Xbox One Dashboard Getting Another Redesign, And Cortana Is Out

The Xbox One is getting another redesign, and Cortana is on the way out.

A redesigned Xbox One dashboard has rolled out to Xbox Insiders, as Microsoft starts the process of streamlining and redesigning the dashboard for all users. “Based on your valuable feedback, we’ve been continuing to iterate on two key experiences on Xbox, delivering you a faster Home experience and evolving the way we support Xbox voice commands to improve the voice experience.”, said a statement posted to the official Xbox website.

The Xbox One redesign centers around putting high traffic content at the forefront of the homepage and quicker access to services like Xbox Game Pass, Mixer, the Microsoft Store, and the Community feature. Cortana is getting changed up and is no longer accessible through your headset.

“Building on these efforts, we are now further evolving the way we support voice commands on Xbox and are moving away from on-console experiences to cloud-based assistant experiences,” Said Bradley Rossetti, Xbox Insider Team Leader. “This means you can no longer talk to Cortana via your headset. However, you can use the Xbox Skill for Cortana via the Cortana app on iOS, Android, and Windows or via Harmon Kardon Invoke speaker to power your Xbox One, adjust volume, launch games and apps, capture screenshots, and more —just as you can do with Alexa-enabled devices today.”

The update begins to roll out to the Xbox Insider Alpha Skip Ahead ring and fully rolls out to all users later in the fall. The update temporarily disables dictation for the virtual keyboard on Xbox One, but the team is working on an alternative solution.

These changes are the first step in Microsoft’s efforts to streamline their Xbox One experience and is further evidence of Cortana’s continued shift from a consumer product to a more business-orientated app. I’m sure most customers won’t mind that much. Plenty of Xbox users find Cortana to be a little bit intrusive when it shouldn’t be.