How to play your Xbox games on an Android device remotely using console streaming

Console streaming is an extremely convenient feature that lets you stream the games present on your gaming console to another device. Sony has already implemented console streaming on the PS4 for both iOS and Android. On the Xbox camp though, things have been different. Microsoft has been pushing for the release of Project xCloud, its video game streaming service. However, in the process of doing that, the company kind of forgot that console streaming was just as important for Xbox.

Thankfully, after the Xbox app on Windows, Microsoft is finally rolling out console streaming for Android as well. This will make a massive difference to how games are played since you can basically connect your phone to your Xbox controller and turn it into a handheld console, for gaming on the go.

Unlike Project xCloud, console streaming will allow players to stream all of their Xbox One and Xbox 360 games that are currently installed on their Xbox consoles. So, you do need to own an Xbox One console for this to work. Want to get in on that Xbox console streaming action? Here’s everything you need to do in order to set it up.

Minimum requirements for Xbox console streaming

Before you get into the actual things you need to do to enable console streaming, you need to make sure that you meet the minimum requirements for it.

1. For now, Xbox console streaming is only limited to Xbox insiders in the US and the UK. So, the first thing you need to do is to sign up for the insider program and enroll your console in the Alpha or the Alpha skip ahead ring. The feature will eventually roll out to everyone but for now, being an insider is necessary. You can sign up for the Xbox insider program right here.
2. Secondly, you need to own an Xbox One console. This is necessary because unlike Project xCloud, console streaming actually streams through your console. You also need a Bluetooth-enabled Xbox One wireless controller as there are no onscreen controls for console streaming yet.
3. You need an Android phone or a tablet running at least Android version 6.0. Console streaming, like Project xCloud, is not out on iOS yet.
4. You also need a decent internet connection with at least 5 Mbps upload bandwidth and relatively low network latency (125 ms or lower).

How to play PS4 games on your phone via remote play?

How to set up console streaming for an Xbox One

After you’ve done all the checks, you can finally move on to setting up your console and Android device for console streaming. Just follow these steps:

1. Download the Xbox Console Streaming (Preview) app from the Google Play store on your Android device via this link. If the app isn’t available or supported in your region of choice, you can always download the APK file for it and sideload the app using a third party website. However, the chances of that working well are pretty slim since this is a limited run for console streaming.

1. Open the console streaming app on your phone. The app will look for your Xbox One console and connect to it. Make sure that you Xbox One console is powered on at this point.
2. The app will guide you through different steps to make sure the console enrollment process goes smoothly. After that, it will perform a small test to see whether your internet connection is good enough to support remote console streaming. The app will also test other things like the controller and NAT settings.
3. After all the checks are complete, you’d be able to stream your Xbox One games to your Android device anywhere.

Set Xbox One to instant-on mode

While console streaming will probably work without this feature if you keep your Xbox One console on, turning instant-on mode is highly recommended for a seamless experience. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go into Settings and navigate to the Power & Startup menu.
2. Open the Power Mode and Start up menu.
3. Make sure that the Power Mode is set to Instant-on and is not on energy saving.

This will make sure that wherever you are, you can always turn your console on using your Android device.

According to Microsoft, you should be able to play most of your Xbox One games using console streaming. However, the support for Xbox 360 and original Xbox games will come later down the road at some point.

Xbox Console Streaming is still in preview mode and is only available in testing phase for Xbox Insiders in the UK and US. Microsoft is also currently running a preview for its game streaming service, Project xCloud which will compete against Google Stadia.