New Xbox Insider Preview in the Alpha ring adds a bunch of fixes

Microsoft is once again releasing a new Xbox One build to Insiders on the Preview Alpha ring, with the build string 1806.180618-2044. It contains mostly a long list of fixes, but there are some notable features.

The new Avatar Editor app is live, so you can customize your avatar in ways that you never could before. There's also FastStart, which lets you play games while they're still downloading. FastStart was live in the last build, but Microsoft published a list of compatible games today.

Here's what's fixed in today's build:

Audio:

Fixes are in the build to resolve audio dropouts that users have been experiencing. This fix focuses on Video app audio dropouts that have impacted apps such as Amazon, Netflix streaming and Games such as Minecraft. Atmos HDMI users who own Denon AVRs have been experiencing these drops should not see this behavior anymore.

Friends

We have resolved the issues in which some users noticed that the online status of Friends was not updating correctly.

Game Clips:

The Trim feature used the Y button to allow the user to save their trimmed clip and issues resulted with this input. There are times that the Y button is not available and thus the search functionality is invoked by mistake. We have changed the key mapping as well as the icon mapping on the page to show the X button.

Groups:

Users should no longer see the Groups tab in My games & apps may not show after sign in. You should no longer see “This group does not exist” on Home on first sign-in for your existing Groups.

Fixed an issue in which some changes were not be reflected when editing Groups between multiple consoles after coming out of connected standby.

Fixed the issue to enable using special characters in Group names (e.g. &,”).

My Games and Apps

Fixed an issue that some users where experiencing with game installations and DLC failing randomly.

Fine tuned the Toast notifications when installing a title that supports Fast Start

Looking for Groups

Fixed an issue in which some users would not see any Groups returned when querying for a certain title.

Localization

Various localization fixes across the console.

Store App

A new version of the store app is available that resolves the crash to home that some users were experiencing.

Some users experienced a “Try that again” in the Store app and that is fixed.

System Performance

Misc. performance fixes in the platform.

YouTube

The issue with some users are encountering an issue with the Youtube app stuttering is being resolved by YouTube with an app update.

And of course, there are known issues to be aware of:

Game Pass Tab

Preview Alpha and Alpha – Skip Ahead users will notice that the Entertainment tab has been replaced on the dashboard with Game Pass content. This new tab allows for easy access to the Game Pass catalog and is only available in the US region at this time, so Preview Alpha and Alpha Skip Ahead Insiders in regions outside of the US will continue to see the Entertainment tab.

Groups

Some users may encounter an issue where their Pins are not displaying artwork or are seeing a while tile instead of their profile color

Workaround: Please perform the following steps to fix the issue

Open My Games & Apps

Navigate to Groups tab

Scroll to the bottom of the page

Select Delete all groups

Select Delete local groups

You may see issues with Groups if you frequently switch between your non-Preview console and your Preview console. Workaround: Reset your Groups locally on the Preview console through “My games & apps” > Groups, then using the “Reset groups” button at the bottom of the page to resync from the service.

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 problem for investigation by performing a Full system software via the dashboard as opposed to just pressing the Xbox Power button.

As indicated by the version number of 1806, this feature update should be finalized this month. It's already available to the Beta and Delta rings, so it shouldn't be too long before everyone can get their hands on it.