Play Minecraft with a friend on console, on any server

Playing Minecraft with a friend on console, on a real server and not only in a private world, is possible from a PS5, a PS4, an Xbox or a Switch, even if you do not own the same console. The one difficulty is that Minecraft on console has no “Add server” button. With Huby, each of you adds the Xbox friend HubyOnMC, joins its world, picks the same server in the menu, and you meet inside. Here is what to know first: who can play with whom, Java or Bedrock, Realm or server, then the steps.

Crossplay on console: who can play with whom

Minecraft comes in two editions that do not meet. The Bedrock edition runs on PS5, PS4, Xbox, Switch, phone, tablet and Windows: all these devices play together, that is the crossplay Mojang talks about. The Java edition runs on PC, Mac and Linux; its servers are another world, with another network.

Between two consoles, the question does not even arise: a Switch and an Xbox play together on any Bedrock server. Between a console and a PC, it all depends on the edition installed on the PC. Minecraft for Windows (Bedrock) plays with consoles. Minecraft Java only joins them on a server that runs Geyser, a bridge that translates the game from one edition to the other.

Your friend plays on…	You can play together on…
Another console (PS5, PS4, Xbox, Switch)	Any Bedrock server
Phone or tablet	Any Bedrock server
Windows, Minecraft Bedrock	Any Bedrock server
PC or Mac, Minecraft Java	Only a Java server running Geyser, like SileneMC

To understand the bridge, SileneMC on console: Java, Bedrock and Geyser explains what it changes once in game.

Realm or server: two ways to play together

A Realm is a private world rented from Mojang. One of you pays the subscription, invites the others from the Friends tab, and you play in a world of your own, ten players at most. It works on every console with nothing to set, and it is the right pick for a survival game between friends.

A server is a public world open to hundreds of players, with its minigames, its economy, its community: Bedwars, SkyWars, Hunger Games, parkour. It is free to join and you need to know its address. On phone and on Windows, you type it in Add Server. On console, that field does not exist: that is exactly the problem Huby solves.

Meeting on the same server from two consoles

Each of you does these three steps on their own console. No need to be on the same Wi-Fi or in the same house.

1. Add HubyOnMC as a friend. Play › Friends › Add Friend, type HubyOnMC, send. The request is accepted in under a minute. On Switch and PlayStation, a Microsoft account must be signed in inside the game.
2. Join its world. In Joinable Friends, the Huby world appears. Enter, and a server menu opens.
3. Pick the same server. Agree on which one, each pick it in the menu, and you are transferred onto it. Once there, find each other by your usernames: most servers have a party or invite command to play on the same team.

You do not need to be Xbox friends with each other: the server is what brings you together. And if one of you plays on the same server every day, Huby remembers it: next time it is Play, Friends, Huby, and the server is waiting in their list. Every console has its guide in the order of the menus: PS5, PS4, Xbox, Switch.

What about a friend on PC?

If they play Minecraft for Windows (Bedrock), they do not even need Huby: they type the server’s address in Add Server, or they add Huby with the address hubyy.fr and port 19134 to get the same list as you. If they play Minecraft Java, pick together a server running Geyser: they connect with the Java address, you with the Bedrock address through Huby, and you land in the same world. The list of servers playable on console says for each one whether it is native Bedrock or Java with Geyser.

The other ways to join a server together

They lead to the same place, with more steps. The modified DNS (BedrockConnect): each of you changes their console’s DNS and opens a partner server to bring up a menu; it has to be redone on every Wi-Fi, and the menu vanishes with no message when it breaks. The BedrockTogether app: each of you needs a phone on the same Wi-Fi as their console, with the app open during the game, and it does not work well on Switch. The three methods are compared step by step in Minecraft server on console: Huby, DNS or BedrockTogether.

When one of you reaches Huby but the server disconnects them, it is the destination server refusing: full, updating, or closed to Bedrock players. The game’s messages are explained one by one in “Unable to connect to world” and the other errors.