A new Preview build of Windows 11 asks users to keep their credit card information stored and updated on their PC. Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a new Windows 11 tool for handling subscriptions that can be accessed by following this path: Settings > Accounts > Your Microsoft account. At the top of the page, users will see an option called Your Subscriptions, where they can check the status of their Office 365 subscription, who they are sharing it with, billings status, and the storage status of their OneDrive account.
It’s a neat little dashboard where users can change their account-related information and keep an eye on their subscriptions. However, a rather inconvenient omission is Xbox Game Pass. Despite being one of the most popular subscription services that Microsoft has to offer, the absence of Xbox Game Pass from the dashboard is rather surprising. Microsoft is now making a small tweak to the dashboard that some users might find a bit unsettling.
With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview (Build 22567), Microsoft is asking users to save or update their existing payment details right in the subscription dashboard that can be accessed directly by visiting the Accounts page in Settings. So far, all payment-related information was processed via a web route that can only be accessed after entering the Microsoft account log-in credentials on Microsoft’s website. Following the latest update, that hassle gets somewhat diluted as users will now be able to store and update their credit card information from the dashboard for all subscription-related information.
More Convenient, For Some
Microsoft is not doing it solely for the sake of local credit card data storage. The idea here is to let users view their linked payment details and get notified about subscription-related issues. For example, users will see a banner notification if their credit card has expired, and the payment source for a recurring subscription needs to be updated. The change essentially signals that an individual’s PC is as much a payment portal as their credit stored on a phone via services like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and that users can revise the banking details whenever they deem fit. Microsoft will also be using the subscriptions dashboard to highlight free benefits that are doled out as part of a Microsoft account bundle.
However, the tweak won’t reflect for all members of the Insider testing community. Microsoft says it will initially monitor feedback from a small number of users before deciding to roll it out widely. Of course, safety is of critical importance here. With Windows 11 still a fairly new experience, and a huge number of users still in the onboarding phase, the risks of being tricked by bad actors are always high. Security experts recently spotted a fake Windows upgrade domain that tricked users into installing a data-stealing ‘Redline’ malware while pretending to be a Windows 11 installation file for incompatible computers.
