Play together, whether your friends are on Java or Bedrock

Your friend has just installed Minecraft on their PlayStation, you’ve been playing on PC for years, and you’ve just found out you can’t play together.

Why your friend can’t join you

Minecraft comes in two editions, sold under the same name:

• Java Edition, on PC, Mac and Linux. The original edition, the one with mods and servers you set up yourself.
• Bedrock Edition, on consoles (Switch, Xbox, PlayStation), on phones, on tablets, and on Windows when the game comes from the Microsoft Store.

On screen it’s the same game, but a Java server only accepts Java players, and a Bedrock server only accepts Bedrock players. No in-game setting changes that, and it has nothing to do with which version or update you’re on.

What links the two: Geyser

Geyser is a kind of translator you install on a Java server. It makes your friend’s game think it’s talking to a Bedrock server.

Floodgate, so your friend doesn’t have to buy the game again

Geyser alone isn’t enough. By default, every player’s identity is checked with Mojang’s servers, and a Bedrock player has no Java account to show.

Floodgate is the part that sorts this out. It lets the server accept Bedrock accounts. Your friend signs in with the Microsoft account they already use on their console, without buying or creating anything.

Players who come in through Bedrock show up with a dot in front of their username, .PlayerName. That’s on purpose: it stops a Bedrock username from clashing with a Java one.

What you need

1. A Java server that accepts plugins. Paper or Spigot will do.
2. Geyser and Floodgate installed on it, with authentication set to Floodgate.

Setting up the server

The server Mojang distributes doesn’t accept any plugins. So you need to start with Paper.

A plugins/ folder appears when the server starts. That’s where the two files go, downloaded in their Spigot/Paper version from the GeyserMC download page.

Restart the server: each plugin writes its configuration the first time it runs. In plugins/Geyser-Spigot/config.yml, there’s only one key to change, under the java section:

auth-type: floodgate

Restart one last time to apply the change.

Joining from Java

In the Multiplayer menu, choose Add Server, then enter the server’s address.

yourname.mineon.fr

Joining from Bedrock

Select Play, then the Servers tab, then Add Server at the very bottom of the list. Three fields to fill in: a name, the address, and the port.

On console

On Switch, Xbox and PlayStation, the Servers tab only shows featured servers: there’s no field for typing in an address. It’s a limitation of the consoles, not of the game. There are two workarounds, and they have a guide of their own.