft alerted people on the Windows Insider Program on major changes to not only Windows 11 but also to Windows 11 based apps like Paint, Photos, and more. Sometime week, Microsoft slipped in an update to its Photos app that added a fairly major new feature.

As spotted this weekend by Windows enthusiast "PhantomOcean3" on his X (formerly Twitter) account, the new 2023.11110.8002.0 version of the Photos app now has the ability to remove and replace the background image of photos.

The app now has a new icon on the right-hand side of the top menu that has a human figure and some lines in the background. Click on that icon and you are taken to the image background edit screen. You have three options: blur the background in the image, remove it, or replace it.

There"s also another option, the background brush tool, which can be turned on with a toggle. It allows users to change the color of the background you want to replace. There"s no word on when this feature will become generally available.

"PhantomOcean3" also noticed some other smaller changes in the Photos app for Insiders. One was the zooming and full-screen options for the photo viewing feature have been moved from the top of the screen to the bottom right part of the UI. Another is that a button has been added to the bottom left of the screen to enable or disable the filmstrip option. Finally, this Insiders Photos app has a way to start a slideshow by right-clicking a folder in the Folders list.

Again, there"s no word on when all of these major and minor additions and changes will make its way to the GA version of the Photos app.