Easy Xbox Series X hack makes playing games even better

Don't like to share? Then use the button for something more useful instead

Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Future)

The Share button on my Xbox Series X controller would be better described as the swear button: I only ever press it by accident, usually because I'm in the middle of a tricky situation and can't remember which button brings up my weapon wheel or my collection of potions. So I'm delighted by the new Xbox Series X update that enables me to do something much more useful with it instead.

As Reddit's A-damn1988 discovered, the new remapping feature has an unexpected benefit: you can use it as a game switcher.

How to remap the Share button on your Xbox controller: Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X

The app you need to remap the Share button is the Xbox Accessories app, which you'll find in My Games & Apps. This is where you can re-assign the Share button's functions when you tap, double-tap and hold it. In combination with the new pinned Quick Resume feature, that means you can map the button to a specific game and switch to it immediately – handy if you're playing something frustratingly difficult and need to switch to a palate cleanser before the red mist of rage-quitting descends.

It's a useful trick, although it's wise to choose the double-tap or long-press option so you don't accidentally switch games in the middle of the action the same way I accidentally take screenshots. But if your controller muscle memory is better than mine it's a great way to repurpose a largely redundant button to do something more useful. 

Of course, to do this you actually have to have an Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X. But if you've been trying to get one without any luck, the good news is that stock is much less erratic than before. Our Xbox Series X Stock tracker will help you steer clear of the scalpers to get your console for its proper price.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).