Xbox One picks up new power management options in latest update

Microsoft has been consistently releasing new updates to Xbox One consoles in recent weeks, for those enrolled in Alpha Preview ring of the Xbox Insider Program. Alongside a range of tweaks and improvements upon last year's "Xbox fall update," builds have debuted several new pre-release features, ahead of their assumed public rollout in the months to come.

Next Xbox One update: All the expected changes

A new update is on its way to Alpha ring users once again, delivering new power options to the console. In previous builds, users could enable an option to automatically shut down their console after one or six hours of inactivity. This latest build expands the flexibility of the feature, allowing for two, three, four and five hour periods before a shutdown occurs. This can be tweaked within the "Settings" app on your console.

The build delivers stability improvements to the Home and Guide, fixing an issue that left both menus crashing on occasion. Issues with installation and achievement progress bars have also been fixed, where incorrect progress percentages would sometimes be displayed.

Today's update will begin rolling out a little earlier than usual, from 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET on January 19. For those who use the Xbox One's "Instant On" mode, the update will begin automatically downloading to your console. If you choose to manually install the build, navigate to "All Settings > System > Console Info & Updates" and check for an update. Read on for the complete list of changes, fixes, and currently known issues, via Microsoft's changelog.

NEW FEATURES:

Inactivity Shutdown Options

  • We've added additional inactivity shutdown options to the Power mode & startup menu. In addition to shutting down the console after one or six hours of inactivity, you're now able to select options for two, three, four and five hours. To enable the inactivity shutdown options:
  1. Under Options, select the "Turn off after" dropdown menu.
  2. Navigate to Settings > Power & startup > Power mode & startup.

Do Not Disturb (enabled 1/17 via a Xbox Service setting)

  • Sometimes all you want to do is avoid all distractions and focus entirely on your game. We've included a "Do not disturb" online status, which will suppress notifications and let your friends know that you're not available for another game or activity right now. To enable Do not disturb status:
    1. Open the Guide and select your profile icon to the far left.
    2. Select My profile.
    3. From the Appear online dropdown to the right, select Do not disturb.

Mini Game Hubs (enabled 1/17 via a Xbox Service setting)

  • With Mini Game Hubs you can access great content for the games you've played recently from a Game Hub without ever having to leave the action. Mini Game Hubs provide an easy way to see friends who are currently playing, upcoming Achievements, Looking for Group posts, and more. To find the Mini Game Hub, launch the Guide and look for a new icon to the right of all Game tiles in the Home section.

You can check out all the features in 1802 on the Xbox Insider Blog.

FIXES:

Home and Guide

  • Additional fixes to address an issue which could cause Home and Guide to fail to display or crash.

Installation and Achievements

  • Resolved an issue which caused the progress bars for downloads/installations and achievements to display incorrect information.

KNOWN ISSUES:

System Update

  • When downloading a system update, you may get stuck at a loading screen and only see the loading spinner. Workaround: If this occurs, please DO NOT try to factory reset or reboot the console—this is an issue with the update service and should eventually resolve on its own.

Guide

  • The Guide may sometimes lose focus during navigation.

Party Chat

  • Party chat sometimes crashes in the Guide.

Games Installation

  • Games that are installed fail to launch. Workaround: If the games are installed to an external drive please copy the game to the internal drive or attempt to delete the title and redownload to fix the launch error.

Display

  • We are investigating the inaccurate RGB colors that have been reported when displaying in 4K HDR mode when playing a UHD disc.

Avatars on Home

  • Users can now represent themselves as an Avatar on Home by changing their settings. To do so, simply navigate to My profile > Customize profile > Show my avatar.

Tournaments

  • The left and right navigation for selecting date and time during Tournament creation is currently reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
  • Left and right navigation in Tournament twists is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
  • Left and right navigation in the bracket view of Tournaments is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.