What Does the Number Badge Mean on Microsoft Edge Icon?
Using Microsoft Edge as the default browser on MacOS has been a mostly positive experience, for speed, utility, access to GPT-4, and other neat features. But it’s also not without some degree of confusion, like wondering what on earth the number badge icon on the Edge icon in the Mac Dock means.
One key component of my experience using many modern software products from Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others, is befuddlement about various user interface (UI) elements, and user experience (UX) design decisions (*cough* System Settings *cough*). Microsoft Edge is no different in this regard, where some UI/UX things make obvious sense right away, some are kind of suggestive but still uncertain (like like wondering what the blue underlines mean – turns out that’s a grammar check feature), while some other things are a complete and total mystery. The confusing numerical badge shown on the Microsoft Edge Dock icon in MacOS falls into the latter category – a mysterious number with no clear relationship to anything in the app.