Guide to IE on Xbox 360 and using Controller to browse the web

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Finally a browser has come to your TV and if you had not liked browsing through your smart tv and Xbox had always been your priority, you will be happy about IE coming to Xbox and yes it works as good as IE on Windows 8 we had been using. The worst thing about IE is that you need a gold membership to use it.

How to get IE on Xbox ?

It should be pre-installed if you have the update but in case it’s not, Visit the App section which will have the Big Blue Tile with E, selecting which will download the app for you. Once installed, launch it and you should be viewing the Web Hub, explained next.

Web Hub :

This is more like an extra layer on top of any webpage which gives you access to menu options, address bar, buttons to add website to favourite, settings, list of recently visited websites with preview.

Right in the middle of the Web Hub you have three sections. Favourite gives you access to bookmarked sites, Recent for recently visited websites and Featured is section where Xbox recommends some websites you can check out.

Xbox IE Web Hub

Managing Bookmarked or Favourite Websites

It is also possible to edit website name of the pages you have bookmarked or added to favourite. When you are in favourite section, you can hover the mouse over the site name and tap on X which will give you the following option :

  • Edit Site name
  • Move to Front
  • Pin to Xbox Home
  • Remove from favourites

Edit Site name on Favorites IE X box

IE Shortcuts :

Controller Shortcuts you can use :

  • Button A : Select or Enter or Return button.
  • Button B : Go back or Hide Web Hub and switch back to webpage you where on. It also brings in the small help to display controller option for A and Y.
  • Button Y : Keyboard  when on web hub or bring in the Web Hub when on a web page.
  • Right Stick : Scroll and Pan
  • Left Stick : Move and if you press it, you can do smart zoom useful when you want to see something small or login pages.

IE 10 Shortcuts Controller

  • Left + Right Bumper :  (Favourites Alt + Tab ) Bring the favourites list with preview. Use left and right bumper to navigate left and right and then select any webpage in the list.
  • Left and Right Trigger : Hover the mouse pointer over any area and press RT to zoom in and let to zoom out.

IE 10 Shortcuts Controllers Backside

Keyboard Shortcuts using Controller :

  • Space : Button Y
  • Backspace : Button X
  • Caps On / Caps Off : Press Left Stick.

IE 10 Xbox Keyboard

Smartglass :

If you have a SmartGlass App on your phone or tablet, you can use it as alternative to controller to navigate, use the touch as mouse and tap to select.

Using Keyboard is pain when it comes to IE on Xbox like entering a website name on the address bar. So, its only the external devices that will help it out like your Phone or PC or iPad like devices.

 IE 10 Settings on Xbox  :

  • Turn Smartscreen on and Off.
  • You can choose to send browsing history to Microsoft to improve products and services.
  • Request for Mobile Web Page : Even though requesting for mobile optimized webpage does not make sense for a device which has TV sized output, in case you are on slow connection, make use of this feature.
  • Choose to use IE in Full screen mode or not.
  • Enable / Disable Cookies in Xbox
  • You also have an option to delete history of websites you have already visited on Xbox.

Xbox IE Settings

How to Disable IE or Web browsing on Xbox :

  • Location : Privacy > Change Settings > Customize > Web Browsing > Allowed or Blocked.

If you do not want to let anybody watch something nasty on your TV or keep kids off the web browser, this is how you disable it.

Disable IE on Xbox 360

IE on Xbox 360 Video

Watch on YouTube

Ashish Mohta
A die-hard fan of Windows, PC Gaming, and Xbox. He is a seasoned content writer with over 15 years of experience in the industry. He is a specialist in writing about Windows, software reviews, troubleshooting Windows, and automation.

6 COMMENTS

  1. thank you Ashish! this was helpful for the controls I havent figured out yet. Im posting this from my xbox right now! lol. the messenger keyboard makes the experience even better. cant wait for smartglass to come out for Android. considering my disappointment with Microsoft proucts the past decade, I am thoroughly excited about their current progress!

  2. How do you right-click in the Xbox Internet Explorer? Pressing button A (Select) is the equivalent of left-clicking, so there seems to be no right-click option

  3. someone pleaseeeeee help me how do you email a picture to someone or open a picture is there anyway at all. or anyway to save a picture to email to someone like a family member. its impossible for someone to email me a picture and me to view it here on the xbox can it get pasted into the email the picture or have the picture sent in a different format like .jpg .gif .jpeg or something please help your help is muchly appreciated!!!!

  4. Hey so this was really helpful, but the controller is not working. All of the controls work except for the mouse. It is not moving! No matter what I do it just does not move. I have turned the X Box on and off switched controllers. The mouse works just fine up until I get onto internet explorer then it just stops moving. This is very frustrating, please help!!!

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