Windows 10: All About Xbox Insider Preview Rings

Brink · Aug 17, 2019

In June of 2018, we announced the addition of Alpha Skip-Ahead to our existing Xbox One Update Preview rings. The goal was to allow gamers to provide feedback for Xbox One builds or features long before we expect to release them to the general public. Thanks to our most enthusiastic members that goal is becoming a reality.

Because we’ve seen confusion regarding the difference between rings, we hope this post will help you understand the purpose of each one.

Xbox Insider Program Rings

As of August 2019, the current Xbox Insider rings are:

Alpha Skip-Ahead – An “invite only” ring that receives preview builds of a future Xbox One OS release.

“Future” release means these builds may not be released to GA for some time. As such, they may contain different features than other rings.

Alpha – An “invite-only” ring that receives preview builds of the next upcoming Xbox One OS release.

This means this is a preview version of the build that will be delivered to the general audience (GA) next.

Alpha receives a preview release of the next upcoming build before any other ring.

Beta – An open ring to Xbox Insiders with 3 or more months tenure, with a level 5 or higher in the program.

Beta receives the next public release of an Xbox One OS starting at some point later than Alpha.

Once Beta receives a build, the build is typically released that same week Alpha receives them.

Delta – An open ring to Xbox Insiders with 1 or more months tenure, with a level 2 or higher in the program.

Omega – An open ring to anyone who would like to receive system updates and features shortly before they release to the GA.

Common Question from Xbox Insiders

“I’m in Skip-Ahead, but we haven’t gotten the same features as Alpha. Sometimes we get them after Alpha. What gives?”

Whenever Team Xbox releases a new build (or feature), the confidence in a ring’s stability helps us determine which ring might receive it. This stability is both dependent on the build itself and the service that powers it. Each ring is critical in ensuring Xbox One OS builds are in excellent condition when they’re released to GA. Alpha Skip-Ahead builds may include fundamental changes to the OS. This ring may also include or lack features the other “next” rings (Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omega) have.

Alpha Skip-Ahead is part of a different development branch from the other preview rings. The fundamental, core changes that are implemented into Alpha Skip-Ahead builds are done so to validate their stability and functionality. Not all the ways in which Alpha Skip-Ahead differs from the other rings will be obvious with every OS build. Changes that are integrated into other rings, that are visibly reflected in the UI (user interface), may not appear in Alpha Skip-Ahead right away, but our development teams work to get them out as quickly as possible. This ring serves as a building block for changes for Xbox One that have a larger impact on the functionality and stability of the system, overall.

Because of how much sooner Alpha Skip-Ahead receives system updates, this time allows for longer stress-testing of these features to see how they perform with a smaller audience we know we can trust to provide us critical feedback. Your feedback helps us ensure the feature or build performs and scales, as expected, before releasing to the next ring.

We hope this gives you some insight into how the rings work.

Thank You for Being an Xbox Insider

You have chosen to go above and beyond to help provide us with invaluable feedback and suggestions. We thank you all for your participation in making Xbox the experience it has been and will become!

Helpful Xbox Support Links

Get the Xbox Insider Hub app

Xbox Insider FAQ

How to provide feedback as an Xbox Insider

For more information: follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for release notes, announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.
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Source: All About Xbox Insider Preview Rings - Xbox Wire

See also: Xbox Insider Program FAQ

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Brink · Aug 17, 2019

Xbox Insider program to get its own series of Rings

Last November, the Xbox team announced that the Xbox Preview Program would become the Xbox Insider Program, offering additional opportunities to provide feedback along the way. More importantly, we learned that the Xbox Insider Program would be open to all Xbox One users, unlike the Xbox Preview Program which has always been invite-only.

While we didn’t heard much about the Xbox Insider Program since then, it seems that Microsoft quietly made it official yesterday along the release of the the first wave of Xbox One features for the upcoming Creators Update. According to a recent post on the Xbox Insider Forums (you may not be able to see it if you’re not already a member of the Xbox Insider Program), the Xbox team has chosen to make the Xbox Insider Program consistent with the more popular Windows Insider program by dividing it into four different preview rings. Here are the details below:

Xbox One Update Preview Alpha – The first Preview ring, this group typically receives 2-3 new system updates per week during a Preview Update wave. Preview Alpha is the cutting edge, and users in this group receive access to new features and fixes as soon as possible at the expense of potential bugs.

Xbox One Update Preview Beta – The second Preview ring, this group typically receives 1-2 new system updates per week during a Preview Update wave. Preview Beta users receive frequent system updates and early access to new features and fixes, with somewhat less risk of encountering bugs.

Xbox One Update Preview Ring 3 – The third Preview ring, this group typically receives 2-3 new system updates per month during a Preview Update wave. Preview Ring 3 users receive infrequent system updates, and is suited for users who want early access to new features and fixes with less risk of encountering bugs.

Xbox One Update Preview Ring 4 – The fourth and final Preview ring, this group typically receives new system updates about once per month. Preview Ring 4 users receive system updates which are almost ready for public release, and thus receive the fewest system updates and are least likely to encounter bugs. In some cases, Preview Ring 4 users may also receive updated versions of the current publicly released build incorporating new fixes.

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Read more: Xbox Insider program to get its own series of “Rings” | On MSFT

Brink · Aug 17, 2019

Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring 1905 System Update 190428-1940 - May 1

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Alpha Ring will begin receiving the latest 1905 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3042.190428-1940) Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1905 system update.

DETAILS:

OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3042.190428-1940

Available: 2:00PM PDT 5/1/19

Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 5/2/19

Fixes:

System

Fixed a memory leak to address overall system performance.

Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Some users are encountering no audio on their Xbox console after boot (no shell audio, no game audio, no app audio), then have CSS ask them to perform the following steps:

Cold reboot the console

OR

Go to Audio settings on console

Change their HDMI audio settings to the highest supported uncompressed channel count for their equipment

Switch back to the desired format

Audio should be restored

My Games and Apps

We are tracking the video corruption issue with Youtube and Netflix 4k playback.

Profile Color

Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Click to expand...

Source: May 1st : New Preview Alpha Ring 1905 Update (1905.190428-1940) - Xbox Wire

Tip Xbox Insider Program FAQ

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Brink · Aug 17, 2019

Xbox One Preview Beta Ring 1905 System Update 190428-1940 - May 2

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta Ring will begin receiving the latest 1905 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3042.190428-1940) Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1905 system update.

DETAILS:

OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3042.190428-1940

Available: 2:00PM PDT 5/2/19

Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 5/3/19

Fixes:

System

Fixed a memory leak to address overall system performance.

Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.

Some users are encountering no audio on their Xbox console after boot (no shell audio, no game audio, no app audio), then have CSS ask them to perform the following steps:

Cold reboot the console

OR

Go to Audio settings on console

Change their HDMI audio settings to the highest supported uncompressed channel count for their equipment

Switch back to the desired format

Audio should be restored

My Games and Apps

We are tracking the video corruption issue with Youtube and Netflix 4k playback.

Profile Color

Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

Click to expand...

Source: May 2nd : New Preview Beta Ring 1905 Update (1905.190428-1940) - Xbox Wire

Tip Xbox Insider Program FAQ

Tweet

— Twitter API (@User) View on Twiiter

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