Xbox Insiders get new ‘Friends & Community Updates’ home group
The updated group will be part of the new Xbox Experience.
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What you need to know
Microsoft is constantly updating the Xbox OS over time with new features and improvements, but the software hasn’t enjoyed a significant upgrade in a long time. The company is working to fix this; on Monday, it announced the latest feature heading to Xbox Insiders later this week. Say hello to the refreshed “Friends & Community Updates” group for the Dashboard.
As part ofMicrosoft’s multi-month New Xbox Experience experiment, this week’s Xbox Insider Program update continues the company’s efforts to revitalize the Xbox Dashboard with a refreshed design and new features. Microsoft is busy collecting feedback on every iteration, and thebrand-new “Friends & Community Updates” groupis a part of that.
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The Xbox Dashboard is customizable with various pinnable groups, and the “Friends & Community Updates” has been around for a long while. However, it dominates the screen and takes up a huge amount of space, and doesn’t always surface particularly useful information. The latest iteration in testing with the more streamlined Xbox Dashboard is compact, with a brief look at the latest Achievements, game clips and captures, announcements, and more from friends, fellow players, and official game clubs.
Clicking into the group will show you your complete activity feedback, and the group aims to encourage you to share more in the Xbox community as you play thebest Xbox gamesor explore the vastXbox Game Passcatalog. The build is rolling out this week all users in both Alpha rings of the Xbox Insider Program.
Windows Central’s take
This is a small update to the ongoing New Xbox Experience experiments, but it’s good to see Xbox testing changes to many aspects of the Xbox operating system, which is in dire need of a facelift. I’m hoping to see a major update arrive for all players in the near future with a more customizable, visually appealing Dashboard and a host of new features.
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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.
