Without further ado, let’s count them down…
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First, the Xbox One update will, as was teased, allow you to see who is in a party before joining it. You can see a video of what that looks like right here. We also made Pins accessible for launching when you are offline.
Players will now be able to organise pins without the need for the Smartglass app, and they’ll be able to be used while the console is offline. You’ll even be given suggestions on who to friend given your current friends list and your most-played games. While speaking of friends, there should be improvements to the suggested friends section of the dashboard as well which will also include why the suggestion was made. As part of this initiative, Microsoft has a feedback website where Xbox One owners can make suggestions – and many of this month’s improvements come directly from that community.
Suggested Friends improvements – The latest update will offer you Suggested Friends in the Community area, with a gamertag, avatar, real name (if shared), and a reason why the gamer is being suggested.
This returns from the old UI and will work in the same way as it did before.
Hide games from the ready-to-install list – The ability to hide trials, games and apps from the Ready to Install list has been re-enabled.
As always, the January Xbox One Update will be completely free. Click through from the suggestion to view the member’s full profile and choose to grow your friends list.
Last week we debuted the first episode of our weekly Xbox and Microsoft podcast “OneCast”, which was met with an overwhelming response and surprising demand for future episodes. The activity feed will now prompt you when there’s a new item to view, much like the Xbox app on Windows 10.
On both the Xbox One console and in the Xbox app, a new area for “Trending” items will be available.
Compact mode for Xbox App – Xbox Beta app has moved additional functions to the compact mode, allowing users to quickly switch between friends, party, messages, and activity alerts pages.
Trending will now provide more and better information on the games, movies, and shows that are popular with Xbox Live gamers at the moment.
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No word yet on when the January update will become available to all Xbox One users, but you can consult the list of confirmed changes headed to the company’s flagship console below.
