Let Bedrock players join your Java Minecraft server

Bedrock players on phones, consoles and Windows can join your Java server once you turn on the Bedrock addition. It installs Geyser, which lets Bedrock players talk to a Java server, and Floodgate, which lets them join without a Java account. Bedrock players then join with your address and the Bedrock port shown on the address card.

What you need

• A Java server on Paper or Purpur. These are the smoothest choice. Fabric and NeoForge work too, but only with mods that run on the server alone. Geyser has no Forge version, and a Vanilla server has nowhere to install Floodgate.
• The newest Java version, or ViaVersion. Geyser speaks the newest Java version (26.3 today). An older Paper or Purpur server also needs the ViaVersion plugin from Mods. Fabric and NeoForge servers must be on the newest version.
• Bedrock players on an up-to-date game. Geyser supports recent Bedrock versions only.

If everyone in your group plays Bedrock, a plain Bedrock server is simpler and runs every Bedrock feature. Crossplay through Geyser is for groups that mix both editions.

Turn on the Bedrock addition

1. Open the panel for your Java server.
2. Turn on the Bedrock addition. It’s one toggle.
3. The panel installs Geyser and Floodgate, picks a Bedrock port for your server and takes a backup first.
4. Restart the server.
5. Look at the address card on Overview. It now shows two ways in: the Java address, and the Bedrock address and port.

The port in the example is made up. Copy your own from the address card. It is not Bedrock’s usual 19132.

How Bedrock players join

On phones, tablets and Windows:

1. Tap Play, then open the Servers tab.
2. Tap Add Server.
3. Type any Server Name, then castle.play.wilderack.com in Server Address, and your Bedrock port in Port.
4. Tap Play, or Save to keep it in the list.

The first time, the game may ask whether you trust the server. Check the address is yours and accept. This prompt comes with NetherNet, the new way Bedrock connects to servers since 2026.

Console players

Minecraft on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch has no Add Server button, and its Servers tab only lists the game’s featured servers. This is the same for a Bedrock server and for a Java server with the Bedrock addition.

Console players can still get in with a community tool such as BedrockConnect, which isn’t made by Mojang or by us. It works in one of two ways:

• A phone app on the same Wi-Fi makes your server show up on the console as a LAN game.
• A custom DNS setting on the console turns a featured server into a list where you can type any address and port.

Steps differ per console and can change after game updates, so follow the tool’s own guide. The full steps are in joining from consoles.

The Bedrock port and NetherNet

Bedrock’s newer connection, NetherNet, first makes a small web request to the server over TCP to agree how to connect, then plays over UDP. Mojang is phasing out the old way, starting with Bedrock 26.60 in October 2026, so servers need NetherNet for Bedrock players to keep joining. Geyser supports it, which is why the Bedrock port takes both TCP and UDP. Players only type the number.

Floodgate and Bedrock player names

Floodgate lets Bedrock players join with their Microsoft account, without buying Java Edition. To keep their names from clashing with Java players, Floodgate:

• Puts a dot in front of each Bedrock name, so Steve becomes .Steve.
• Swaps spaces for underscores, so Cool Steve becomes .Cool_Steve.

Bedrock players’ skins show up for Java players too.

A player who owns both editions can link their accounts, so they’re the same player with the same inventory on both. See GeyserMC’s linking guide.

Whitelist, ops and bans for Bedrock players

Use Floodgate’s command to whitelist Bedrock players. You don’t need the dot:

fwhitelist add Steve
fwhitelist remove Steve

Make a Bedrock player an operator while they’re online, with the dot:

op .Steve

ban .Steve and kick .Steve work the same way while they’re online. More in ops, whitelist and bans.

What works and what doesn’t

Most of the game works the same for Bedrock players:

• Survival, creative, building and farming
• Most redstone and farms
• Combat, PvP and mobs
• Chat, the Nether and the End
• Most Paper and Purpur plugins. Plugin menus show as chest screens, as on Java.

What doesn’t work, or works differently:

• Mods that add new blocks, items or mobs. Bedrock players can’t join a server that needs them.
• Clickable links in chat.
• Some of Java’s inventory click tricks.
• Custom enchantments and some custom recipes from data packs.
• Java resource packs. Bedrock players see the normal look.
• Fences and a few other blocks may connect a little differently.

Geyser keeps a full, up-to-date list on its limitations page.

Sleeping and waking

When a Bedrock player joins with the address and Bedrock port, the server wakes like it does for Java players. Console players who join through a community tool may not reach us until they’re in, so send them the wake link, play.wilderack.com/w/castle. They open it in any browser, press the wake button, and join a few seconds later.

If Bedrock players can’t join

• They get a version error after a Bedrock update. Geyser needs an update for the new Bedrock version. Check Mods for a Geyser update, install it, then restart.
• Unable to connect to world. Check they used the Bedrock port, not the Java address alone, and that the server is Running or Sleeping.
• They’re told they aren’t whitelisted. Add them with fwhitelist add TheirName.
• The server is on Fabric or NeoForge with content mods. Bedrock players can’t join that server. Use Paper for crossplay.
• Java players can join but nobody on Bedrock can. Check that the Bedrock addition is still on, and restart once.

More fixes are in common errors.