Windows 10’s biggest feature is the ability to link up your PC to your Xbox One using the Xbox App. But the Xbox App dives so much deeper than just linking your console to your PC, you can do so much more than that. The app lets you stream your Xbox One games to your PC, view your Xbox account, play Windows 10 games, earn achievements, and much more.

Windows 10 Xbox App

The App

The Xbox app for Windows is very easy to navigate around, it is located on the start menu and once you have linked your account to the app all your Gamertag data will download including your Avatar, profile, and achievements.

Windows 10 Xbox App

The app is divided into separate categories, here you can see your friends online on the right, and the menu on the left. From the menu you navigate to Achievements, Games, friends, and connect to your Xbox One.

You can view all your currently installed PC games under the “games” tab, if the app has not picked up a game, you can then add it by searching through Windows Explorer for it.

Windows 10 Xbox App

Your profile is just how you left it on the Xbox One, all your pinned achievements are there, and you can easily see your activity feed and how your avatar looks.

Porfile Page

The Games

Games that you download through the Windows 10 Store will all appear under the games tab. Upon launching them it open up a tab that you can maximize and minimize at ease. Running Asphalt 8: Airborne on my 40” Bravia was beautiful, even though the game is a tablet game, it was a different take on the whole Windows games vibe.

You can even earn achievements from the games that you download via the Windows Store. These achievements all add onto your overall Gamerscore, so it makes it worthwhile to fill up your hard drive with some of these great casual games. I downloaded Farmville, don’t judge.


Overall the app does a great job in dedicating itself to gaming, it is much better than the Smart Glass app, and can do so much more than it too. So do not feel like it is just some companion app, because it is way more than that.


The highlight of the app is its ability to stream Xbox One games to your PC, and it works, very well. Once you have the Xbox One on the same network as your PC, then it will pick it up and you can link the two together. All it takes is two simple clicks to get the games streaming, and you can grab a controller, plug it into your PC, or leave it connected to your Xbox One and play away.

Windows 10 Xbox App

The quality is slightly lower than the full 1080p clear picture you would get from your direct TV port, and there is slight lag, but I am sure the better your graphics card, and the better you network infrastructure, the more the stream will look like it’s coming straight from your Xbox One.

Windows 10 Xbox App

Regardless, this is like PlayStation’s Remote Play but this time with a monitor and not a PS Vita or Xperia Tablet. It is a clever move seen as most of the time your PC would be free when you are booted off your TV where your Xbox One is plugged into.


Personally I cannot wait to see how things are going to work in the future once more exclusive Xbox One games release that fully support Windows 10 cross play. It feels so much more than just a gimmick and actually gives your PC a gaming platform even if you don’t game on your PC. Microsoft are slowly blurring the lines between console gaming and PC gaming, and I am okay with that.