Minecraft on PlayStation will happily show you Hive, Lifeboat and a handful of other servers Mojang has approved. It gives you no way at all to type in an address. If you rent a server, or a friend runs one, there is no button for it.
That is not a bug and it is not something you have configured wrong. The Add Server field simply does not exist in the console version, and there is a reason for that.
There are two ways around it. Both are used by millions of people. Neither requires modding your console, and neither has a documented record of account bans. Everything on this page applies to PS4 as well as PS5, because both run the same Bedrock Edition of the game.
The short version: use a phone app if you want it to be easy, or change your PlayStation’s DNS if you would rather not install anything. The phone app is easier and does not touch your console’s settings. The DNS method is free and needs nothing but your console.
First, get your server’s real address
Almost every failure in this whole process comes from one mistake, so it is worth thirty seconds up front.
You need your server’s Bedrock address and its Bedrock port. Those are often not what your hosting panel shows you first.
- The default Bedrock port is 19132.
- Port 25565 is Minecraft: Java Edition. It will never work from a console, no matter what else you do right.
- If your server runs Geyser, which lets Bedrock players join a Java server, you need the Geyser port, not the Java port. It is frequently something unusual like 25708.
If you are not sure which you have, look for a “Bedrock” or “Geyser” entry in your host’s panel, or ask their support. Getting this wrong produces exactly the same symptom as everything else on this page going wrong, which is why it wastes so much of people’s time. The Bedrock ports page covers this in more detail, including why online port checkers get it wrong.
Method 1: a phone app
This is the easier route and the one most people should use.
How it works. Minecraft can find games running on your home network. Your console asks “is anyone here?” roughly once a second while you are looking at the server list. A phone on the same Wi-Fi can answer that question, and when your console connects, hand it straight over to the real server.
Your phone is only involved for a few seconds. Once you are in the world, your console is talking to the server directly, and you can close the app or lock your phone.
What you need: a phone and a PlayStation on the same Wi-Fi, and PlayStation Plus, which console multiplayer requires regardless.
Steps
- Install a connector app on your phone.
- Enter your server’s Bedrock address and port.
- Start it, and leave the app on screen.
- On the PlayStation, open Minecraft and go to Play, then the Friends tab.
- Your server appears under LAN Games. Join it.
If nothing appears in LAN Games, work through these in order. They are all the same symptom and completely different causes:
- Are both devices on the same Wi-Fi? Not the guest network. Many routers broadcast two networks with similar names.
- Is your phone on Wi-Fi rather than cellular? On mobile data there is no shared network for the console to look on.
- Did you allow Local Network access? iOS asks once. If you tapped Deny, the app cannot work and cannot ask again. Fix it in Settings, under the app’s name, then Local Network.
- Is a VPN running on your phone? Turn it off. A VPN sends your phone’s traffic elsewhere, so your console cannot see it on your home network.
- Does your router have AP isolation on? Sometimes called client isolation or guest mode. It stops devices on the network from talking to each other. This is on by default on most hotel, dorm and campus Wi-Fi, and you usually cannot change it there.
Method 2: change your PlayStation’s DNS
This one is free, needs no phone, and is run by a long-standing open-source project (it is named on the alternatives page). It is a little more fiddly and it changes a setting on your console.
How it works. Your console can only reach servers Mojang has approved. When you pick one, your console looks up its address. This method points that lookup at a different machine, which shows you a server list you can type into.
Steps
- On the PS5, go to Settings, then Network, then Settings, then Set Up Internet Connection. On PS4 it is Settings, Network, Set Up Internet Connection, then Custom.
- Choose your Wi-Fi network and select Advanced Settings.
- Set DNS Settings to Manual.
- Enter the primary DNS address. As of September 2026 the address the project publishes for PlayStation is
45.55.68.52. PlayStation gets its own address because Sony’s consoles have trouble with the main one that Xbox and Switch use. - Set the secondary DNS to
8.8.8.8. - Save, then fully restart the console. Rest mode is not enough.
- Open Minecraft, go to the Servers tab, and pick one of the featured servers that supports the redirect: The Hive, Lifeboat, Mineville, Galaxite or Enchanted. You will land on a list you can add your own address to.
Worth knowing before you do this. Your console will use that DNS for everything, not just Minecraft, so if other apps start behaving oddly, set it back to Automatic. The addresses are run by volunteers and can change, which is why the one above is dated. PlayStation is also fussier about DNS than the other consoles, and the main published address is sometimes blocked, which is why the project runs several.
Which should you use?
| Phone app | Console DNS | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs a phone on the same Wi-Fi | Yes | No |
| Changes console settings | No | Yes, and it affects everything |
| Works away from home | No | Yes |
| Needs a console restart | No | Yes, every time you change it |
| Cost | Free, though most show ads | Free |
If you play at home with your own server, the phone app is less hassle. If you would rather not install anything, or you want it to work without a phone nearby, the DNS route is the one to pick.
Things that are not true
You do not need to mod or jailbreak your PlayStation. Both methods use features Minecraft already ships with.
Neither method has a record of bans. Neither involves signing into anything or pretending to be someone else, and in the years they have existed, neither has produced a documented account ban. The one thing that does carry a real risk is a method some tools use for Nintendo Switch, which signs into a Microsoft account to publish a fake game session. That is worth avoiding, and it is not needed on PlayStation at all.
It is not your internet. If the server list is empty, it is almost always one of the five things listed above, and not your connection.
After a Minecraft update
Every Minecraft release changes something in how the game talks to servers, so for a day or two after an update these tools stop working until they catch up. The symptom is a message about the host using an older version of Minecraft.
There is nothing to fix on your end. Wait for the tool to update, or check whether your server has updated too, since both sides have to match.
If you want the phone method without the fiddling
CouchPortal is a free iPhone and iPad app that does the phone method described above. Pick a server, tap “Watch an ad and start,” open Minecraft on your PlayStation, and the server appears under Friends and LAN Games. It checks the server before the ad plays and tells you if it did not answer, which catches the wrong-port mistake before you have watched anything. One short ad per connection, or $4.99 once to remove ads for the whole family. It does not work with Nintendo Switch. 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.
