A New Lock Screen Layout Has Been Discovered in Windows 10 Build 18970

As you may remember, build 18932 of Windows 10 '20H1' introduced a new hidden lock screen with a search box. In the recently released Insider Preview build 18970, there is a new element layout in addition to the search box.

A few days ago Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 18970 from the 20H1 development branch. It comes with a number of new features and improvements, including the ability to reset your Windows 10 using the Cloud Download option, and a new tablet experience for 2-in-1 convertible PCs.

Besides the changes mentioned in the official release notes, Windows 10 Build 18970 comes with a new lock screen layout. Discovered by Albacore, it looks as follows.

Here is the same screen in portrait orientation:

Besides the search box, the new layout includes the current date item moved to the upper left corner of the screen. In previous implementation, the search result flyout was appearing over the date.

This new design solves the issue.

The Lock screen was first introduced in Windows 8. It is a security feature which shows a fancy image when your PC is locked. The Lock screen appears when you lock your PC or when it gets locked automatically during a period of inactivity. If your account has a password, you will see the lock screen before you can enter your credentials. To proceed, you have to dismiss it using the touch screen, the keyboard, a mouse click or by dragging it to the top with the mouse. By default, Lock screen shows notifications from installed apps.

At the moment of this writing, the search box Lock Screen feature is a work in progress. It not announced officially yet. There is no information on when it will be available to Insiders out of the box.

Thanks to Nick for this tip.

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