The newly designed Xbox app is officially available for iOS, adds Xbox remote play

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By Zachary Boddy
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The newly designed Xbox app comes to iOS.

New Xbox app
New Xbox app (Image credit: Xbox)

What you need to know

  • The mobile Xbox app has long been criticized of being slow and bloated by Android and iOS users.
  • Microsoft recently rolled out a completely redesigned and rebuilt Xbox app to be consistent with the New Xbox Experience.
  • The app is beautiful on Android, and is now coming to iOS officially after a limited launch on TestFlight.
  • The new Xbox app looks great on iPhones, and also adds support for Xbox remote play on iOS.

The New Xbox Experience is a dramatic effort from Microsoft to make the UI and UX experience across everything Xbox beautiful, inclusive, and consistent. This started with a new Xbox app for PC back in 2019, and has spread across everything Xbox in recent months, leading up to the launch of the next-gen Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The mobile Xbox app for Android recently was rebuilt from the ground up and redesigned with the New Xbox Experience in mind, and now that app is finally coming to Apple's iOS.

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The app looks to be very similar to its Android counterpart, and surprisingly has a nearly identical feature set, including the existence of Xbox remote play. Xbox remote play allows players to stream any Xbox game directly from their Xbox console at home to their mobile device with a compatible Bluetooth controller, giving you on-the-go console-quality gaming. With the recent controversies surrounding Xbox Cloud Gaming (aka Project xCloud) being blocked by Apple on iOS, it's interesting to see this feature being regarded as an acceptable workaround.

Xbox remote play isn't the exact same as Xbox Cloud Gaming, and still requires that you have an Xbox console at home that no one is using, but iOS users will still be able to enjoy this nifty feature and all the other goodies that come along with the new Xbox app, including an increased focus on social features and a universal search function. If you want to grab the new Xbox app, you can download it directly from the Apple App Store.

Xbox App for iOS and Android

Xbox App for iOS and Android

The all-new Xbox app for Android and iOS lets users access their Xbox accounts and view video games, but it's the ability to stream and play console games right on your phone that is really exciting.

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Zachary Boddy
Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

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.