Strategy and messaging app Discord has become a preferred way to stay in touch with friends while gaming, as well as finding like-minded groups through its many channels that support specific games, but until now it wasn’t possible to use Discord on your Xbox One without having an Xbox Live Gold membership.

The latest update to the console includes support for Discord’s Rich Presence feature, letting you connect the app to your Xbox account in order to show off what you’re playing and invite other users into your voice channel.

Introduction

The Xbox One has some new features coming, and one of the most notable is the ability to connect to voice chat servers that are associated with other social media platforms. The November Update will allow Xbox One users to play with friends on Xbox Live, as well as friends on different gaming networks such as Steam, PlayStation Network and more.

This update will also make it possible for gamers who prefer using text chat or another voice chat service such as Discord or Skype, they'll be able to do so without having to have their phones in-hand. They'll just need an internet connection and a headset that plugs into their controller.

Microsoft announced this feature at E3 2018, but the company hasn't given any indication when this functionality might go live. However, Microsoft says that gamers will be able to connect these apps directly to their Xbox One consoles when the November Update goes live. That means they won't need to use a third-party app like Curse or TeamSpeak. If you're curious about what these updates might look like once they're available - check out this video from Microsoft's E3 press conference below

What's new in the update?

-Users can now connect their Xbox Live account with a Discord account and join any of the voice channels they're already in.

-The integration will also let them chat with other Xbox One players who are in those same Discord servers.

-Gamers can use their Kinect microphone or the controller if they don't have a headset. This is similar to how Xbox 360 owners could chat on that console and PC gamers could do so on Windows 10.

-This means users will not be required to have their smartphones on hand, which is where they would need to be if they wanted to access their Xbox Live friends list while playing games on mobile devices like Android or iOS.

There's one major difference between this integration and what was available on Xbox 360: unlike when connecting your Microsoft Account to Discord through Windows 10, there won't be the ability to show up as Discord in public chats.

You'll still need your username. Now you can connect your Xbox Live account with a Discord account and join any of the voice channels you’re already in! The integration will also let you chat with other Xbox One players who are in those same Discord servers. 

You’ll still need your username –  

- but it doesn’t have to match on both sites. 

You can now enter a new password for each service from the settings menu inside Xbox or within the app itself.  You’ll no longer have to remember passwords for all of your accounts! 

How to connect to Discord voice channels without a phone

1. Open the Xbox One dashboard and go to Settings. 

2. Scroll down and select System > Console Info & Updates > Updates (or System > Console Info & Updates > Check for Updates if no updates are available). 

3. Select Update Now from the list of available updates or select Update All from the top of the page if no updates are available on your console at this time.

4. After the update completes, reconnect to your home network and launch Xbox One Chatpad app by typing it in the search bar. 

5. From there, type in what chat channel you want to join, e.g., discord then press enter. You should be connected to that chat room now! To disconnect, click Disconnect next to the name of the chat room.

To invite other players who don't have an Xbox One into your game party, you can send them an invitation through either their gamertag or their email address with Invite . If they're not already on Discord, they'll get a link which will prompt them to download and install the app before joining your party. If they do have the app installed, clicking Join will take them right into the voice channel.