Bedrock LAN game not showing on Xbox or PlayStation: 8 fixes

You started a LAN world, opened Play, Friends on the console, and nothing is there. The console finds LAN worlds by calling out across your local network and listening for answers. When nothing shows, those calls are not reaching the device hosting the world, or its answer is not what the console expects. These are the causes we see, roughly most common first.

If you use Warpling, open Not showing up? on the Connect screen while a session is running. It checks most of these for you and says which one to fix.

1. The phone and console are on different networks

The most common cause by far. Both devices must be on the same network behind the same router. Things that quietly split them:

• The phone is on a guest network, or a different network name from the same router.
• A Wi-Fi extender or second router runs its own network, with its own addresses.
• The phone dropped to mobile data because the Wi-Fi was weak.

To check, compare the first three numbers of each device's address: the console shows its address in its network settings, and Warpling's Not showing up? shows the phone's. 192.168.1.20 and 192.168.1.45 are on the same network; 192.168.1.20 and 192.168.0.45 are not.

2. Guest Wi-Fi or "client isolation"

Guest and public networks are built to keep devices from seeing each other, and so are routers with client isolation (also called AP isolation or wireless isolation) switched on. On those networks a LAN world cannot be seen by anything, by design. Use your main home network, or turn isolation off in the router's settings if it is your router.

3. A VPN on the phone

A VPN can send the phone's network traffic away from your Wi-Fi, so the console's calls never get an answer. Turn the VPN off while you connect. Some security and ad-blocking apps work as a VPN too; check for a key icon in the status bar.

4. Mobile data or a hotspot

Consoles find worlds over Wi-Fi only. On mobile data, nothing can see the phone. If the phone is sharing a hotspot, the console has to join that hotspot itself, which works, but is rarely what people mean to do.

5. Local network access is off (iPhone)

On iPhone, an app has to be allowed to use the local network. If you said no to that prompt, iOS hides every LAN world the app shows. Go to Settings, then Warpling, and switch Local Network on.

6. The router drops the console's calls between wired and wireless

Less common, but stubborn. Some routers and mesh systems filter the network-wide messages the console uses to look for worlds, often between the wired and wireless sides, or between the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Signs: a wired console never sees the world but a console on Wi-Fi does. Try putting the console on Wi-Fi, on the same band as the phone. On some routers, settings called multicast or broadcast filtering, or "IGMP snooping", are the cause; look for them in the router's advanced settings.

7. The phone stopped the session in the background

To save battery, some Android phones end apps that work in the background, sometimes the moment the screen locks. The world disappears with them. In Warpling, Not showing up? detects this and opens the right setting: open Warpling's App info, tap Battery, and choose Unrestricted.

8. The world is on a different game version

A console only lists a LAN world that matches its game version closely. After a Minecraft update, a console and a server can be a version apart for a few days. Warpling can show the world as the version your console expects: open More options on the Connect screen and set Advertised version, or let Not showing up? suggest it. If the console is ahead of Warpling itself, update Warpling from the store.

Still nothing?

Close the Friends tab and open it again; consoles refresh the list when you return to it, usually within a few seconds. Restarting the router fixes more than it should. If none of this helps, write to us with your phone model, your console and what Not showing up? said.