Microsoft introduces Mica material and rounded tabs for Edge Canary

If you decided to forsake any other browser options out there, such as Chrome, Opera, Brave, or Firefox, then you surely decided to stick with Microsoft’s very own Edge.

Now, that isn’t a bad thing at all, considering how much work the Redmond tech company puts into perfecting its flagship browser experience.

Thus, if you know your Edge, you surely noticed that, recently, Microsoft added a new setting for managing experimental appearance settings in Edge Canary.

This toggle, however, did not work initially, but now you can use it to test what looks like the biggest Edge redesign since its launch in early 2020.

Ready to find out more about this? Let’s get right into it and discover what future plans Microsoft has for Chrome and Firefox’s biggest competitor.

Edge takes another step into the future with new looks

This will surely not come as a surprise, but Microsoft is actually on track to insert a lot more Windows 11-like design bits in the Edge browser.

Edge Canary already has tabs with rounded corners and the Mica material effect, which means that there’s not much left to do.

Now, Edge’s tabs are a lot more similar to Firefox, and the Mica effect adds dynamic translucency to primary parts of the UI.

However, you should keep in mind that both these changes are experimental, which means Microsoft might remove them at some point.

That being said, that doesn’t necessarily imply that these design features will be gone. They could very well also be here to stay, permanently.

How can I test the updated Edge UI?

Before we show you how to do this, make sure you remember that this only works on Windows 11 machines, not on Windows 10.

1. Update Microsoft Edge Canary to the latest version.
2. Access edge://flags.
3. Enable Show experimental appearance settings.
4. Restart Edge.
5. Access edge://settings/appearance and turn on Show Windows 11 visual effects.
6. Enable Use rounded corners for browser tabs.
7. Restart Edge.

That’s pretty much all you have to do, so make sure you have a go at it and see if the new looks of the browser won’t make you fall in love with it even harder.

Also, remember that Edge will allegedly get an integrated, Cloudflare-powered VPN service soon, so there’s more to look forward to.

Have you tried the updated Edge UI yet? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.