Xbox games update all the time, so you likely want these updates to run as quickly as possible to minimize interruptions. One of the best ways to do this is by closing your current game, but sometimes that's not an option. Maybe you're in the middle of something important and can't quit at the moment.

Thankfully, there's now an easy way to speed up Xbox game and app downloads while keeping your current game active. Here's how, plus some extra methods for speeding up downloads.

How to Speed Up Xbox Downloads by Suspending Your Current Game

Whether you have an Xbox One, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S, you can take advantage of a handy function that let you suspend your current game to prioritize active downloads. This is thanks to an Xbox update that Microsoft released in March 2021. On Xbox Series X|S, you can even take advantage of Quick Resume to pick up at the moment where you left off.

To suspend your current game, you of course must have a game open on your Xbox. With another download running, hit the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide. From there, go to My games & apps, then choose See all > Manage > Queue.

Alternatively, if a game that's downloading appears in the guide list, you can select it and choose See full queue to jump to the same page.

Xbox Manage Queue

On the Manage Queue page, you'll see what games are downloading. As a side note, if you have multiple downloads running, you can pause some of them to prioritize what's most important to you.

More importantly, under the You've got a game running. Suspend it to help improve download speeds text, choose Suspend my game. This will freeze your game in place, allowing the download(s) to take priority.

Xbox Manage Queue Suspend Downloads

After the downloads finish, select your game to jump right back into it where you left off. Keep in mind that if you were playing an online game, suspending will most likely kick you off the servers, so you'll need to reconnect after resuming.

In case you weren't aware, your Xbox prioritizes network activity for the game you're currently playing. Thus, having a game open will always throttle the download activity in the background. The traditional solution to this is to close all running games, but that can cause you to lose progress if you haven't saved. This is a smoother solution to that.

Remember that to install and apply updates for a game that's running, you must close the game. So this only comes in handy when you want to install a new game, or run updates for a different title.

Other Tips for Speeding Up Xbox Download Times

If you want your Xbox downloads to go even faster, there are some other tips you can put into place. Let's consider a few.

1. Restart Your Console

If you haven't done a full shutdown of your Xbox lately, it's a good idea to power it off fully and let it reboot. Like any computer, occasional reboots allow a game console to fix up any temporary glitches and perform at its best.

To reboot your Xbox, hold the Xbox button on your controller for a moment. Choose Restart console, then give it a few minutes to fully reboot. Remember that a full restart (not just putting it in standby mode) will close all open games, so if you have a game suspended, be sure to save it before rebooting.

Xbox Restart Console

Once it's running again, see if the download speed improves. This won't magically increase the maixmum speed of your internet connection, but it could optimize how your Xbox downloads. Try this anytime the download speed seems a lot slower than you expect.

2. Check Bandwidth Usage Elsewhere on Your Network

When your Xbox is downloading something, it has to share the available bandwidth on your network with every other device in your home. Thus, if you have other computers, phones, or game consoles using your network too, your Xbox download speeds will suffer.

Next time you need an Xbox download to complete as quickly as possible, check other devices in your home. If someone is downloading large files on a computer, streaming 4K video from another TV, uploading files to cloud storage, or performing other network-heavy behaviors, close those out and see if your Xbox download speeds increase.

To go further, you can set up the Quality of Service feature on your router. This allows you to specify certain devices or types of traffic that receive priority on your network.

3. Use a Wired Connection

If you connect your Xbox to your network using Wi-Fi, consider switching to a wired Ethernet connection. Even if you only do this temporarily to download an update or big game faster, it will make a big difference.

Xbox Series S Connect Cables

While Ethernet connections aren't as convenient as using Wi-Fi, they are more stable and offer faster download speeds. You'll get closer to the download speed that you pay your ISP for with an Ethernet cable than you will with Wi-Fi.

If you can't move your Xbox closer to your router, then buying a long Ethernet cable that you use for large downloads is a low-tech solution.

4. Consider Your Internet Speed

While all the above tips will help you download Xbox games and updates faster without closing your current game, your internet speed is still a limiting factor. If you only have a 20Mbps download speed from your ISP, nothing you do will up that speed to 100Mbps.

Use Speedtest.net to check your internet speed

If your entire network is experiencing slow speeds, you should reboot your router and modem, for the same reasons discussed above. Barring a temporary hiccup, though, slow speeds are best fixed by upgrading your internet plan.

Visit your profile on your ISP's website, or give customer service a call, to see what other options are available. Upgrading your speed will let you download Xbox content faster and provide more bandwidth for multiple devices to work at once.

Speed Up Xbox Downloads the Easy Way

With this useful new Xbox feature and a few other tips, you can speed up Xbox downloads, even without closing your current game. Hopefully, your system downloads most updates when the console is in standby mode, so they don't bother you at all.

But next time you need to apply an update as fast as possible, you know what to do. It's not a bad idea to explore other options in your router for a better online gaming experience, either.

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