Back in mid June, the Xbox Insider team at Microsoft released the first iteration of the long awaited new Avatar Editor for testers of the companies Xbox One console.
That release was very limited in functionality for modifying your new avatar but it got testers started in working with the new app. Since then in subsequent Xbox Insider builds there have been small tweaks and enhancements made to the app and the appearance of the new avatars across the Xbox One’s console dashboard.
Well yesterday the new Avatar Editor received its biggest refresh as part of the latest Alpha-Skip Ahead/Alpha Xbox Insider build release to testers. This update not only added many more options for editing and personalizing your avatar but it also introduced the Avatar Store. In this store you have the option to select from a variety of add-ons for your avatar to personalize it even further. There are now paid options to customize your avatars including appearance, clothing and accessories.
There are currently a handful of free add-ons from the Avatar Store. Included in this collection is a special edition Xbox Insider t-shirt that will only be available to Xbox Insiders until the app is released to the general public sometime down the road.
I think it matches my eyes.
Xbox Insider Free T-Shirt in the Avatar Store on Xbox One
The new Avatar Store is part of the Xbox One Avatar Editor app and once this testing build is installed it and all the new options for your avatar should be immediately available.
Microsoft is also making the new Avatar Editor available to Xbox Insiders on Windows 10 PCs with this new release on console. The app is a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app so it is compatible with other devices running Windows 10 – in this case your PCs, laptops, and tablets.
Microsoft indicates you must install the Xbox Insider Hub app from the Microsoft Store in order to gain access to the download link of the Avatar Editor app, a quest and survey about the new app on Windows 10. Pssst – this link might work on Windows 10 devices without the Xbox Insider app installed. If it does not just install the Xbox Insider Hub app and go with that option to get the new Xbox Avatar Editor on your machine.
Note: The Avatar Store is not part of this release of the Avatar Editor on Windows 10 – that will be added in a future update. Any items you purchase from the Avatar Store, on console or eventually on Windows 10, during its testing phase will remain in your Microsoft Account after the final version is released.
While the new Avatar Store and Windows 10 app for editing your new avatar are the big draws in this latest release for Xbox Insiders, one other update will change the way Xbox tutorials can be created.
A new option, Broadcast Everything, in the Mixer Broadcast settings now enables you to stream all aspects of your Xbox One console experience. The only exception is video streaming apps such as Netflix and YouTube which will cause the broadcast stream to end immediately. However, any other area of your console can be streamed now once you flip this toggle switch to on.
I tested it out last night and did a walk through of some of the updates in the Xbox Avatar Editor. That video on demand is up on my Mixer channel right now and will be available until the 29th of August. I used the Kinect microphone to record the audio as I did my streaming tour of the app which was never possible on console in the past. This was a test stream so there is some dead air for about the first 3 1/2 minutes while I was configuring the new setting. Feel free to jump ahead when you start viewing the video. I also posted an edited version of the video on YouTube – it is embedded below.
Here are some screenshots of the process of accessing the Xbox Avatar Editor app on Windows 10 using the Xbox Insider Hub app. You will also find some on console shots of the Avatar Store in this collection.
