How to enable new mica material on Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge has hidden visuals to integrate the experience with Windows 11 better, and here's how to enable them.

Microsoft Edge enable mica
Microsoft Edge enable mica
  • To enable the mica material on Microsoft Edge, open the “flags” page, enable the “#edge-visual-rejuv-mica” and “#edge-visual-rejuv-rounded-tabs” options, and restart the browser. Then, from the “Appearance” settings, turn on “Show Windows 11 visual effects in title bar and toolbar.”
  • Update September 16, 2024: Microsoft has abandoned the rounded corners for the tabs in Edge using the mica material. As a result, the flag option is likely to be removed in future updates.

UPDATED 9/16/2024: On Microsoft Edge, you can now enable the mica material effect (again) in addition to rounded corners, and in this guide, I’ll show you how to complete this task. The “mica” material is the semi-transparent blur effect that shines through the colors of the desktop background image on the frame of the application, identical to the design language of the Windows 11 elements, including File Explorer. 

Although you have been able to enable this visual effect in the previous builds of the web browser, the feature was turned off for a while, but starting with version 120, it’s once again possible to enable it through the “flags” page that offers an interface to try experimental features. In addition, you can also enable the rounded corners effects for tabs and the address bar.

This guide will teach you the steps to enable the new Windows 11 visual updates for Microsoft Edge.

Enable mica and rounded corners on Microsoft Edge

To enable the mica visual effect and rounded corners on Microsoft Edge, use these steps:

  1. Open Microsoft Edge.

  2. Type the following path in the address bar to open the “flags” experimental settings in the new feature location:

    edge://flags/#edge-visual-rejuv-mica
  3. Use the “Show Windows 11 visual effects in title bar and toolbar” drop-down menu on the right and select the Enabled option.

    Edge enable mica flag

  4. Type the following path in the address bar to open the “flags” experimental settings in the new feature location:

    edge://flags/#edge-visual-rejuv-rounded-tabs
  5. Use the “Make Rounded Tabs feature available” drop-down menu on the right and select the Enabled option.

  6. Click the Restart button.

  7. Click the “Settings and more” (three dots) button and choose the Settings option.

  8. Click on Appearance.

  9. Turn on the “Show Windows 11 visual effects in title bar and toolbar” toggle switch.

    Microsoft Edge enable Windows 11 visual effects

  10. Click the Restart button.

Once you complete the steps, the title bar and toolbar on Microsoft Edge will appear with a semi-transparent and blur effect known as mica material. Also, tabs will show the same visual effect and rounded corners.

Since Microsoft Edge is available on Windows 11 and 10, it’s important to note that the mica material is only expected to be available on Windows 11. At the time of writing, it’s possible to enable the rounded corners for tabs on Windows 10, but it’s unclear if the company will roll out any of these changes for the older version of the operating system.

Update September 16, 2024: This guide has been updated to reflect that Microsoft is no longer planning to include rounded corners for tabs and plans to remove the option from the experimental flags page.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].