Why is the taskbar icon in the notification area grey in Windows 10 and blue in Windows 11?

[cpasoft]

Why is the taskbar icon in the notification area grey in Windows 10 and blue in Windows 11? Can I change this? I'd like it to be blue in both systems...

Thanks!

[emako]

It is really a bit strange, @rabelux do you know what historical reasons are there?

    private Icon GetTrayIconByDPI()
    {
        var scale = DisplayDeviceHelper.GetCurrentScaleFactor().Vertical;

        if (!App.IsWin10)
            return scale > 1 ? Resources.app : Resources.app_16;

        return OSThemeHelper.SystemUsesDarkTheme()
            ? (scale > 1 ? Resources.app_white : Resources.app_white_16)
            : (scale > 1 ? Resources.app_black : Resources.app_black_16);
    }

[emako]

The settings page will be added in subsequent plans, and the tray icon color can be adjusted.

[KamilDev]

It is really a bit strange, @rabelux do you know what historical reasons are there?

I believe in the early stage of Windows 8 or Windows 10, the design language of tray icons were to be all white/monochrome. I think the term was called something like "metro style icons".

If you google for "Windows metro icons", you will find examples of white and monochrome icons.

I'm assuming once Windows 11 came out, the design language changed away from "metro icons" and into the current "fluent design" language -- now it's normal for tray icons to have vibrant colors.

When this update was made, I assume QuickLook wanted to preserve the existing "metro icon" style for Windows 10 devices, while using the new "fluent design" style for Windows 11 devices.

Note: I'm not sure if this design language started and ended with Windows 8, or continued until Windows 10.