Xbox Smartglass, the app that Microsoft once hoped people would use to play casual games and control their Xbox from across the room, has been retired.
Microsoft quietly announced the death of Xbox Smartglass in an update to the Xbox Support website. According to the support site, the company removed the app from the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store and Windows Store back on May 18th. Movies and television shows that came with Xbox Smartglass content will still work, you just can’t see whatever should have appeared on your smartphone or tablet’s screen.
The company is encouraging anyone that relied on SmartGlass to use their Xbox 360 Controller or Xbox 360 Media Remote instead.
I began to suspect something was up with Xbox Smartglass a few weeks ago. Overnight, a ton of the movies in my collection had the Xbox Smartglass tag removed from the top of their posters in the Movies and TV app. I can’t say that I ever used Xbox Smartglass much, though. I was never a huge fan of using a small screen to control a larger screen. At least, I wasn’t after I tried it a few times.
The Xbox Smartglass app’s retirement on Xbox 360 doesn’t change anything for Xbox One owners. That console uses the Xbox app, a modern upgrade to the Smartglass app that debuted with the Xbox One. It will continue to work just fine.