Will downloading torrents be possible on Xbox One?

If Microsoft does the promised, and merges the Windows 10 Store and the Xbox One marketplace, we might get a few interesting UWP apps working on the company’s console. One of these apps will be Torrex Pro, a popular UWP service for downloading (il)legal content. But will it be of any use on Xbox One?

Back in March, at the BUILD conference Microsoft announced its plans to improve cross-compatibility between Windows 10 and Xbox One. One of the ways to do that is merging the two stores, so Microsoft notified interested developers to start programming their apps to support the upcoming update.

Torrex Pro’s developer Finebits OÜ announced that its app will be ready for the Anniversary Update, and that it will be available on Xbox One, starting from July. Along with Xbox One, Finebits OÜ should also release Torrex Pro for Windows 10 Mobile, making all three versions cross-platform compatible. The app should also arrive on HoloLens, which is a bit surprising.

“At the present time, we are working on a UWP version of our app Torrex. Microsoft allows [developers] to publish torrent clients on its Store (since they are simply the apps to exchange data, which doesn’t break any Store rules), so we are planing to release Torrex on all devices supported by UWP including Xbox One and Hololens,” a Finebits OÜ spokesperson said in an interview with  WIRED.

So, the app will arrive to Xbox One, and users who install the Anniversary Update will be able to run it, but how useful will it be, if we consider various ‘restrictions’ Microsoft put to Xbox One?

Can you download torrents on Xbox One?

Long story short, you cannot download torrents on Xbox One, but let us explain why. First thing first, Microsoft already blocked the majority of services for illegal downloads, so you won’t have a site to download torrents from in first place.

Next, users of Xbox One have very little access to the console’s hard drive. Basically the most complex operation users can perform with Xbox One’s hard drive is making a backup of it. So, even if you download illegal content, you probably won’t be able to access it.

On the other hand, Torrex Pro can also playback multimedia content, which would basically be its only purpose on Xbox One. So, if you want an alternative video or music player for your Xbox One, you will be able to use Torrex Pro. However, Torrex Pro is a paid app (available in the Store for $7.99), so who wants to pay for another media player for Xbox One, when you already have its own, built-in player?

This is the way it is for torrents on Xbox One, if Microsoft makes any changes in Xbox One that will allow users to download torrents, we’ll make sure to let you know. But knowing that ‘freedom’ for torrents usually means freedom for illegal content, we doubt it will ever happen.

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