BedrockTogether is the best-known way to get a console onto a Minecraft server that is not on Mojang’s approved list. It is not the only one, and for some people it is not the right one.
This page covers what else exists, what each actually does, and where each one is genuinely better. It includes free options that cost nothing and never will. If you are new to all of this, start with why consoles have no Add Server button, then come back.
First: BedrockTogether is not bad software
It is worth saying plainly, because pages like this usually will not.
BedrockTogether has been on the App Store since 2020. When Mojang ships a Minecraft update and every tool in this category stops working, it has repeatedly shipped a fix the same day. Its App Store version history shows 20 releases in 2026 so far, the latest on 4 September, the day this was checked. That responsiveness is the hardest thing to do in this space and it is the main reason the app has the users it has.
The complaint people actually have is narrower than “it is bad”. It is the ads. Not that they exist, but that they can interrupt the connection itself, so an attempt to join fails and has to be started again. Its lifetime rating is 4.5 stars across roughly 56,000 ratings (checked 5 September 2026); read the recent one-star reviews and nearly every one is about this.
If you buy the ad-free unlock, that complaint goes away. The unlock is a single payment rather than a subscription, which is the right shape for a tool like this.
The free option that is not an app at all
BedrockConnect, an open-source project that has been public on GitHub since 2019, is free, has no ads, and there is nothing to install: you change your console’s DNS setting and it shows you a server list inside Minecraft. It is someone else’s project and has no connection to this site; the console guides here print its current addresses.
Good for: anyone who does not want to install anything, or who wants it to work without a phone nearby. It is also the only sensible route on Nintendo Switch.
Trade-offs: you are changing a network setting on your console, which affects everything the console does, not just Minecraft. It needs a full restart after you change it. Xbox users often hit a problem where the console prefers IPv6 and ignores the address entirely. The step-by-step for each console is in the PS5, Xbox and Switch guides.
Other phone apps
MCCompanion is free with no ads and no purchases, and bundles a wiki and a skin editor alongside the connector. It is newer and has far fewer ratings than BedrockTogether (85 on the App Store as of 5 September 2026, averaging 4.8).
Bedrock Online is free with no ads, published by a company that runs its own server network. Also new and lightly reviewed (46 ratings, averaging 4.4, on the same date).
A paid app with texture packs. One commercial connector adds custom texture packs on console, which is genuinely something the others do not do. Its paid tier is a subscription rather than a one-off.
Several others launch every few months. Most are thin, and some are abandoned within a year while still sitting in the store with a big download count. Check the last-updated date before you trust one.
If you have a PC
Phantom is a free command-line tool that runs on a PC on your network and does the same job as a phone app. It has an unusual property: because it never looks inside the game’s messages, Minecraft updates do not break it. Its last functional change was in December 2021 and it still works.
Good for: anyone comfortable with a terminal who has a PC that stays on.
Trade-offs: it needs that PC on and on the same network, and it does not work with Nintendo Switch.
What to avoid
Some tools reach the Nintendo Switch by signing into a Microsoft account and publishing a fake multiplayer session, so a server appears in your Friends list.
This one carries a real risk of the account being banned. That is not our claim; the tools offering it say so themselves and tell you to use a throwaway account.
For contrast, the DNS method has not produced a documented ban in the years it has existed. If a tool asks you to sign in with a Microsoft account to reach a Switch, understand what you are agreeing to.
Choosing
You have a phone and play at home. Any of the phone apps. Prefer one whose ads do not interrupt the connection, which is the single thing that separates them.
You do not want to install anything. The open-source DNS project. Free, and it will stay free.
You are on Nintendo Switch. DNS, effectively your only safe option.
You have a PC that stays on. Phantom, and enjoy never being broken by an update.
You want texture packs on console. Currently one app does this, and it is a subscription.
What none of them can fix
Every tool here breaks for a day or two after a Minecraft update, because the game changes how it talks to servers and everything has to catch up. If your console says the host is using an older version, nothing is wrong with your setup. Wait, and check that your server has updated too, because both sides have to match.
And if you have never connected successfully at all, check your port before trying a different app. The wrong port produces exactly the same silence as everything else, and it is the most common cause by far.
And one more, which is ours
CouchPortal is a free iPhone and iPad app for PlayStation and Xbox. It plays its one short ad before the connection rather than during it, checks the server first and tells you if it did not answer, and removes ads for $4.99 once, with Family Sharing. It does not work on Nintendo Switch. It is the newest thing on this page, so it has the shortest track record. Details at couchportal.com.
Disclosure: the owner of this wiki has a financial interest in CouchPortal.
NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT PRODUCT. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT.
