10 flyout apps that made me love my Home windows 11 taskbar once more

As a platform, Windows 11 performs host to an enormous library of third-party software program utilities, starting from decades-old legacy packages to brand-new functions created with trendy design ideas in thoughts.

One explicit Home windows app style that I’ve at all times been an enormous fan of is what I will affectionately name system tray flyouts. These light-weight instruments add further or supplemental functionalities to the working system, typically residing as applet icons proper throughout the Home windows system tray space of the taskbar.

Listed below are ten taskbar flyout apps that I’ve personally made nice use of over time, and that I typically reinstall the second I arrange any new Home windows 11 tablet, laptop, or desktop pc.

Fluent Flyouts

Fluent Flyouts is a free and open-source (FOSS) assortment of modernized system flyouts for Home windows 11. On the time of writing, the bundle accommodates devoted flyouts for each a calendar and a clock. Sooner or later, the developer plans on introducing each a notification flyout and a battery flyout into the combo, the latter of which relies on work finished on the older Fire Flyouts application.

For anybody sad with Microsoft’s determination to merge numerous system flyouts right into a single, consolidated Fast Settings panel, Fluent Flyouts rectifies this gripe whereas additionally including in a sprinkling of additional performance and a novel “GlowUI” interface that builds on prime of Fluent 2 Design System ideas.

Probably the most elegant method to preserve tabs in your battery standing

Should you’re sad with Home windows 11’s lack of a devoted flyout slider for controlling energy profiles, then Battery Flyout is right here to avoid wasting the day. Along with bringing again Windows 10’s handy entry to energy profiles, it additionally supplies a glanceable battery life graph, the choice to show your battery proportion proper in your taskbar, in addition to battery standing particulars for all of your different battery-powered PC peripherals. Battery Flyout presents glorious consideration to element, and it may be bought for a small single-time charge from the Microsoft Retailer.

EarTrumpet

A basic quantity management software

So far as system tray flyout apps are involved, maybe none are as iconic or revered as EarTrumpet. This free and light-weight utility makes it fast and handy to regulate not solely your system’s predominant quantity, but additionally the amount of all of your working apps, your related headphones or earbuds, and extra.

Lately, Home windows 11 does ship with its personal native quantity mixer inside Fast Settings, however EarTrumpet stands as a reliable third-party different. For people who look again upon the app with a deeply ingrained sense of nostalgia, it is arduous to withstand giving it a obtain even in 2026.

Ink Workspace

A digital artist’s finest good friend

Should you personal an energetic digital stylus on your Home windows 11 PC, then Ink Workspace is a no brainer obtain. This free flyout serves as a kind of pen launcher, offering fast entry shortcuts to varied actions, functions, and up to date recordsdata.

For anybody using a Windows tablet or a two-in-one convertible for note-taking, sketching, drawing, or picture enhancing, Ink Workspace is the best companion. As an added bonus, it revives Microsoft’s now-defunct Live Tile aesthetic, whereas adapting it to appear and feel proper at house on Home windows 11.

Monitorian

Make multi-monitor brightness management a breeze

Should you depend on a multi-monitor setup to get work down, or in the event you continuously dock your PC into an exterior show when sitting at a desk, then Monitorian is a helpful software to have at your disposal. This utility provides devoted sliders for controlling brightness ranges on all related screens proper from inside a single flyout, basically appearing as a common brightness management panel.

This software-based resolution is actually extra handy than counting on the finicky interfaces and mushy buttons discovered on most exterior screens, although its performance is contingent in your panel supporting the DDC/CI customary. Whereas Monitorian is free to obtain and set up, an non-obligatory paid subscription tier is out there, which unlocks command-line instruments, customizable sizzling keys, the flexibility to manage greater than 4 screens, and different perks.

Management audio playback proper out of your System Tray

Media Flyout is the multimedia supervisor interface Microsoft ought to’ve constructed proper from the start. In contrast to Home windows 11’s anemic default providing, which obfuscates a bare-bones set of playback controls above the Fast Settings pane, Media Flyout is full-featured.

The app, which may be bought for a small one-time charge, presents attractive album art work accenting, a listing of concurrent audio streams that may be rapidly jumped between, shuffle and loop buttons, and different miscellaneous niceties.

FluentFlyout

A full suite of recent PC flyouts

FluentFlyout is an open-source suite for Home windows 11 that unlocks a variety of helpful flyouts which might be all themed to match the overall aesthetic of the working system. Most notably, there is a media playback flyout with tons of configuration choices, in addition to an experimental ‘up subsequent’ flyout possibility.

Further flyouts for Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock may also be enabled, all of which appear and feel polished when in movement. A paid subscription tier can also be obtainable for FluentFlyout, which unlocks a media playback taskbar widget, additional personalization choices, an audio visualizer, and extra.

Enter Switcher

Swap between video sign sources with a single click on

When you’ve got a multi-monitor PC setup, Enter Switcher makes switching between enter sources an absolute breeze. For a small one-time charge, the app unlocks a cleverly simplistic flyout with choices to modify between USB Type-C, DisplayPort, and HDMI. The app additionally contains keyboard shortcuts, which is a pleasant contact. As with Monitorian, nevertheless, DDC/CI monitor performance is required to get began with Enter Switcher.

Twinkle Tray

Ideally suited for anybody utilizing a secondary show

Monitorian is not the one multi-display brightness flyout price testing. Twinkle Tray presents a lot of the identical performance as the previous throughout all DDC/CI screens, however does so with a barely extra trendy consumer interface design. It is a disgrace that WIndows lacks the native capability to manage a number of display screen brightness ranges proper out of the field, however with free choices like Twinkle Tray and Monitorian available on the market, it is arduous to complain.

Deliver again Home windows 10’s Agenda View

Microsoft could have simply delayed its upcoming Agenda View characteristic for the Home windows 11 calendar flyout (via Windows Central), however that does not imply you must sit round ready for it to formally launch. Should you beloved the flexibility to view and handle your calendar occasions proper from a system tray flyout in Home windows 10, then you definitely’ll love Calendar Flyout.

The free app embraces trendy design pointers, it features a correct ‘Right this moment’ part underneath the primary calendar itself, and it additionally contains choices to show seconds on display screen, so as to add a quantity to the entrance of every week, and so as to add different time zones.

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