Windows 10 for phones: A closer look at the new Actionable Notifications

Zac Bowden

Windows 10

With Windows 10 for phones, Microsoft has introduced the ability to interact with notifications from wherever you are on the operating system. What this means is that you can answer a text without leaving the current app you are in, and it’s so awesome.

This new ability is called Actionable Notifications, and is something I personally love. iOS 8 has had this feature for a while now, and it’s great to finally see Windows 10 for phones include such functionality too.

It works like this. Say I’m in the News app and I get a text from a friend, instead of tapping on the notification and being taken out of my current app and into a the Messaging app, I can simply pull down on the notification and answer the text straight away, without the need to exit my current app.

You can also do the same thing if you miss the notification. If I’m reading the end of a sentence and just miss my notification, all I need to do is swipe open the notification center and tap on the down arrow next to the next, Windows 10 for phones will allow me to answer that text straight from the notification center, again eliminating the need to exit my current app.

The new Actionable Notifications are developer dependent, meaning not all apps support the new functionality right now. I played around with the OS a little bit and I found that the Alarms app too supports these new Actionable Notifications.

Stay tuned at WinBeta for more feature highlights with the new Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones. What feature or app would you like us to highlight next?