Things You Never Knew The Share Button On Xbox Series X Could Do

Accidental screenshotting during intense in-game moments has happened to the best of console players everywhere — especially so for owners of the Xbox Series X. With the Share button situated smack in the middle of every input and perilously close to the View and Menu buttons, there's a myriad number of ways to press it unwittingly while trying to do just about anything else.

The universal rise of screenshotting and recording capabilities — as well as the assorted social media connectivity functions — has been a boon and a curse in equal parts. Sure, players might have done anything for the option to capture their best moments during the Xbox 360 era, but having to clean out the mistakes from your storage on a semi-regular basis — depending on how often your mishaps are — isn't exactly the most convenient.

The good news is that you can simply re-map the oddly placed button to nearly any other function, including ones that don't have anything to do with screenshotting. With a few minutes of tinkering, the Series X controller's Share button can pull off some neat tricks you never knew it could do.

A recent Reddit post bemoaning the Share button's placement went semi-viral and collected a good swath of comments pointing out the remap functionality. Apparently, the ability to remap the share button was added during a firmware update earlier this year: All that Series X owners have to do is go into the controller configuration menu and choose a new function for the Share button from its drop-down menu (courtesy of Tinker Man Mick via Youtube). The options include opening the Xbox guide, sending messages, launching certain apps, and more. On top of all that, you can remap the button's additional functions when held or double-tapped. A post on the Xbox Series X subreddit demonstrated the quick-switch made possible by configuring the "Launch App" function with three different games pinned to each input. Depending on your needs and preferences, the Share button could very well become your go-to timesaver while using the console.

The possibilities aren't entirely endless, of course. As multiple Reddit and Youtube comments pointed out, the drop-down lacks a "mute/unmute" functionality that would really improve the multiplayer experience. Still, this opens up a whole new avenue of utility and convenience for those looking for it — there's even a "No Action" option for those with frequent screenshot mishaps who'd like to disable it entirely.