"Snap" feature removed from Xbox One

A new updated UI is currently being rolled out for Xbox One preview members. Among a wide array of new updates to Cortana, system updates, the Guide, general look and feel and the addition of a "co-pilot" mode which allows two controllers to simultaneously be assigned as "controller one", the somewhat infamous Snap feature has been removed altogether.

Are there people out there who actually used Snap? I might have kept achievements open on the side a few times but never used for the most advertised features like video.

RIP Snap.

I GOT DA POWAH!!!!

i mean RIP snap

i think it was kinda supposed to emulate the feel of a dual monitor or windows desktop setup maybe? i guess it never really felt right on consoles. they have (had?) that 2nd hdmi, maybe could have given the option to simultaneously output to 2 screens or something.

The idea seemed to be that you could watch TV and play a game on the same screen at the same time, kinda like in Back to the Future Part II where Marty's lookalike kid uses his voice to bring up six different channels at once.

Which was probably an awesome idea in the '80's but I have three screens plugged up to my computer and could probably get a fourth one plugged in. I only occasionally use more than one and very, very rarely use all three at the same time for entertainment. I can't really imagine someone on a console wanting to split one screen in half for two purposes.

All of that said, I'm not really a fan of the idea of removing features, even ones that seem totally and completely useless. Something that I could never in a million years think of any use for might be something that someone else uses daily. I really hope they removed it for a better reason than "only a handful of people ever used it".

Snap sucks!

That co-pilot mode is a really great idea though!

@justin258: I think the reasoning given in the tweet seems plausible. I could be wrong, but I'd imagine not having to worry about having spare resources to allocate towards adding a snap window to whatever the user doing should give them better overheads for memory etc. Might allow them to do some cool new stuff!

It's a resource hog, presumably. Freeing that up, especially with a new model on the way, makes sense.

Siiiick. It's about time.

I actually did use Snap. If there was a sporting event I was only half-interested in, I'd snap TV and play a game while half-paying attention to it. I guess it's not that surprising to see it go away, as this is basically more Kinect fallout. If it actually translates into noticeably less latency on the menus, it's worth it. I'll trust them on that.

I personally never used it on purpose. Sometimes it happened, but not because I wanted it to.

I admittedly barely used the feature, but it was pretty neat to play Titanfall and watch a video at the same time. I think I'll put on a Quick Look and play some Attrition before it's gone for good!

I got a Xbox One in December and honestly I don't know what snap is. Sometimes games will put up a manual on the side in what looks like a browser window. Is that snap? How is it going to work now?

What could possibly be bigger than snap...

Xbox, snap Bing.

The guide button stuff is what they should've been doing all along.

I probably use snap more than most.

- Watching football I'll have stats for various games snapped to the side.
- When I have Sesame Street or other edutainment stuff playing for my son I'll sometimes snap something else to the side that I can watch on mute, usually sports of some kind.
- When I'm playing a "podcast game" I would snap youtube or the music player so I had something to listen to while I grind away.

To be fair, it was clunky at best and probably not something I will miss. Mostly used it because it was there. Always thought it sucked that it took up so much screen space when it should have just been an overlay. Some games didn't even handle it properly, like TF2.

@jaycrockett: That is snap, yes.

I was genuinely baffled by how bad snap was, I tried it a few times but the little screen you get is so ridiculously small. I mean, if you want another screen I would just use a tablet or something..

Cool idea, but I never used it as I do not own a Xbox One. If it was implemented in a good way, and was not a resource hog, I could see this as being pretty cool.

Good riddance. I always hated how laggy it would make the OS when used. Also fuck those help menu sidebars they use in games now.