New Xbox One update adds Scheduled Themes, Guide improvements and more

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A new Xbox One update is rolling out to Xbox Insiders, adding Scheduled Themes, improvements to the Guide menu, and more.

Xbox One X
Xbox One X (Image credit: Matt Brown | Windows Central)

Earlier this month Microsoft dropped a new update on Xbox One consoles, for those enrolled in the Alpha Preview ring of the Xbox Insider Program. Delivering a new wave of changes, the build added several new in-progress features, including "Next Achievements" and "Mini Game Hubs."

A second Xbox One "1802" build has been announced for Insiders, delivering more features to the program's bleeding edge update ring. This update contains two new additions, alongside several bug fixes, ahead of a planned release to further rings in the future.

Updated, January 14, 2018: Experiencing issues with today's Alpha ring update? You're not the only one. Xbox Insider Program lead, Brad Rossetti, has taken to Twitter to clarify that today's update issues are linked to "bad services in one data center." These are being taken offline, which may result in a delayed rollout.

Easily the biggest addition of this update is "Scheduled Themes" – a new feature that allows users to schedule an automatic shift in the console's color theme. When enabled, users can set times for the operating system to shift between the default "Dark theme" and the "Light theme" added in last year's fall update.

This build will also implement a new "Game Pass Discovery" tile to Xbox Guide menu, which randomly selects a title from the Xbox Game Pass library. Hooking directly into Microsoft's Netflix-style subscription service for Xbox games, this will provide an easy way to explore the full spectrum of its offerings.

Today's update will begin rolling out a little earlier than usual, from 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET on January 14. For those who use the Xbox One's "Instant On" mode, the update will begin automatically downloading to your console. If you choose to manually install the build, navigate to "All Settings > System > Console Info & Updates" and check for an update. Read on for the complete list of changes, fixes, and currently known issues, via Microsoft's changelog.

DETAILS:

OS version released: rs3_release_xbox_dev_1802.180109-1916

Available: 2:00PM PST 1/14/18 (10:00PM GMT 14/1)

NEW FEATURES:

Scheduled Themes

You asked—we listened! We're excited to announce that we've added the ability to put your themes on a schedule. In addition to choosing either the light or dark theme, you can now schedule a time to automatically switch between them. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Personalization > Theme & motion.
  2. Select Scheduled from the "System theme" dropdown.
  3. Select the times at which you want the light theme to start and end.

Guide Enhancements

A new icon will appear in the Guide. The Guide Game Pass Discovery Tile (the "Surprise me with a random Game Pass Game tile"), now shows in Guide.

FIXES:

Screenshots

  • Fixed an issue which sometimes caused screenshots to fail to display in Report a problem or on the console.

Party Chat

  • Party chat is now fixed to not crash when in the Guide.

KNOWN ISSUES:

My Games and Apps

  • When downloading and installing games the progress bar and the percentage complete are not in sync and show inaccurate data. The games and apps do install correctly.

Background Screenshots

  • Background screenshots are showing up as 4:3 format rather than 16:9

Guide/Home crashing

  • We are aware of the Guide and Home crashing and determined the root cause. A fix is being worked on. Workaround: In the interim please HARD Reboot (Hold the power button for ten seconds)the console to fix this issue.

System Update

  • You may encounter an E105 error when the console starts up after downloading the system update. Workaround: Select the Repair option, and the issue should resolve after rebooting the console.

Games Installation

  • Games that are installed fail to launch. Workaround: If the games are installed to an external drive please copy the game to the internal drive or attempt to delete the title and redownload to fix the launch error.

Display

  • We are investigating the inaccurate RGB colors that have been reported when displaying in 4K HDR mode when playing a UHD disc.

Tournaments

  • The left and right navigation for selecting date and time during Tournament creation is currently reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
  • Left and right navigation in Tournament twists is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew.
  • Left and right navigation in the bracket view of Tournaments is reversed when the console language is set to Arabic or Hebrew

Avatars on Home

  • Users wishing to represent themselves as an avatar can do so by changing their settings under My profile > Customize profile > Show my avatar.
Matt Brown
Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.