Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S owners have discovered a very useful feature five calendar years after Microsoft first released the consoles in 2020. We are more than halfway through the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 console generation. Millions have purchased an Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, and millions regularly use both consoles. Despite this, Xbox fans continue to discover new things about the consoles. This has been the case not with just the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, but the PS5 as well. Many owners of these consoles are unaware of some of the smaller, but useful features they posses. Why this is, is less clear, but it’s clear this is the case.
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The latest example of this comes courtesy of the Xbox Reddit page. One of the top posts on the Xbox Reddit page is a post from a user sharing a feature of the console they just discovered. The popularity of the post, as well as the majority of comments, reveals they are not alone in this. Many Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S owners have no idea about the feature. And if the hardcore Xbox fans that populate the Xbox Reddit page don’t know, then it is safe to assume the majority of more casual enjoyers of Xbox also don’t know.
To this end, Xbox fans are surprised to learn that if you press and the hold the Xbox button, and then press “X” you will put the console into idle mode instantly. This is obviously convenient in many circumstances, including when waiting for updates to download or when you need to step away and don’t want maximum brightness. And of course, this applies to the various Xbox One consoles as well.
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“I always wondered why there was the ability to cycle through the idle screens with the shoulder buttons and interact with Y as when my Xbox was idle, 99% of the time my controller had also turned itself off due to being idle. Makes sense now,” reads the post in question.
As alluded to, many users of the Xbox Reddit page were surprised to learn about this feature, which isn’t a secret feature, but not well known due poor communication and onboarding.
“I just learned that today too, thank you my man,” reads one comment. “This would have been nice to know during those several hours of downloads,” adds a second comment.
A third comment further drives home the point: “I gotta try this out sometime. How did I not know this before?”
Who knows how many other features on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have been flying under the radar, but if it’s taking users five years to discover this, then it is safe to assume there is a host of quality-of-life features many Xbox users have no idea about.
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