Microsoft announces Xbox One version 1806 - first preview is tonight

Today, Microsoft announced the next minor feature update that will be made available for the Xbox One family of gaming consoles. Version 1806 will be the latest in a series of monthly updates that followed the major 1804 feature update.

One feature that Microsoft included in the announcement is Groups, which was previously announced for 1805. This allows you to group apps and games into various collections, which sync with your Microsoft account, so they'll show up on various consoles.

Microsoft also made a range of improvements to Groups from the last round of previews:

• Guide now locked to 4 columns

• Guide now opens multiple groups in flyout

• The “Add more” and “Create a group” flows now also includes your “Ready to install” games

• The “Add more” and “Create a group” flows now allow you to add up to 40 items to a Group at one time

• If you are looking for Groups in Guide but expected to see a Pins button, click on the “My games & apps” button – we’ve combined Groups with “My games & apps” to put all your stuff in one convenient location for quick access

• Resetting Groups: We’ve updated the reset button so now you can delete your local Groups and re-sync with the service. This will clear up a lot of issues that may have occurred due to bad states or if data is not showing up as expected. You may need to sign in / out for the pages to refresh. You can still delete from everywhere if you want a fresh start with Groups.

With Xbox One version 1806, you'll be able to search for content from anywhere on the Dashboard by hitting the Y button on your controller. The console will also now be able to store multiple Wi-Fi passwords, making it easier to switch between networks.

As has been the case, Microsoft is continuing to focus on new accessibility features for gamers with disabilities, as the Narrator will now support Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch. There will also be new Family Settings, although Microsoft didn't go into detail on that.

The first Insider Preview of version 1806 will arrive for the Preview Alpha ring tonight at 6pm Pacific Time. The build will contain the following fixes:

GameDVR

• Fixed the issue in which some users did not receive pop up notifications for Game DVR captures and the guide did not update the number of new captures.

Groups

• Fixed an issue where using Groups on multiple consoles would cause blank names on that other console. This should not repro anymore and can be fixed by choosing to reset your Groups locally
• Fixed an issue where Groups in a bad state would be reset because of unexpected data
• Fixed an issue regarding scrolling and poor navigation in Groups lower down in Guide
• Fixed an issue when editing Groups on multiple consoles that would cause random ordering of your Groups

Microsoft Edge

• Fixed an issue in which switching Microsoft Edge tabs will cause PDF files to disappear from the screen.
• Stability and performance fixes for Microsoft Edge, specifically when multiple tabs are open.

System Performance

• Misc. performance fixes in the platform.

Of course, there are also some known issues to be aware of:

Groups

• Preview Alpha users thanks for your feedback on Groups we are not expanding the feature to more users in Alpha today based on the feedback. Stay tuned for more information on expansion later this week and thanks for flighting and the great feedback!
• The Groups tab My games & apps may not show after sign in even though you can access Groups in Guide. Workaround: Sign in / out to refresh these pages.
• You may see “This group does not exist” on Home on first sign-in for your existing Groups. Workaround: Sign in / out to refresh these pages.
• Some changes might not be reflected when editing Groups between multiple consoles after coming out of connected standby. Sign in/out to fix.
• The “Add more” or “Create a group” page for Groups will not show all installed content when filtering
• Titles hidden from Ready to install will show up as an item you can add through the “Add more” or “Create a group” page
• Choosing “Add to Home” for game/app within a group will not add the block to Home
• You may see issues roaming between a GA console and preview 1806 console. Workaround: Choose to reset your Groups locally to resync from the service.

Pi-hole

• Pi-hole users may encounter issues signing in, creating, or recovering accounts upon downloading the 1804 update. This is due to a new configuration file which is downloaded from a URL Pi-hole blocks by default.
• Workaround: Add clientconfig.passport.net to the Pi-hole allowed IP address list.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Networking

• Work continues on the stability of the Wi-Fi connectivity. If you see any issues please report the problems for investigation.

YouTube

• Some users are encountering an issue where their YouTube account is being signed out whenever they launch the app.
  • Workaround: Uninstall/re-install the app and sign in with your account again.

The 1806 version number indicates that the update will be finalized in June. It shouldn't be long after that when we'll start seeing Insider Previews for the next major feature update, codenamed Redstone 5.