April Xbox One Update Available Now, But Voice Messages Held Back

The Xbox One's April system update, which was already available to Xbox Preview members, is rolling out today for everyone else. The update introduces a range of new features that Microsoft says will make the Xbox One experience "even better," including improvements to party chat, new achievement notifications, and a new "What's On" area on the dashboard, among other things.

However, two marquee features that were announced previously for the April update--voice messaging and dedicated servers for party chart--are being kept in preview for additional testing. Microsoft didn't provide a timeline for when these features might be delivered publicly, saying only that feedback from the testing group led to the decision to delay their rollout.

"Voice messages and dedicated servers for party chat will ship once the team is confident they are ready," Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb says in the video above.

For more on the April Xbox One system update, see the video above and the bullet points below, which were written by Microsoft.

Xbox One April Update Includes:

• Party chat improvements – Additional icons and notifications within the party chat experience to help you understand your connection and microphone status. The party app will help you get your microphone enabled and show you when privacy settings or networking issues are blocking communication with particular party members.
• Game hub links – You'll see activity feed items when any of your friends follow a game, and you'll also be able to get back to a game's hub from activity feed posts related to the game--including feed items about the game's achievements, game clips, and screenshots.
• Achievement notifications – With this update, you'll also see the achievement's description in the notification so you know what you did to earn this achievement without having to open the achievements app.
• What's On – The What's On area is now available for Xbox One users in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. In it, you'll find links to popular videos, games, movies, TV shows, game broadcasts and clips, along with Trending TV shows if you have configured OneGuide for your Xbox One console.