BedrockTogether on Nintendo Switch: why it fails, and what to do instead

On PlayStation and Xbox, BedrockTogether is simple: the app on your phone pretends to be a LAN game, the console sees it in the Friends tab, you join it, and it transfers you to the server. On Switch, that route does not exist, and that is where most of the “it does not work” comes from. Here is what happens, what options remain, and which one to choose.

Why the Switch does not see the game

Minecraft on Switch does not show LAN games in the Friends tab. Where an Xbox lists “BedrockTogether” under LAN games, the Switch lists nothing. The app knows it and offers another route for this console, which goes through the Xbox network rather than the local Wi-Fi. That route depends on things neither you nor the app controls, and online guides contradict each other about what still works: some say the Switch is supported, others that it is not. Both have been true at different times.

If you still want to try, here is what must be in place:

• the phone and the Switch on the same Wi-Fi, with no guest network and no tethering;
• a Microsoft account signed in to Minecraft on the Switch;
• the app in the foreground on the phone for the whole session;
• a Bedrock server, or a Java server running Geyser; Realms are not supported.

And if the game still does not appear after a minute, there is no point insisting: it is not a setting on your side.

What it means as a habit

Even when it works, the app needs a phone every session, the server address found again in the app, and the shared Wi-Fi. For one evening, that is acceptable. To play every day on the same server, it is three more steps than necessary.

Alternative 1: the BedrockConnect DNS

The historic method. System Settings › Internet › Internet Settings › your network › Change Settings › DNS Settings › Manual: primary DNS 104.238.130.180, secondary 8.8.8.8. Fully restart the Switch (power button › Restart, not sleep), launch Minecraft, Play › Servers, open Lifeboat or Mineville, and the BedrockConnect menu shows instead. Type the server’s address and port.

No phone, but a setting to redo on every Wi-Fi, which affects the whole console, and which breaks silently for seven reasons detailed in BedrockConnect not working. The Switch is the console where this method disappoints the most.

Alternative 2: Huby, an Xbox friend

Huby starts from the one door that has worked on Switch since day one: joining a friend’s world. An Xbox account, HubyOnMC, keeps a world open around the clock. You add it as a friend, join its world, and a server menu transfers you.

1. Sign in with a Microsoft account in Minecraft (home screen › Sign in).
2. Play › Friends › Add friend, type HubyOnMC, send. The request is accepted within a minute.
3. Under Joinable friends, join the Huby world. Pick your server, or add your own with its address and port.

No setting, no phone, and next time it is Play, Friends, Huby. It works on Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED, with Nintendo Switch Online. The Switch guide follows the game’s menus screen by screen, and the three methods compared put the app, DNS and Huby side by side.