Microsoft is experimenting with a separate application for Windows 11 Settings app. This app is codenamed Project Odeon internally. This is a significant development because it implies that some essential system utilities are breaking away from the regular update process of the OS.
Project Odeon arrives in Microsoft Store
You may soon start seeing faster upgrades to some of these essential apps. For example, like what Microsoft did to Notepad and Paint.
The new app is available in the Microsoft Store. The icon, UI, etc. is very similar to the native Settings app. At the moment, Microsoft has marked the project as in preview, which means that it's not ready to be used by the general public yet. We don't have a date when the app would be ready for stable release.
To use the app, you will need to turn on Windows Developer Mode on your Windows device. The app can coexist with the current Settings app. You will have both installed and they both work. This means that users won't get any hiccups in their experience during this testing period.
The testing is still in early stages. So, you will see some missing features. Also, there's some difference in the way the app shows storage details.
All this just shows that the app is very much still in the experimental stages. Microsoft must be tweaking the UI as well as the backend of this app before a wider release.
We've talked about other changes that Microsoft has made in its software lineup recently, such as the discontinuation of the Microsoft 365 Companion App by December 2026. This new project indicates that Microsoft is trying out different approaches to handling the Windows 11 components. Instead of waiting for the big Windows OS upgrades, it will be done through the Store.
For now, you will still be using the regular Settings app. Until there's an update on that.
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