Microsoft is making it easier to view your apps’ power consumption in Windows 11 over a period of time by introducing a detailed power consumption page in the latest 23H2 update.

As spotted by Twitter user Phantom, this new feature expands users’ existing ability to customize their Windows 11 PC’s power mode to suit their needs, whether it’s optimizing battery life performance or striking a balance between the two.

The Power Consumption page provides a comprehensive report of power consumption over the past 24 hours or past seven days.

There is an option to switch between power consumption and battery level for devices with a battery, such as laptops.

Additionally, the page includes a section for “battery usage per app”, allowing users to choose between “Total Usage”, “In Use”, “Background”, and “Name”. This new feature provides similar utility to displaying hard drive usage (found under System -> Memory) and occupancy.

1. “Total Consumption”: This represents the combined power consumption of an app, both when it is actively in use and when it is running in the background. It gives a complete picture of the amount of energy consumed by an application.

2. “In Use” refers to the power consumed by an application when it is actively in use.

3. “Background”: This term generally refers to the power consumption of apps when they are running in the background, i.e. when they are open but not actively in use.

To enable the feature, which currently only displays sample data, you can download ViveTool and run the following command in the command prompt:

vivetool /enable /id:44663396,44663406

Additionally, Windows 11 23H2 update introduces two additional energy recommendations under Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations. These guidelines aim to promote efficiency and energy conservation, suggesting actions such as enabling dark mode and adjusting the refresh rate.

Some of Microsoft’s energy-saving recommendations include setting the power mode for maximum energy efficiency, enabling dark mode, adjusting the screen brightness for optimal energy efficiency, and putting the device to sleep or turning off the screen after 3 minutes of inactivity.

Microsoft also suggests disabling the screen saver, shutting down USB devices when the screen is off to save battery, and using a dynamic refresh rate. These measures will help users optimize power consumption while ensuring smooth device performance.