The Xbox app for Android is finally testing a complete store and a integrated wish listtwo functions that users have been asking for for years. At the moment, the novelty is being deployed in the Xbox Beta appbut it represents an important change in how users manage their purchases and their game library from mobile, without having to constantly jump to the browser or console.
Until now, from the app you could see who was online, review your library or launch remote downloads, but when you wanted to buy something, the experience was broken: the application redirected you to a web page and did not offer a convenient way to manage your wish list. With this change, the mobile phone is much closer to what the store offers. Xbox on console and on the web.
A complete store within the Xbox app
The novelty comes in the form of a new tab store in the bottom navigation bar, with a shopping bag icon. From there you can explore and buy games, DLC and packs just as you would from the console, with complete details, prices, offers and the option to prepare downloads on the Xbox console or PC without leaving the app.
The store includes advanced filters to narrow the results by number of players, gender, online features, compatibility with Xbox Play Anywhere and other capabilities, something that makes it quite easy to figure out what to play when you simply want to explore from your mobile. Until recently, if you didn't know exactly what title to search for, the app was unfriendly because it grouped results from users, groups, games and other content, all in the same search engine.
According to early tests, the interface also feels faster and more polished than previous versions, something logical if we think about the number of users who use their mobile phone as a second controller to manage downloads, purchases and Xbox Game Pass. It is not a radical redesign, but it does give the feeling that, finally, the application is conceived as a complete store and not just as a complement to the console.
Wishlist synchronized with console, web and PC
Along with the new “Store” tab, the app launches a native wish list on Android. Now you can add games and add-ons to your wish list directly from your mobile and see that same list on the console, on the web and on other devices, with automatic synchronization between platforms.
Until now, wishlist management was basically limited to console and browser: you could check some things on mobile, but there was no consistent experience for discovering games, saving them for later, and waiting for them to drop in price. With this change, it is much easier to go pointing titles when you see a recommendation on networks or someone tells you about a game in a group.
In practice, this also helps take better advantage of offers and sales alerts, because you have your entire list centralized no matter what device you created it from. And, incidentally, it serves to better understand what role the mobile wants to play within the Xbox ecosystem, which had been at half throttle in this section for some time.
Only in beta (for now) and a step towards the Xbox mobile store
For the moment, the Integrated store and wishlist only appear in the Xbox Beta app for Androidand the deployment appears to be gradual and regional. Some media and users suggest that the function is being activated in version 2512.1.2 of the beta, while others still continue to see the old design despite having the app updated, so you will have to have a little patience.
Microsoft has not yet set a date for these new features to reach the stable version or iOSbut it has clearly stated on several occasions that its objective is to build a own mobile game store integrated into Xbox. After closing the dedicated Xbox Game Pass app on mobile and moving cloud gaming to other access avenues, it made sense that the next step was to reinforce the main app with a complete purchasing experience.
If all goes well and the rollout continues, the Xbox app for Android will go from being a support app to manage the console to becoming a real gateway to the xbox store from the mobile phone, something that many players had been waiting for for a long time.
