Xbox Invites More Players to Test New Features in Insider Program

Xbox One owners who want to be able to preview upcoming features before they’re released for the consoles now have a chance to join two different rings of the Xbox Insider program to do so. Microsoft announced recently that it’s welcoming more users into the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings of the program which means you’ll be able to see features planned for the next Xbox One update or ones planned for further in the future, depending on which ring you’re in. Gaining access to these rings is as simple as filling out a survey and waiting on your invite, though not everybody is guaranteed to be invited.

Microsoft said in its announcement about the opened Xbox Insider program that it uses a “carefully curated formula” to determine when it’s time to let people into the program. That formula has apparently decided that now is a good time since two rings are accepting new users, though you’ll still have to be fortunate enough to receive an invite to get into them.

The differences between the two rings, Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha, were outlined in the announcement to let Xbox Insiders know what they’re getting themselves into.

Xbox Insider Rings

• Alpha Skip-Ahead – An “invite only” ring that receives preview builds of a future Xbox One OS release.
  • “Future” release means these builds may not be released to GA for some time. As such, they may contain different features than other rings.
• Alpha – An “invite-only” ring that receives preview builds of the next upcoming Xbox One OS release.
  • This means this is a preview version of the build that will be delivered to the general audience (GA) next.
  • Alpha receives a preview release of the next upcoming build before any other ring

If you want to give it a shot and try and get into the rings, all you have to do is go to the Xbox Insider Hub and look for the survey titled “Joining new rings.” Fill that out and wait, and hopefully you’ll get an invite to join.

While the Xbox One doesn’t get updates every week like some games do, it gets updates and Xbox Insider previews considerably more often than you’ll see other consoles get. These update are sometimes small and sometimes quite large in the scope of what they do such as the numerous dashboard updates the Xbox One has received.

There’s no telling how long the Xbox Insider program will be accepting new users, so be sure to fill out the form while you can if you’re interested.