Xbox One Summer Update News: Pandora Gets Background Music Support; New Apps, Features and How to Update
Universal Windows Apps Can Now Be Downloaded on the Xbox One
The Xbox One Summer Update was released earlier this month, which came with new apps and features. The most requested highlight of the update is the ability to play music in the background, which the new Pandora app now supports.
Pandora to Support Background Music
Support for Background Music has long been requested by the ever-growing fan base of Xbox One. The feature finally came with the Summer Update, but was initially only exclusive to the Microsoft native app Groove Music in its desktop version.
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Pandora, the popular internet radio streaming app, was announced to be supporting the Background Music feature. Mike Ybarra from Microsoft took to Twitter that the Pandora app will indeed be updated to support the feature on the Xbox One.
Pandora will update over the next 24 hours to include background music on Xbox One functionality! #Xbox
— ♏️ike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) August 29, 2016
The new Universal Windows Platform app from Pandora could be installed within the next 24 hours. The old app can still be used and accessed, but needs to be uninstalled in order for the new feature to kick in. The UWP Pandora app works on all platforms, but the Xbox One version would receive the Background Music feature just yet. Microsoft said that the feature should now be available to other third-party apps as well.
To download the app, uninstall any existing Pandora apps in your platform. Download the new UWP Pandora app from the Windows Store and install it. The new feature can now be accessed by the users. Note that the streaming app has both free and paid versions, with advertisements being the main difference. The service is only available in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand regions, with plans of expanding to other territories arriving shortly in the future.
New Features and Apps
The Summer Update also introduces Cortana, Windows' version of a virtual assistant. The update also brings an improved Game Collection interface and a unified Xbox Store and Windows Store. With the introduction of the UWP apps, Windows 10 desktop applications are now available for download on the Xbox One. So, aside from Pandora, here are the other free apps that the Summer Update came with:
Baconit – A reddit client for Windows devices.
Netflix – The popular subscription service for streaming TV episodes and movies.
Cast – An audio podcast manager for desktop, tablet, and mobile.
MSN Weather – A weather-monitoring app that checks forecasts for up to 10 days.
Dailymotion – The well-known video-sharing app.
Xbox Avatars – This app allows users to change their avatars to share with friends.
Movies & TV – An organization app for movies and TV shows.
Xbox Accessories – This app pairs with the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller to give users the ability to configure the way they play.
Windows Camera – A redesign of the Camera app that is both faster and simpler.
Groove – Windows' native music app.
Hulu – Another streaming app for TV shows and movies.
Furthermore, to download the Xbox One Summer Update, scroll left from Home to open the guide, select "Settings," then click "All Settings." Under the "System" option, select "Console info & updates." From there, the |Update Available" button will be visible and the Summer Update will be ready to install.
