What you need to know
- Xbox is adding support for purchasing games via the Android mobile app.
- Users can buy an Xbox game from their Android phone in two taps and set it to automatically install on their console remotely.
- The platform is also removing Remote Play support from the app, but it’ll remain available on the mobile web client.
While other online gaming storefronts allowed Android users to buy games from their smartphones, like Steam, this feature was notably absent from the Xbox app. Now, that’s finally changing. In the Xbox April Update, the platform added support for buying games, purchasing add-ons, subscribing to Game Pass, and redeem Perks straight from an iOS Android device.
The expanded functionality is set to become available for beta testers on both Android and iOS first, with all Google Play Store users and App Store users getting the feature at a later date. For users that have payment information saved with Xbox, it’ll only take two clicks on their Android phone to buy a new game. This streamlines the browsing and purchasing process, which can be difficult on an Xbox due to controller limitations.
If this sounds familiar, it should: Xbox announced plans to support this feature way back in October 2024. It resulted from a U.S. court decision that barred Google from mandating developers use Google Play Billing to process in-app purchases. But due to court delays, Microsoft had to put its plans on pause until things could be sorted out.
Buying Xbox games from the Android mobile app is now possible due to the requirement for developers to use Google Play Billing being dropped. With Google Play Billing, Xbox would’ve had to surrender a cut to Google for processing payments through the Play Store.
At the time, Xbox President Sarah Bond stated that these changes would make it possible for the company to offer Xbox purchases within the Android app. “The court’s ruling to open up Google’s mobile store in the US will allow more choice and flexibility,” said Bond in an October 2024 post.
Aside from purchasing games and add-ons in the Xbox app, users can also remotely install those games on their Xbox console. So, users can buy an app on their Android phone and have it installed and ready to go by the time they return home.
Separately, Xbox is removing Remote Play support from the Android app, but it will still remain accessible on mobile through the xbox.com/remoteplay website.
