What's in Microsoft's April Xbox One Update?

Microsoft's Major Nelson on Wednesday night announced that the company had started rolling out the next system update for the Xbox One. This update has been previewed by members who volunteered to provide feedback ahead of its general release. The update was actually due last month, so it's taken a bit longer than expected to roll out across all consoles.

So what can you expect in this update? A few new features, a few improvements, and some stuff you'll recognize from the Xbox 360. Microsoft says the ability to see when your friends come online is something Xbox 360 gamers have been missing since upgrading, so this feature is being brought back. Major Nelson described it as 'one of the most frequently requested features,' so Redmond made it a priority for this update. This update also includes a controller and headset adapter firmware update that's designed to reduce audio static and improve wireless connectivity. Users will have to plug in their controllers to update the firmware.

Check the full list of updates below (via Major Nelson):

Game and app saves and updates. A game save progress bar will show you the status of your game saves. You will also be able to easily tell what games and apps are being updated or have been updated recently.Friends improvements. Notifications will be added to see when favorites and friends sign in to Xbox Live. This was one of the most frequently requested features, so we made it a priority to include it in this update. Also, friends who are in multiplayer will be identified in the friends list.Kinect voice and motion improvements will continue to be fine-tuned for quality and reliability of Xbox One commands. For example, we've updated some of the gesture functionality to reduce false positives on non-hand objects triggering gesture commands.Improved GameDVR video quality through compression algorithm improvements.Blu-ray player supports 50 Hz of video output for content recorded at 50 Hz. We'll also be updating the Blu-ray player app in the coming days to round out these improvements.Controller and headset adaptor firmware updates will reduce audio static and improve wireless connectivity.Silent reboot after system updates and system update on demand now available. If your console is in Instant On mode, the update will happen automatically and return to standby upon completion. This means you won't need to power on your console after an update moving forward. If you want to take future updates when available without waiting for your console to do it on its own, we've added this option under system settings and you'll be able to use it next update. It will only show as available when there is an update to take.

Read more: Xbox One Review

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  • everlast66
    "What's in Microsoft's April Xbox One Update?"

    Some 'cool' new NSA software maybe?
    Reply
  • josejones
    Will this new update also update anything on the older XBox 360? Or, will Microsoft just hang everybody out to dry?

    I look forward the next hardware upgrade for the XBox One since it fell way short of what most XBox fans wanted.
    Reply
  • NightLight
    a plex app would be nice
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    All positive improvements. I don't own one but the updates are nice and will certainly be appreciated if/when I get one down the road. Probably will pick one up after streaming backwards compatibility is made available, and maybe a price drop. Keep it coming!
    Reply
  • blackmancer
    A Camera that is always on? Perhaps full 1080p support when everything is moving to the next standard - 4K?
    Reply
  • DrBackwater
    All xbox gamers that wanted features from xbox 360 is: friends updates? really.

    Why not a complete system overhaul and learn from what makes the 360 better than your xbox one.

    Dear gamers what do you want for xbox one this april

    1 A built in pvr.
    2 Longer recordings.
    3 Pretty much everything xbox 360 has. (apps, hell the entire thing)
    4 Instantly message more then 48 people that xbox 360 does 127.
    5 No kinnect imposed on consumer, hell atleast optimise your os for either consumer like Nintendo does (lol) gamer or family orientated.
    6 Tired of kinnect icon on top right hand corner when disconnected indefinitely.
    7 Dlna streaming support app must be now. I want to stream my shit, not flush it.
    8 Maybe major nelson to retire, and the entire database of Microsoft staff period.
    -----------
    The build quality of xbox one sucks, its cases cheap as hell with touch of black gloss.

    A room full of ignorant people is a room full of ignorant people, so ask your self: are you in a room full of ignorant people?
    Reply
  • thee_prisoner
    So I guess Major Nelson has a "Jeannie" in a bottle at Microsoft?

    be seeing you...
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    how about being able to communicate and send messages to your friends on xbox one from the xbox 360 and vise versa. I mean I still have lots of friends on the 360 I would like to be able to communicate with tme without having to change consoles to do so.
    Reply
  • Ninjawithagun
    Hopefully the first revision of the XBox One that comes with a DisplayPort for supporting an external graphics card capability...just saying!
    Reply
  • classzero
    The only reason I have an Xbox one was to play Forza 5 and it doesn't look all that much better than 4. I did get TitanFall but I am back to play COD Ghosts on PS4. Anyone want to buy my Xbox One I'll throw in a copy of Forza 5. Almost new, hardly used.
    Reply