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Xbox is rolling out the new Home UI. Check out how to get the new Xbox Home UI and its new features, along with reactions from the community.
How to get the New Xbox Home UI
According to the official Xbox blog post, it's being rolled out slowly across all Xbox consoles. If you do not have it yet, all you have to do is wait for a few weeks maximum to get the update.
A guide on how to customize the new Xbox Home can be found here, courtesy of Xbox.
Reddit Reacts
The reactions on the Reddit thread on r/XboxSeriesX are mostly negative with many people missing the lost customization options.
“It’s an improvement aesthetically, but they did reduce customisation when you scroll down past the first page. Now I have to scroll past the ‘Recently added to Game Pass’ group every time I want to access my own pinned groups or games. It’s a shame they didn’t listen to insider feedback on that particular aspect.” – Reddit user supercakefish
“Major regression” – Reddit user altdelete47
“I just restarted my Series X to get the update, and as someone who normally doesn't have a lot to say about the dashboard (don't care about backgrounds, fine with some ads), this is probably the most negatively impactful UI change in my ~10 years of being an Xbox user.
- The lack of customization has to be the biggest issue. I have no problem with them adding a bunch of options to a dashboard refresh as long as I can disable the ones I'll never use. I have no use for most of the content on my dashboard after this update (Friends & Community Updates, Top Entertainment Apps, Watch & Listen, “curated” content like Distinctive Game Art, etc.) and no way I can find to disable/remove them.
- I use six custom groups to organize my games and apps for various uses across two rooms/consoles. Limiting home screen group pins to two significantly decreases my ability to efficiently access stuff I use on a regular basis.
- Forcing the New to Game Pass ribbon to be above my custom groups (with the games/apps I actually use) with full-height tiles makes an annoying barrier between startup and accessing the games/apps I want.
Big step backward overall from a usability perspective and a pretty obvious/cynical attempt to force “curated” content on users by significantly reducing customization options.” – Reddit user TheNewBBS
New Xbox Home Features
The revamped Xbox Home was showcased by Ivy Kirslov, Senior Product Manager Lead, Xbox Experiences.
They said that the update is “designed from player feedback and makes it easier to discover new games, rediscover games you already love, connect with communities, and create a more personalized experience.”
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“Improving the Home Experience has been truly a Team Xbox effort —from engineers to designers to researchers and many more. We started by investing in infrastructure that would allow us to try different layouts of the page with different content for different situations and customers. We then evaluated many different elements of the design process including what people interact with in the experience, how easy it is for people to complete the action they want to take, and how satisfied they are with the overall experience. Once we had a version that was ready to share, we started to roll it out to our Xbox Insiders,” said Kirslov.
“When we first showed Xbox Insiders what we were working on we heard your feedback clearly – you wanted more room to show off custom backgrounds or game art, quicker navigation options, and more personalization. Over the last 8 months since initial release, we’ve implemented changes to meet those requests and have a new Home that feels fresh, puts the focus on your games and apps, and creates space for beautiful backgrounds.”
This new Xbox Home makes it easier to go to your Library, the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, Search, and Settings via an accessible quick-access menu at the top of your screen.
The lower half of your screen is occupied by a simplified layout containing the games you recently played with other content and apps. This leaves more real estate towards the top half of your screen for your personalized background.
There is now an option to change your background to match the game being highlighted in the recently played list for a bigger view of the game. Game discovery is also improved by the curated and personalized lists of games.
You can pin your favorite games, curated groups, and system groups like Quick Resume to Home for easier access. The Friends & Community Updates row is also updated to feature better content in your community.
The Watch & Listen spotlight shows you what media apps and content are available to you, along with a list of entertainment apps.
