November is here and that means friends, family, food and plenty of gaming in between. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve got a number of exciting new updates and features to share with you. The November 2019 Xbox Update begins rolling out today and delivers the Xbox Action for Google Assistant, new improvements for gamertags on console and mobile devices, text filters and even more to help you get the most out of your next gaming session.

Xbox Action for the Google Assistant

We’re excited to announce the Xbox Action for the Google Assistant is now publicly available to Xbox One customers in all countries where the Google Assistant is supported. English language is available today, with additional language support coming soon.

With the launch of the Xbox Action for the Google Assistant, you can now interact with your Xbox One in even more ways using just your voice, including the ability to turn your console on and off, launch games and apps, play and pause videos, and more, from any Google Assistant and Home-enabled smart speaker or devices, as well as the Google Assistant apps on iOS and Android.

For more information on the Xbox Action for the Google Assistant, including setup instructions and example commands, please visit the Google Assistant support page on Xbox.com.

The Xbox Action for the Google Assistant joins the Xbox Skill for Alexa as another great option for controlling your console with just your voice, giving you more choice than ever before in how you interact with Xbox. A huge thank you to everyone that participated in the beta and helped provide feedback.

“Hey Google, play Gears 5 on Xbox.”

Gamertag Improvements on Console

At E3 this past summer, we introduced our plan to revamp gamertags across PC, mobile devices and Xbox One consoles in order to give players around the world more choice in how they represent themselves including 13 additional worldwide alphabets and a new display option. With the November 2019 Xbox Update, these gamertag options are now supported on console, including profiles, friend lists, messages, Clubs, LFG and more. Everyone will be able to see updated gamertags and users creating new Xbox accounts or changing their existing one will have the option to use the new supported characters or add a numbered suffix to a gamertag that has already been claimed. To learn more about these changes click here.

Current Xbox players can keep their existing gamertags without any further action required on their part and no change in experience from the way that it looks today. There will be no difference in how your gamertag is presented unless you wish to create a new account or change your existing gamertag.

Example of a gamertag utilizing newly supported characters

With all these new gamertags, we wanted to make searching for your friends or new teammates easier than ever. In addition to the updated features for gamertags, we are launching the all-new “People Search” feature which allows you to find others using partial or non-exact search terms.

New “People Search” feature

Xbox text filters

Last month, we detailed our vision for Xbox Live content filtration as part of our commitment to responsible gaming on Xbox. In the November 2019 Xbox Update, you can set your own specific level of automated filtration so you can decide what’s acceptable and what isn’t in the text-based messages you receive across Xbox Live. Filter levels can be customized based on four tiers of filtration – Friendly, Medium, Mature and Unfiltered. And as always, if you receive a message that violates our Community Standards for Xbox, even with filters in place, you can still report this conduct to Xbox Enforcement for follow up.

On your console, you can configure your message safety by going to Settings > General > Online safety & family > Privacy & online safety > Message safety. Whenever you receive a message that’s beyond your safety setting, it’ll be replaced with a [Potentially offensive message hidden] placeholder. You can click on that placeholder to learn more about the settings, and there’s a handy shortcut to go change those settings. Adult accounts will have the ability to choose whether to see what content has been filtered based on the filter they choose. To learn more about how to setup this feature, check out our video walkthrough.

Set your desired level of message filtration

More Mixer viewing improvements

Building upon the improvements introduced in the October 2019 Xbox Update, this month we’re making a couple more great enhancements for Mixer viewers. Thanks to your feedback, you now have the option to move the Mixer chat on the left or right side of your screen or hide it altogether.

Additionally, we’re updating the Subscribe button with a reminder to renew when one of your channel subscriptions is within a week of expiration, making it easier to stay subscribed to your favorite Mixer Partners.

Chat Position Options

Subscription Renewal Reminder

Voice-to-Text Dictation

Dictation expands further in the November 2019 Xbox Update with support for more languages! With either a headset or Kinect, you can press the View button whenever the keyboard is on screen to start converting speech to text. To change your preferences from your regional default, head to Settings > System > Language & location to select your keyboard & dictation language.

Supported languages and regions include English (US & Canada), English (India), English (UK), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), French (Canada), French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, with more to come in future updates.

Simplified Settings

This month, we’re introducing a new look for the console Settings menu aimed to provide simplicity and greater ease of use. The menu has been condensed and reorganized, with commonly used settings elevated to the top to improve navigation and discoverability for everyone.

Reorganized Settings page

Console setup improvements

Beginning this fall, customers unboxing their new Xbox One consoles will be able to get to the action quicker thanks to improvements we are making to the console setup process. Gamers who buy a brand new Xbox One will have the option to customize their Xbox One’s language, time zone, power settings, and more through the Xbox app for iOS or Android while the Xbox console is installing the latest system update.

As always, these updates are possible because of the Xbox Insiders who have helped shape these features, so huge thanks to all participants for their valuable input. If you’d like to help create the future of Xbox and provide feedback on early features, download the Xbox Insider Hub app on your Xbox One or Windows 10 PC today. You can also visit the Xbox Insider Blog here for the latest release notes, or join the Xbox Insiders subreddit to submit feedback and join the discussion.

We’re always working to improve your gaming experience on Xbox One and will have more announcements in the coming months. In the meantime, stay tuned for more information and happy gaming!