Minecraft on Xbox shows you a short list of servers Mojang has approved and gives you no way to type in your own address. If you rent a server, or a friend runs one, there is no field for it anywhere in the game. Here is why.
Two methods work. The first uses a phone and touches nothing on your console. The second changes an Xbox network setting and needs no phone. Both are used by millions of people, and neither involves modding anything. Everything here applies to Xbox One as well as Series X|S, because both run the same Bedrock Edition of the game.
You will need an Xbox Game Pass membership that includes console multiplayer, because that is required regardless of how you get to the server. As of September 2026 that means Essential or Ultimate; Premium does not include it on its own.
Get the right address first
Most failures here are actually one mistake made two steps earlier.
You need the Bedrock address and the Bedrock port.
- Default Bedrock port: 19132.
- Port 25565 is Minecraft: Java Edition. A console can never reach it.
- Running Geyser? Use the Geyser port, not the Java port. It is often something unusual.
If your host’s panel shows one address, check whether there is a separate Bedrock or Geyser entry before assuming it is the one you want. The Bedrock ports page explains how to tell them apart.
Method 1: a phone app
The easier route, and it leaves your Xbox settings alone.
How it works. Minecraft looks for games on your home network, asking about once a second while you are on the server list screen. A phone on the same Wi-Fi answers that question and hands your console over to the real server. Your phone is involved for a few seconds; once you are in the world your Xbox is talking to the server directly.
Steps
- Install a connector app on a phone that is on the same Wi-Fi as the Xbox.
- Enter the server’s Bedrock address and port.
- Start it and leave the app on screen.
- On the Xbox, open Minecraft and go to Play, then the Friends tab.
- The server appears under LAN Games.
If nothing shows up, it is almost always one of these:
- Xbox and phone on different networks. Check for a guest network with a similar name.
- Phone on cellular rather than Wi-Fi.
- Local Network permission denied on the phone. On iOS this is asked once, and if you declined, the app cannot ask again. Fix it in Settings.
- A VPN running on the phone.
- AP isolation on the router, sometimes called client isolation. It stops devices on the same network from seeing each other.
Method 2: change your Xbox’s DNS
Free, needs no phone, and works away from home. It is run by a long-standing open-source project (named on the alternatives page).
Steps
- Press the Xbox button, then go to Profile & system, Settings, General, Network settings.
- Choose Advanced settings, then DNS settings, then Manual.
- Enter the primary DNS address. As of September 2026 the address the project publishes for Xbox is
104.238.130.180. It is run by volunteers and can change, which is why it is dated here. - Set the secondary to
8.8.8.8. - Save, then fully restart Minecraft. The address cache clears on game restart, so a full console reboot is not usually needed on Xbox.
- 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 type your own address into.
The Xbox-specific catch: IPv6
This is the one that wastes people’s evenings, and almost no guide mentions it.
Xbox prefers IPv6. If your home internet offers IPv6, your console will use it for name lookups and quietly ignore the IPv4 DNS address you just typed in. Everything looks correctly configured and nothing happens.
There is no setting on the Xbox to turn IPv6 off, and no field to enter an IPv6 DNS address. Your options are:
- Turn off IPv6 on your router, which affects every device in the house. Some routers let you set an IPv6 DNS server instead, but that only helps if the project publishes an IPv6 address, and as of September 2026 it does not list one.
- Use the phone method instead, which does not involve DNS at all.
If the DNS method appears to do nothing on an Xbox and you have checked the address twice, this is almost certainly why. It is also the single best reason for Xbox owners to prefer method one.
Which should you use?
| Phone app | Console DNS | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs a phone on the same Wi-Fi | Yes | No |
| Affected by the IPv6 problem | No | Yes |
| Changes console settings | No | Yes |
| Works away from home | No | Yes |
| Cost | Free, though most show ads | Free |
On Xbox specifically, the phone method avoids the one failure mode that is hardest to diagnose. If you want the DNS route, be ready to deal with IPv6.
Things people worry about
No, you do not need to mod your Xbox. Both methods use features Minecraft already ships with.
Neither method has a record of bans. Neither signs into anything or impersonates anyone, and in the years they have existed neither has produced a documented account ban. The one technique that does carry a risk is a Switch workaround that signs into a Microsoft account to fake a game session, and it is not needed on Xbox.
After a Minecraft update, expect a day or two of breakage. Every release changes how the game talks to servers, and the tools need to catch up. The symptom is a message about the host using an older version. Nothing on your end is broken; both your tool and your server need to be on the new version.
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 Xbox, 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.
