Xbox One October Update to Bring New Snap, Friends Features and More

Microsoft's Larry Hryb, also known as Major Nelson, on Monday detailed the features that will arrive in the upcoming October update for the Xbox One consoles. The update is already available for the Xbox Live members in the preview program and will reach to other gamers by October. Hyrb says the software update brings features that can be classified into two themes - new Snap and Friends functions, and improvements for TV and video.

With the new Snap and Friends features due with the Xbox One system software update in October, Xbox One users would be able to access Friends, Messages, Game DVR, clock, and battery indicator via the updated Snap feature. The apps on the Snap mode can be accessed by tapping on the Xbox button twice on the controller.

Two apps that have been newly-optimised for the Snap mode are Friends Snap App and Messages Snap App that will let users access their friends list, and to open, read and respond to messages respectively.

Microsoft has also updated the Achievements app, allowing users to see which friends that have unlocked a particular achievement, share achievements with friends along with captions, and a new achievements Snap landing page with a display of achievements on recently played games.

The new Friends section enables users to see 'at a glance' what their friends are doing, staying up-to-date with their current activities, as well as the popular games they are playing. A Gamerscore leaderboard has also been added, to see who has improved their Gamerscore over the last 30 days.

Hryb also explained that users would be able to see a list of top games in their profiles and in their friend's section via the new SmartGlass feature.

The second theme in the October update focuses on TV and video streaming improvements. The update will bring a new Media Player app that brings users the ability to stream content stored on home media servers or other devices that support DLNA. In addition, users would be able to playback mkv files from a USB device or via DLNA after the update.

The Xbox TV Tuner that was first announced in August, will be reaching UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain on October 21 as per Hryb. The TV Tuner will let users watch TV on Xbox One consoles and pause Live TV for 30 minutes. OneGuide will also be reaching in 12 new countries including Belgium, Chile, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia in next few days.

The Xbox One October update will also bring the Live TV Trending feature, allowing users to see what is trending on Live TV based on their country and OneGuide settings. The Live TV Trending list will be updated approximately every minute. The feature will initially be made available to preview users in the US, Canada and the UK.

With the update, users will be able to stream TV to SmartGlass-enabled devices via the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner, using the Xbox SmartGlass app which will offer complete media controls. Also new is Live TV MiniGuide, for those markets where OneGuide is available, displaying details about the TV content that is currently playing.

Hyrb also announced that OneGuide will be launched for Xbox and SmartGlass in 12 new countries - Belgium, Chile, Columbia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia - in the next few days.

Other features announced included an updated Devices & Accessories page where users can find, assign, and update their Xbox One accessories. Users will also be able to update the firmware for an individual device, and more easily find (or identify) a controller by making it vibrate. Finally, comes the Hide Games & Apps feature for the Xbox One console, which lets users hide items in the "Ready to install" list under My Games & Apps.