Xbox One February 2016 update new features and improvements

Here’s what’s new in the February 2016 update for Xbox One: party chat, Gamerscore leaderboard, dashboard, and Xbox (Beta) app for Windows 10 improvements.

Xbox One February 2016 update

Microsoft has been proactively delivering updates with new features and improvements for Xbox One since the beginning. Recent updates included a major upgrade to bring the console from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and Xbox One Backward Compatibility to let you play Xbox 360 in the new console. And now the software giant is ready to release the first update of the year to continue improving Xbox One.

For February 2016, the software maker is bringing back a very important feature and adding a few new changes. In the new update, Microsoft is bringing back the ability to see who is in a party chat before you join in.

Party details on Xbox One

In addition, the update introduces a new Gamerscore leaderboard option to help gamers to compare their scores with their Xbox Live friends. In the leaderboard users will be able to get highlights of who has the best Gamerscore within a 30-day period.

Gamerscore Leaderboard

Microsoft is also adding a few improvements in the Xbox One dashboard, more specifically in home and pinned sections. Starting with the February update, you can rearrange pins and you will be able to access pinned items when the console is offline.

There are other tweaks the company is introducing with the February 2016 update for Xbox One, but they’re not very significant, such as the ability to hide games from the ready-to-play list, the activity feed will notify you when there is a new item for viewing, and the Game hubs are getting enhanced to make it easier to see who is broadcasting on Twitch.

Alongside the new improvements coming to Xbox On, the software maker is also updating the its Xbox (Beta) app for Windows 10. Among the new changes, users will see Xbox News items in the activity feed, and tweaks in the trending section to make Xbox Live content more discoverable.

Compact Mode Xbox app

With the update the Xbox (Beta) app gets additional functions to enable you to switch between friend’s view, party, messages, and activity alerts in the already implemented compact view.

Source Xbox Wire via The Verge

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.