Xbox One July 2019 System Update Out Now, Here's What It Does

The next big update for Xbox One is out now, this one for July 2019. It primarily features changes and additions to Xbox Game Pass management and introduces improved Amazon Echo/Alexa support for voice commands. Here's the full rundown on what's now available in the update, which you can manually trigger by going into the System area of the Settings menu and navigating to the Updates & Downloads section.

Starting with the new Xbox Game Pass features, a new "Play Later" tab has been introduced. As its name suggests, this is a hub where you can add games as a reminder to yourself to play later.

The other big part of the July Xbox One update is improved functionality for Alexa voice commands. Specifically, a variety of new voice commands have been added that are specific to Xbox Game Pass. For example, you can now ask Alexa things like, "What's new on Game Pass this month?" or "What's popular on Game Pass?" or "What's leaving Game Pass," among many other things.

You can also now use Alexa for social networking; you can ask, "Alexa, what are my friends playing?" or, "Alexa, is [friend's name] online right now?" among many other things. Also, you can now pair your Xbox controller using Alexa by saying, "Alexa, ask Xbox to pair my controller."

You can see a full rundown of all the new Alexa voice commands here. A complete list of Alexa voice commands for Xbox are available here.

In addition, Alexa now supports more countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain.

In other news, the next Xbox--Project Scarlett--was announced at E3 2019. The next-generation system, which plays Xbox One games, too--is scheduled for release in Holiday 2020. Pricing hasn't been announced yet; it might depend on Trump's tariffs.