New Xbox One Fall Update Releases a Host of New Features

By: Matt Dolby
Published: Oct 18, 2017
at 10:00 am

The new Xbox One fall update is now live after a beta roll-out to insiders back in August. The update adds new features including the ability to customize your home screen, community features, improved notifications, as well as preparation for the incoming Xbox One X.

Customization

One aspect of the Xbox One that has gotten a lot of flack is the somewhat awkward home screen. It often feels clumsy and too cluttered to really be used effectively. Luckily the new fall update allows you to customize the home screen using what Microsoft refers to as Fluent Design. With the new customization you can add a friend or favorite game to your dashboard which will then add a block to the screen for fast navigation. Additionally the home screen will pull in related content, like posts from the developer on game patches.

Improvements

The community section gets a new Activity Feed layout including the ability to read comments in full screen. Feed items will also now appear in full screen as well, so you can view all your friends captures. Microsoft has also been improving the clubs. Clubs are now easier to find and join as well as finding out which clubs you are already a member of.

The Xbox One now has the ability to show time-sensitive activities and statuses more visible when the console is idle. The dimming feature has also been improved to prevent screen ghosting, including any notification snapshots that appeared.

Broadcasting

The Mixer tab on the dashboard now displays previews of broadcasts. The Xbox One will also now automatically sense your bandwidth and upgrade video on broadcasts to 1080p if your connection is able to support it. Additionally you can now use a USB webcam to broadcast video along with your Mixer stream.

Xbox One X

With the Xbox One X releasing next month a host of improvements are aimed to get you ready for the upgrade. There are now special settings and options to prepare games, profiles and files to transfer over to the new console. A bulk transfer mode now allows for all data to be loaded onto an external drive and moved. As expected, you can now download 4K enhanced updates prior to getting the Xbox One X so there isn’t downtime between firing up the console and playing your games in glorious 4K.