You’ve just wrapped up a nice productive gaming session. Now you want to watch some Netflix on your Xbox (or maybe some YouTube TV?). You can start up a movie and, eventually, your Xbox controller will shut down on its own. But why not save some battery? Why not force the controller into the off position yourself? You probably didn’t know there were multiple ways to do this, folks, but: here’s how to turn off your Xbox controller.
Option 1: Via a menu
First off, you’ll need to a point where you’re fine turning the controller off. Start your movie or TV show or what have you. Make sure it’s playing. Then hold down the Xbox Guide button on the controller until a menu pops up.
The Guide button, by the way, is the circular Xbox logo button. Why isn’t it just called the “Xbox button?” No idea.
Anyway, once you see that menu, select the option that says “Turn off controller.” This is probably the quickest way to your end goal.
Option 2: Hold down the Guide button
This one is as easy as it sounds. If you can’t be fussed with holding the Guide button and then performing other actions afterward, you can simply hold the Guide button down alone for about five seconds. If you do that, your controller will eventually get the hint and turn itself off.
If you’re playing on PC, you only have the second option
I’m just throwing this in here for PC players who may be linking their Xbox controllers up via Bluetooth or using the Xbox Wireless Adapter. Obviously, you’re not going to have the same Xbox menus in Windows. So if you are done gaming on your PC, you’re stuck with option 2 for how to turn off your Xbox controller. That is: hold down the Guide button for about five seconds and the controller will shut down.
I recommend pressing the Guide button once ahead of time so that the Game Bar shows up. Then do the holding of the Guide button after that. The controller will turn off, and your second press of the Guide button will cause the Game Bar to disappear. Don’t blame me for how this works: blame Microsoft. You think there’d be some consistency across Xbox/Windows stuff. There’s not!
And that’s how to turn off your Xbox controller
This handy little guide should tell you everything you know to know about how to turn off your Xbox controller. There are two surefire ways to do it (without turning your console off, anyway). And if you’re on PC, there is one option, but it still keeps your controller paired to your computer. So in a way, that one option is still pretty good.
