What Is Xbox Companion
If you’ve been using Microsoft’s Xbox Console Companion UWP app this week, you may have noticed that the latest update added a giant ad for Microsoft’s new Xbox app that launched with Xbox Game Pass for PC last year. The message mentions that “the new Xbox app is replacing the Console Companion,” so it looks like the days of the old UWP app are now numbered.
- The biggest change is the name – the app will now be called the Xbox Console Companion, and a message from Microsoft says it will be 'a dedicated app for your Xbox console’s features.
- Xbox SmartGlass is a companion application for Xbox 360 available for Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Phone, iOS, Android (version 4.0 and above), and Windows Server 2012. It was announced by Microsoft during E3 2012 and released on October 26, 2012, coinciding with the release of Windows 8.
Microsoft’s Xbox Console Companion app debuted as the universal “Xbox” app on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile back in 2015. This app has been pretty much neglected in recent years, though it still has some exclusive features such as the ability to stream games from your Xbox One to your PC.
The companion app seems to be able to access and control a bunch of features on the Xbox, like sort of a terribly overpriced Xbox remote control. For instance, you can navigate the dashboard, or fast forward/rewind a video that's playing, etc.
The Xbox Console Companion app also integrates Xbox Lives features that the new Game Pass-focused Xbox app lacks, such as Clubs or Looking for Groups. However, the new Xbox app remains a better experience overall, adopting the same design language previously seen in the new Xbox Game Bar. The app also received a speed and performance boost earlier this year after dropping the Electron framework in favor of React Native.
It’s not clear yet when the Xbox Console Companion UWP app will be officially replaced by Microsoft’s new Xbox app. The latter still has to be installed manually via the Microsoft Store, and even if it recently dropped its “beta” tag, it still lacks some of the Xbox Live social features still present in the Xbox Console Companion app. Anyway, it’s nice to see Microsoft consolidating its Xbox experiences on Windows 10, and the new Xbox app is already a pretty solid game launcher and digital store for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.