Xbox Series X gamer uncovers hidden console shortcut we had no clue existed

An Xbox Series X gamer discovers a hidden feature on the Microsoft console that he had no clue existed.

Launched in 2020, the Xbox Series X and Series S are Microsoft’s latest consoles that have graced us with the likes of Forza Motorsport, Halo Infinite, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle to name a few. What’s more, it has tons of features other than being able to play the latest and greatest video games.

Check out the Indiana Jones and The Great Circle trailer below!

We can stream our favourite apps such as Netflix and Disney Plus, cast streams from our phones, watch 4K Blu-ray movies and much more. Quite possibly the best feature is ‘Quick Resume’ which lets us boot up our most recently played games from where we left off even if we’ve been away for days.

There are also likely to be other features that we never knew existed such as the one brought to our attention by an inquisitive gamer. As reported by Pure Xbox, Reddit user YaBoiLeeDawg has discovered that we can put the Xbox Series X/S in idle mode with a press of a button.

“Today I learned that if you press and hold the Xbox button, and then press ‘X’…,” they began to explain. “You’ll put your console in idle mode instantly. Pretty neat if you’re downloading something or just don’t want your screen to be at full brightness.”

“I always wondered why there was the ability to cycle through the idle screens with the shoulder buttons and interact with Y as when my Xbox was idle, 99% of the time my controller had also turned itself off due to being idle,” they continued. “Now it makes sense.”

We’ve all seen our Xbox consoles go into idle mode automatically over time. When the controller has not been touched for a while, the screen goes dull and we see rotating pop-ups that might highlight achievements we're close to getting and other Xbox activities.

So now, if for whatever reason you want to put your Xbox Series X/S into idle mode manually, now you know.