April update now available for Xbox One Preview Program members

The April update for Xbox One has begun to roll out for the Preview Program where enrolled members will be testing out a selection of new features before the update arrives for everyone early next month.

It’s worth noting that with this update, unlike previous updates, Microsoft are keen to stress that the first preview update is lite on new features more than usual. This is simply because some new features aren’t ready yet, but they’re scheduled to be added next week sometime.

Nevertheless, there’s a few interesting changes and additions included in the first initial update available now. First of all, improvements have been made to the Party App so that users can troubleshoot any issues such as enabling a mic, adjusting privacy settings or fixing networking issues. To make Game Hubs more easily discoverable, a link has been added to the Achievements app, the activity feed will show when a friend follows a game, and activity feed posts will now link to that specific game’s Hub. Last of all, an Achievement’s description will appear in the pop-up that appears when an Achievement is unlocked, and the Achievement app itself has received performance improvements to provide better loading times.

• Party chat improvements – Party chat is being improved with troubleshooting guidance for Xbox One owners. The Party App will help you get your microphone enabled and show you when privacy settings or networking issues are blocking communication with particular party members.

•  Game hub links – Members can more easily discover game hub content from activity feed items. You’ll see activity feed items when any of your friends follow a game, and you’ll also be able to get back to a game’s hub from activity feed posts related to the game – including feed items about the game’s achievements, game clips and screenshots. Finally, we’ve added a link to game hubs from the game’s page in the achievements app.

•  Achievement notifications – With this preview release, you’ll also see the achievement’s description in the notification so you know what you did to earn this achievement without having to open the achievements app. If you do choose to open up the notification to see the achievement details, we’ve also made some performance improvements to make loading the achievements app from a notification faster.