Xbox is getting rid of its standalone Game Pass app

By Carli Velocci Published September 25, 2024

Five screens from the new Xbox mobile app. The middle one says black ops 6 — Xbox

All of Xbox’s mobile features will soon be under just one app. Microsoft announced Wednesday that it’ll be moving Game Pass features into the regular Xbox app for beta users starting this week.

This signals the end of Xbox Game Pass app as a separate entity. Game Pass functionality, like searching the catalog or grabbing perks for Game Pass Ultimate members, will be in the main Xbox app. The move also means the Game Pass app will no longer be available for new download beginning in November.

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This is a welcome move for players who don’t want to deal with two apps in order to access everything PC and console players get in one place. It also makes it less confusing if you want to see what’s on Game Pass catalogs versus available in the regular Xbox Store. The app still won’t have native Xbox Cloud Gaming functionality, but Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can still stream games through a browser.

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To join the beta program on mobile, you can download the Xbox beta app on the Google Play Store for Android or via TestFlight on iOS.

The Xbox blog post also reveals other updates for PC and console players. First up, Game Bar Compact Mode, a smaller version of the Game Bar on PC optimized for smaller screens like on Windows handheld consoles that was previously only available for Xbox Insiders, is now available for all PC players. Now instead of having a number of widgets taking over your screen, you’ll just have one widget on the left-hand side that can also be navigated via a controller.

If you already have the Game Bar installed, just open it up and you’ll be prompted to turn on Compact Mode.

PC players are also getting more management tools to help save download space and view games at a glance.

Finally, console players will get a new feature to make it easier to play games with updates and pre-downloads. It’s not available in all games, but it’s supported in some Xbox titles already like Sea of Thieves and Minecraft. Consoles will also now get notifications when a game on a player’s wishlist has received an update, is available to purchase, is available with a promotion, or is added to the Game Pass library.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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