Skype, Xbox One chat, XBone skyping

After making group chat free and also accepting some feedback from users earlier in April, the Skype team has announced a new ability for Xbox One owners using Skype: the ability to “Snap” a la Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Like Windows, Snap makes it possible to experience two apps on your Xbox One at once — playing a game or watching Star Trek Into Darkness while chatting for instance. While it’s true you could Snap other apps into Skype for Xbox One before, this new update now makes the reverse possible as well, keeping your games and movies as the primary view while keeping in contact with your friends and family.

Once you’ve began a voice or video call, you can then control the call within Snap, whether you want to add another friend to the call, turn the camera off or hang up, all without leaving your other activity.

You’ll also be able to enjoy these features without the need to sign up for Xbox Live Gold starting in June, which should make it easier for a larger group of people to join the conversation via their gaming consoles.

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By Josh Robert Nay

Josh Robert Nay is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TruTower. He has worked in the telecommunications industry since 2003 and specializes in GSM based technology. He also uses (too many) VoIP apps and is a long-time user of BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone. He adores anything having to do with space exploration and writing. In addition to the links below, he can be found on LinkedIn and can also be found on his website at http://www.joshrobertnay.com.