Microsoft has been testing its new xCloud game streaming service with Android users for a few months now. The company promised to bring the preview to iOS and Windows as well, but users have been waiting for a long time.

That’s changing today, though — at least for iOS users. Microsoft just announced that it’s bringing xCloud to iOS users with a new limited preview.

Don’t get too excited, though. There is a pretty big limitation — because of Apple’s App Store policies. The new xCloud preview will only let users play Halo: The Master Chief Collection due to Apple’s App Store policies. “To comply with App Store policies, the preview experience on iOS may look and feel different for those who have been testing on Android,” Microsoft said.

And unlike the Xbox Game Streaming preview app on Android, the iOS preview will only allow users to use xCloud and not use Xbox Console Streaming at this time.

Additionally, Apple’s TestFlight system only allows developers to create preview programs with a maximum of 10,000 users, and so Microsoft will only be inviting 10,000 users into the new xCloud preview on iOS. “Because of how iOS TestFlight works, those who are accepted into the iOS TestFlight preview may not necessarily participate for the full duration of the preview. As noted earlier, there are limited spaces available, so for testing purposes we may need to cycle through registrants in order to best utilize the available testing audience,” said Microsoft.

So yes, there is a lot of limitation. But if you still want to try out the new xCloud preview, and have an iPhone or iPad running iOS 13.0 or newer, you can sign-up for the preview here. 

Tagged with iOS, xCloud, xCloud Preview