The holiday update is now available for download on Xbox One. This is the second update that follows the summer update which Microsoft rolled out back in August alongside the Anniversary Update for Windows 10.
The new Xbox One update offers two main new features, including Clubs and Looking for Group (LFG), and a number of other smaller features.
Xbox One Clubs
Clubs in the holiday update is a new feature that lets anyone create groups on Xbox Live with unique names, just like gamertags. The idea with Clubs is to make sharing game clips, creating parties, and party chat easier for a group of people with the same interest.
You can create clubs for about anything, including for games, screenshots, TV shows, genera, and more. In addition, you can make clubs public, private, or hidden.
Xbox One LFG
Looking for Group is a new way for you to find other people, by posting on Xbox Live, to help you to complete achievements, quests, and other type of activities.
Essentially, Looking for Group is similar to a forum where other gamers can find, chat, and play the game in question.
These new functionalities are available on the console as well as on the Xbox app for Windows 10 and mobile devices.
Group messaging, achievements rarity, and more…
In addition, Xbox One and the apps has been updated to implement group messaging on Xbox Live. The new messaging feature allows you to send a message to an entire group of people, and then recipients can quickly reply from the app or console.
The achievement feature gets a few new tweaks, including a new sound notification and diamond icon highlighting it when unlocking a rare achievement, and gamers can now see the amount of rare achievements for a particular game.
Gamerscore Leaderboard gets a few changes as well. Now it’ll get reset at the beginning of each month, instead of displaying results for a 30-day rolling period.
The Xbox One holiday update adds emoji to the virtual keyboard to send your messages with more emotions, just like when you’re using your phone.
The Xbox One holiday update is now available, and it’ll download and install automatically on your device. If you can’t wait, go to Settings > System > System info & update, and tap the Update console button to force the download.
What are your thought about the Xbox One holiday update? Tell us in the comments below.
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. Email him at [email protected].