Xbox Mobile App is Adding Support for Games and Game Pass Purchases

The Xbox mobile app will soon let iOS and Android users purchase games and subscribe to Game Pass. The change is rolling out first to the Xbox beta app on both platforms, and the Xbox team said today that it was “one of the most requested features” from Xbox gamers.

“Players will soon be able to buy games and add-on content, join Game Pass, and redeem Perks directly from the Xbox app on mobile,” the Xbox team explained. Xbox gamers who already have a saved form of payment in their Microsoft account will automatically start seeing a Buy button on game details pages.

It’s not immediately clear if Microsoft got Apple and Google to concede on the 30% cut the two companies take on in-app purchases, but this is a pretty big deal anyway. What’s still missing is the ability to access Xbox Cloud Gaming from the Xbox mobile app, and they may not come anytime soon.

In its blog post detailing the Xbox April Update, the Xbox team also announced that the Xbox mobile app is dropping support for remote play. Xbox players will now need to go to xbox.com/remoteplay to stream Xbox games installed on their console via their mobile web browser. However, Microsoft bringing remote play to the web will make the feature available on more devices, including Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets.

“By unifying Xbox remote play and Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox.com, we’re able to support more devices, open access to the store on the Xbox app on mobile, and make it easier for our teams to optimize the streaming experience and build new features going forward,” the Xbox team said today.