Bedrock Edition 1.9.0

1.9.0 is a major update for Bedrock Edition that was released on February 5, 2019. It added some features from the Village & Pillage update that weren't added in 1.8.0, such as new flowers, pillagers, new types of stairs and slabs, and different wood types for signs.

Blocks

 * Barrel, Bell, Blast Furnace, Cartography Table and Smoker
 * Currently have no functionality.
 * Only available through Experimental Gameplay.
 * Fletching Table
 * Can be crafted in crafting table using crafting table and arrow.
 * Currently has no functionality.
 * Only available through Experimental Gameplay.
 * Flowers
 * Added cornflower.
 * Gives blue dye.
 * Appears in plains biomes.
 * Added lily of the valley.
 * Appears in forest biomes.
 * Grindstone
 * Currently has no functionality.
 * : Uses the older texture from Java Edition snapshot 18w45a.
 * Only available through Experimental Gameplay.
 * Lantern
 * Acts as a new light source.
 * Can currently only be obtained from the creative inventory with Experimental Gameplay enabled.
 * Signs
 * Now come in all different wood types: spruce, birch, acacia, jungle and dark oak.
 * Smithing Table
 * Can be crafted in crafting table using crafting table and cobblestone.
 * Currently has no functionality.
 * : Uses the older texture from Java Edition snapshot 18w45a.
 * Only available through Experimental Gameplay.
 * Smooth blocks
 * Added smooth stone, smooth sandstone, smooth red sandstone and smooth quartz block.
 * Slabs
 * Added stone, andesite, polished andesite, diorite, polished diorite, granite, polished granite, mossy stone brick, mossy cobblestone, smooth sandstone, smooth red sandstone, smooth .quartz, red nether brick, and end stone brick slabs.
 * : Added cut sandstone and cut red sandstone slabs.
 * Stairs
 * Added stone, andesite, polished andesite, diorite, polished diorite, granite, polished granite, mossy stone brick, mossy cobblestone, smooth sandstone, smooth red sandstone, smooth quartz, red nether brick, and end stone brick stairs.
 * Walls
 * Added brick, andesite, diorite, granite, prismarine, stone brick, mossy stone brick, sandstone, red sandstone, nether brick, red nether brick, and end stone brick walls.

Mobs

 * Pillagers
 * They are hostile mobs, considered a subset of illagers.
 * Have health.
 * They wield crossbows.
 * Drop arrows and their crossbows when killed (affected by Looting).
 * They will raid, or take over, villages, killing villagers.
 * They can't equip armor of any type.
 * Available only through Experimental Gameplay.

World generation

 * Bamboo forests
 * New biome variant of jungles.
 * It contains bamboo shoots, podzol, and pandas.
 * Only available through Experimental Gameplay.

Command format

 * showDeathMessages
 * Allows players to select whether a message appears in chat when a player or tamed mob dies
 * Has new "Immediate Respawn" option
 * Enables the use of raw text formatting to be able to send translatable text output to chat using JSON
 * Added following particles:
 * Gamerules
 * The number of commands run through functions can be limited with a new gamerule (defaults to 10,000) to limit performance issues.
 * Functions
 * Can now be run every tick creating an update loop.
 * Tags
 * Custom tags can be applied to entities and players to create more flexible selector groupings.
 * Added filter in components to allow checks to see if an entity has a specified tag.
 * Autocomplete can be used for tags.
 * command now kills creative mode players.
 * Gamerules
 * The number of commands run through functions can be limited with a new gamerule (defaults to 10,000) to limit performance issues.
 * Functions
 * Can now be run every tick creating an update loop.
 * Tags
 * Custom tags can be applied to entities and players to create more flexible selector groupings.
 * Added filter in components to allow checks to see if an entity has a specified tag.
 * Autocomplete can be used for tags.
 * command now kills creative mode players.
 * Gamerules
 * The number of commands run through functions can be limited with a new gamerule (defaults to 10,000) to limit performance issues.
 * Functions
 * Can now be run every tick creating an update loop.
 * Tags
 * Custom tags can be applied to entities and players to create more flexible selector groupings.
 * Added filter in components to allow checks to see if an entity has a specified tag.
 * Autocomplete can be used for tags.
 * command now kills creative mode players.
 * Tags
 * Custom tags can be applied to entities and players to create more flexible selector groupings.
 * Added filter in components to allow checks to see if an entity has a specified tag.
 * Autocomplete can be used for tags.
 * command now kills creative mode players.

General

 * Pause menu
 * Added a new "feedback" button.
 * Shows links to the Minecraft feedback site, the bug tracker, and Mojang support site.
 * "How to Play" button is now visible from the in-game settings menu.


 * Minecraft Script Engine
 * Uses JavaScript.
 * Scripts can be written and bundled with Behavior Packs to listen and respond to game events, get and modify data in components that entities have, and affect different parts of the game.
 * Only available on Windows 10, and only when the Use Experimental Gameplay setting is enabled.

Blocks

 * Moss stone
 * Has been renamed to Mossy Cobblestone.


 * Nether brick fences
 * Crafting recipe changed to 4 nether brick blocks and 2 nether brick items.
 * Previously crafting recipe is now used to make a nether brick wall.


 * Smooth sandstone and smooth red sandstone
 * Have been renamed to cut sandstone and cut red sandstone, respectively.


 * Sign
 * Has been renamed to Oak Sign.
 * An oak sign now requires oak planks to craft, instead of any wood planks.


 * Stone slabs
 * Have been renamed to smooth stone slabs and now require smooth stone to craft, instead of regular stone.
 * Previous crafting recipe is now used to make a new stone slab.


 * Sandstone and red sandstone stairs and slabs
 * Cannot be crafted using any type of sandstone or red sandstone but now require regular sandstone or red sandstone to craft it.


 * Cauldrons
 * Can now be used to hold lava.
 * Will burn entities inside it and emit light.


 * Tripwire
 * Is now activated when broken, unless broken with shears.


 * Wool
 * Renamed white colored wool to white wool.

Mobs

 * Passive mobs
 * Now randomly enter love mode.

World generation

 * Jungles
 * Bamboo can now generate in small shoots in all jungle biomes, but only in Experimental Gameplay.

Gameplay

 * Added several new loading screen tips and trivia suggested by the community.
 * A notification is now sent to chat when a tamed animal dies.
 * Improved performance when using Function commands; they are now pre-compiled on world reload.

General

 * Multiplayer
 * Players can now join and play games with a minor version mismatch.

Fixes

 * Crashes/Performance
 * Fixed several crashes that occurred during gameplay
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when replacing a wooden door with an iron door
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when using Pick Block on a chest filled with written books
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when pistons pushed blocks
 * Fixed a crash that could happen when changing network modes on Nintendo Switch
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when removing Gear VR headset during gameplay
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when quickly signing in and out of Xbox Live
 * Fixed a crash that could occur when resuming the game on mobile devices
 * Fixed a crash that occurred when resuming the game on Windows 10 Mobile devices
 * Fixed a crash that could occur after exiting the settings screen
 * Fixed a bug where the game could become unresponsive after being disconnected from a multiplayer game
 * Shulker boxes in item frames no longer cause the game to crash
 * Optimizations to chunk synchronization between client and server


 * General
 * Players can now join and play games with a minor version mismatch
 * Players can no longer change their customized player permissions while playing multiplayer games


 * Gameplay
 * Fixed players spawning in mid-air and falling to their death when loading a world
 * Fixed touch controls so players no longer get stuck in sneak position when underwater
 * Fixed an issue that could cause a sudden change in direction on touch screen devices
 * End gateway portals now work correctly, even if the destination area has already been generated
 * Fixed an issue with End gateway portals which could generate too closely, preventing travel back to the main island
 * Defeating the Ender Dragon now drops the correct amount of XP and generates a Dragon Egg in converted worlds
 * Auto-jump now works when trying to walk through scaffolding
 * Fixed breaking blocks when trying to fire a crossbow on touch screen devices
 * Touch controls now work correctly with scaffolding when using the 'swap jump and sneak' setting
 * Fixed a rare instance of players being teleported into a boat while traveling near water


 * Items
 * Fixed a bug that could result in lost items when crafting from the recipe book with a full inventory
 * Vines collected with silk touch tools can be used correctly in banner designs
 * Dropped items are now correctly displaced by slabs and glass
 * Dragon's Breath can now be quickly collected reliably in multiplayer games
 * Crossbows no longer fire accidentally when interacting with blocks or mobs on touch screen devices
 * Charged crossbows can now be used to melee attack mobs


 * Mobs
 * Cats now spawn in villages generated prior to the 1.8.0 update
 * Shulker boxes now push mobs when opening
 * Pandas now panic when set on fire
 * Slimes will once again spawn in slime chunks as expected
 * Endermen now make the scream sound when angered
 * Phantoms now drop membranes correctly if killed with a fire aspect sword
 * Skeleton jockeys now sit correctly on spiders and skeleton horses
 * Fixed the position of riders on mounts that allow multiple passengers


 * Blocks
 * Scaffolding can now be placed on glass
 * More blocks can be placed on scaffolding including mob heads and flower pots
 * Horizontal flowing water will no longer turn into bubble columns over soul sand
 * Realms / Dedicated Server
 * Operator permissions are now correctly granted as set in the "server.properties" file for Dedicated Servers
 * Player permissions are no longer reset when rejoining a dedicated server
 * Corrected an issue where large Realm downloads could be attempted when there was not enough storage space
 * Optimized lighting processing on dedicated servers
 * Realms subscriptions can now be successfully purchased on Xbox One
 * Changing Realm game options now take effect after the owner presses the Play button


 * Graphical
 * Held items now show the correct texture when changing resource packs
 * Clocks and compass items now load in correctly when joining a world
 * Fixed Texel Anti-Aliasing so that terrain blocks now have sharper textures
 * Fixed items in hand sometimes appearing completely white
 * Beacon beams once again use the proper texture
 * Fixed the swimming animation of the "Syrena" skin in Pirates of the Caribbean Mash-up pack
 * Fixed leg geometry for one-legged characters in various skin packs
 * Fixed Panda feeding animation
 * Shulkers no longer turn black when attacking a player
 * Sheep and Cats no longer appear black after being spawned with a spawn egg
 * Tamed llamas no longer become bioluminescent creatures when their inventory is opened
 * Strays once again have the correct texture layers
 * Lit furnaces now show correctly when copied using Ctrl + Pick Block
 * Scaffolding textures no longer z-fight with leaves
 * Particles produced by witches are now purple rather than black
 * The trident throwing animation no longer gets mixed up with the new crossbow animation


 * User Interface
 * Fixed missing "Save to Microsoft account" message when saving purchases on Nintendo Switch in handheld mode
 * Slabs are no longer labelled "half slabs" in the creative inventory
 * Improved text entry in various fields - text boxes can be highlighted and selected using the keyboard
 * Updated low disk space error message
 * Improved the error messages that previously stated the player didn't have a licence for the game
 * Error messages are now more informative when trying to join an unavailable world
 * Fixed the scaling of the Mojang splash screen when resuming a split-screen game
 * The skin picker menu now only displays progress/loading animation when online
 * Improved marketplace navigation when using a controller or keyboard
 * Marketplace content will now download correctly without getting stuck in the process
 * Custom modal forms now support two lines again


 * Commands
 * Functions are now pre-compiled, improving their performance at run-time
 * Repeating command blocks now keep their 'always active' state when cloned
 * Commands from command blocks no longer extend to other dimensions (This fix won't affect existing command blocks)
 * Special characters now display correctly when using the "/say" command
 * Falling block entities can now be killed using commands
 * Fixed remaining commands that use relative coordinates that are below y3


 * Add-Ons
 * Horses will spawn as different variants (rather than just one type) when unspecified in the behavior pack
 * Rideable entities that use the 'minecraft:explode' no component longer crash the game
 * Blocks in the inventory once again follow the textures set in blocks.json

Video
Video made by slicedlime:

Trivia

 * 1.9.0 is the only update to Bedrock Edition to not receive a minor update after the release of a major update.