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You'll Be Able to Buy Games and More From the Xbox Mobile App Soon

Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can also stream some games they own to their Xbox consoles.

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Headshot of Zachary McAuliffe
Zachary McAuliffe Staff writer
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
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Xbox Game Pass
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The Xbox mobile app is about to get a lot more powerful. Xbox announced on Wednesday that iOS and Android users will be able to buy games, subscribe to Game Pass and more right from the Xbox app soon. 

"The Xbox app will display a Buy button on game detail pages, allowing [players] to purchase games and add-on content," Xbox wrote online. 

Beta testers on iOS and Android will get access to this Xbox mobile app feature first, and other mobile users will be able to buy Xbox games on their phone via the mobile app soon -- which means my bank account is safe for now.

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You'll be able to buy games from the Xbox mobile app soon.

 Microsoft

However, Xbox said that remote play -- which lets you play games saved on your console on other devices -- won't be accessible in the Xbox app any longer. But you can still access remote play from a mobile browser on your smartphone and the company is bringing the feature to supported Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices and Meta Quest headsets.

Xbox also announced that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can stream some more games they might own to their Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta). To do so, go to the My games & apps on your console, select Full library and then Owned Games. Cloud-playable games will have a little cloud badge on the game's detail page. 

And I know what you're thinking: "Couldn't I already stream some of the games I own to my console?"

Not quite. When Xbox announced in November that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers could stream some games they own, subscribers could only stream those games to a few devices, like select Samsung TVs and Amazon Fire devices, as well as the Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro.

Speaking of being able to stream the games you own, Xbox also said Wednesday that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now stream eight more games to their devices. Those games are:

Xbox also plans to let you stream more than a dozen other games you might own soon. Those games are:

For more on Xbox, check out other games available on Game Pass now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you.

Watch this: Xbox Handheld Console Might Launch This Year