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Xbox Snap feature unlikely to ever return

ParaSeoul

Member
Microsoft has said it is unlikely to restore the Xbox's "Snap" ability in a future update.

That's according to Xbox engineering lead Eden Marie, who noted on Twitter that: "While we all miss snap, I don't think it's coming back."

Snap was a key feature - and one of the few selling points - of the Xbox One at its launch. The handy ability let you stick an app to one side of your screen while continuing to play games alongside.

Snap was useful for a few things. You could have a YouTube video or Twitch stream going while you played a game, for example, letting you keep on top of live sports or events. Alternatively, you could use the feature to watch walkthrough videos as you played.

You could also dock the system's Achievement app, letting you track progress to your next unlock on-screen in real time.

Sadly, Microsoft binned off Snap in 2017 as part of the Xbox One's mid-generation UI refresh, along with other bits and pieces of bloat. This paved the way for the dashboard interface used today on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

 

Roxkis_ii

Member
They have a bootleg snap feature for the Ps5.
If you have someone send you a link over messages, you can open a floating browser window and snap it to the side of the screen. It's kinda messy and you can't full screen youtube videos, but it's there.

I'm sure Microsoft's execution was a lot better, but I can see why they dropped the feature.
 
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IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
They have a bootleg snap feature for the Ps5.
If you have someone send you a link over messages, you can open a floating browser window and snap it to the side of the screen. It's kinda messy and you can't full screen youtube videos, but it's there.

I'm sure Microsoft's execution was a lot better, but I can see why they dropped the feature.
Sony hiding the web browser annoys me.

Especially because I think it's to make sure cloud gaming sites don't work. (I'd love to be proven wrong and have them actually make a browser app we can launch but until then, I'm going with this theory)

I just want to be able to watch porn every once in a while on my PS5 you fucks.
 
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kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
They have a bootleg snap feature for the Ps5.
If you have someone send you a link over messages, you can open a floating browser window and snap it to the side of the screen. It's kinda messy and you can't full screen youtube videos, but it's there.

I'm sure Microsoft's execution was a lot better, but I can see why they dropped the feature.
It's nice when you're sharing screen and don't use the full snap option so it's picture in picture.

YXoLbSp.jpg
 

jaysius

Banned
They have a bootleg snap feature for the Ps5.
If you have someone send you a link over messages, you can open a floating browser window and snap it to the side of the screen. It's kinda messy and you can't full screen youtube videos, but it's there.

I'm sure Microsoft's execution was a lot better, but I can see why they dropped the feature.
I wonder if that floating window eats into performance in some way?

There must be a reason for Sony not to allow access to this amazing sounding feature.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Yea cause saying xbox snap was very complicated 🙄

Over-complicated to the general consumer for what it exists largely for... to play games, and watch shit on streaming apps.

My opinion at least; I don't personally dislike the UI.. but I think MS would be better off simplifying it even further.

Keep in mind they ditched the Kinect requirement pretty quickly so you can't just claim anyone can rely on voice commands. Most people don't sit around with a headset/mic on either.
 
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[Sigma]

Member
I use it on my PS5(well the low budget version it has lol)to watch fights every once in a while or youtube while playing a game.
 
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ThaGuy

Member
I'm miss the Netflix feature that let up to 8 people watch the same show or movie. Netflix took it away cause they said not many people used it but I beg to differ lol.

On the topic of snap, sometimes it would slow the system down so I used it a handful of times. But I think it would work well with the series family
 
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Warablo

Member
I only started to use it right when they decided to take it away. It was okay, but would have been better if you could scale it to how large you want.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I rarely use it, but I was confused when they called it a bootleg version.

It might not be the exact same as Snap, but if you use Activity Cards its a useful feature.

The "bootleg version" is clicking a link from a message someone sends you. Sony doesn't let you arbitrarily browse youtube or something only watching the official videos built into activities/the help system.

But via a link clicked in a message you can try to open any web site and I guess it floats on the screen.
 

CeeJay

Member
I used it a few times but never found anything worth using it for that warranted the screen real estate. A smart phone next to you while you play is a way better solution to the problem that snap was trying to solve.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
It was a poorly thought out feature. That whole dash design was a mess.
 

Bridges

Member
The only cool stuff the base XB1 had going for it that set it apart were Snap and Kinect, of course they both had to die when they were digging themselves out of the Mattrick hole.

I'm not gonna say it wasn't the right decision, but I wish there were a way to keep them. I personally got a lot of use out of Snap and Kinect.
 
Snap was confusing and ultimately in the way. I never needed it. Never wanted it. Never used it. It just got in the way.
Use your smart phone tablet or wife as a second screen. Give up on this split screen nonsense.
And if it comes back, I hope it can be disabled parentally so I can't accidently split my screen like last time.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
They have a bootleg snap feature for the Ps5.
If you have someone send you a link over messages, you can open a floating browser window and snap it to the side of the screen. It's kinda messy and you can't full screen youtube videos, but it's there.

I'm sure Microsoft's execution was a lot better, but I can see why they dropped the feature.
Yea I use it mainly for YT while gaming.
 

Ev1L AuRoN

Member
I don't think many people will miss it. IMHO it was just a gimmick, and it consumes VRAM and resources that are better allocated elsewhere.
 
Given how many have a PC or phone or tablet device right next to their Xbox it's really not needed. The resource hogging wasn't the best either.
 

Helghan

Member
It was a great feature killed by the Xbox being seen as TV TV TV, which was Microsoft's own fault for releasing such a weak system. Snap feature when you already have a weak CPU...
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
A shame.

Watching a baseball or hockey game with HDMI In on Xbox One OG while playing a game was awesome.

Only worth doing for SP games as the game window was reduced in size.

Only problem was playing a game at the same time lead to the TV feed being at maybe half the frames. Audio was perfectly fine. Then exit the game to the dashboard and the TV feed was fine.
 
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