Xbox Preview Alpha Insiders get Groups feature with the latest build

Arif Bacchus

With the release of the latest system update last night, the Groups feature is now leaving the A/B testing phase and becoming available for all Xbox Preview Alpha insiders with the latest build. As the name suggests, this feature allows users to group Games and Apps together in a dedicated section in the My Games and App tabs. This build also introduces several other fixes and comes with some known issues, so here’s what you need to know.

New Features

  • [Guide] If you were looking for the Pins button in Guide, instead click on the “My games & apps” button – we’ve combined Groups/Pins with “My games & apps” to put all your stuff in one convenient location for quick access!
  • [My games & apps] If you go into “My games & apps” you will see a new tab on the left for your “Groups” – Pins will be your first Group and you can create more from there
  • [Home] If you go to Home you will still have access to your Pins block and can add other Groups to Home after you create them
  • Note: You may need to sign in/out again if you are not seeing Groups in “My games & apps” or your Pins block loading as expected after your first sign-in. If you do not see your Pins as the first Group, go to “My games & apps” > Groups and choose to reset your local Groups data

Known Issues

  • A few users are still experiencing the blank names for Groups. Workaround: You may need to rename these Groups if the local reset did not clear up the issue for you.
  • 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.
  • 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 a game 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.
  • We’ve updated the reset button at the bottom of the Groups page in “My games & apps” so now you can delete your local Groups data 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
  • Sometimes users may encounter an incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.
  • Work continues on the stability of the Wi-Fi connectivity. If you see any issues please report the problems for investigation.
  • Some users are encountering an issue where their YouTube account is being signed out whenever they launch the app.

The new build also has some fixes for when the name of an active game wasn’t showing up in recently used games and apps. Other fixes include correcting issues with USB webcams in Mixer broadcasting and removing an issue where the “Add more” or “Create a group” page for Groups would not show all installed content.

Since the Alpha Ring is the highest ring in the Xbox Insider program, you can expect for this same build to make its way down to the other rings soon. When it does, you can then expect a general rollout to everyone else on public versions of Xbox OS, who still don’t have Groups.