- The April 2023 update for Xbox rolls out.
- The update brings carbon awareness changes to save energy and electricity costs.
- In addition, the company is overhauling the search experience with a new interface design.
Microsoft is preparing to deliver the April 2023 update, which will include new features and enhancements, for Xbox Series X and S consoles.
The official Xbox April 2023 update includes an improved search experience along with energy-saving and carbon-footprint-reducing features.
Xbox April update new features
With this upgrade, the firm introduces a new function called “active hours,” which lets you rapidly start the Xbox Series X or S during specific times of the day while keeping the device shut down to conserve energy.
The console will only use 0.5 watts when fully shut down while utilizing the new capability, as opposed to up to 15 watts when in standby mode. Although you may manually change the settings from Settings, the active hours feature can automatically decide when to turn the console on or off based on your behavior.
Additionally, the corporation is using a technology known as carbon-aware to update the Xbox Series consoles. Consoles won’t wake up during the nighttime maintenance hours thanks to the new modification. Rather, the Xbox will be able to monitor, download, and process updates during times when it understands that doing so will save carbon emissions. To put it another way, Xbox will now give priority to installing updates when more clean energy—like wind, solar, and hydro—is used while also reducing some electricity expenses. (With the introduction of version 22H2, Windows 11 introduced the same carbon awareness technology.)
A redesign of the search interface is also included in the April 2023 release. The business claims that the new website for searching games, entertainment, and apps has been completely redesigned with gallery-style results, RB/LB navigable filter categories, the ability to search YouTube under the Movies & TV tab, and other features.
This week, all Xbox consoles across the world will receive the April 2023 update. You can force the update by going to Settings>System>Updates>Update console and tapping the Start update button, though, if you can’t wait for it to become available to you naturally.