Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition (also known as the Bedrock Version or just Bedrock) refers to the multi-platform family of editions of Minecraft developed by Mojang AB, Microsoft Studios, 4J Studios, and SkyBox Labs. Prior to this term, as the engine originated with Pocket Edition, this entire product family was referred to as "Pocket Edition", "MCPE", or "Pocket/Windows 10 Edition".

All Bedrock editions of Minecraft use the title Minecraft with no subtitle. Before the Better Together Update, they had different subtitles on each platform, including Pocket Edition (for all mobile platforms), Windows 10 Edition, Xbox One Edition, Nintendo Switch Edition, Gear VR Edition, and Fire TV Edition. Apple TV Edition was shortly discontinued afterwards, thus it was no longer updated and removed from the App Store on Apple TV devices.

Although all Bedrock versions are nearly identical, the price varies depending on the platform. Approximately in USD, mobile versions cost $7, and the Xbox One and TV versions cost $20. The Windows 10 and Nintendo Switch versions are the most expensive, costing $30. The Windows 10 version is also sold in a Master Collection that costs $50 and includes more DLC and Minecoins. DLC purchased from the Marketplace on one platform is usable on all other platforms, but the game itself is sold separately on each platform. Despite all being UWP apps, Minecraft is sold as 3 separate apps at different prices on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, and Xbox One. (This means that Xbox Live achievements are not shared between these platforms and buying the game on one of these platforms does not get the game on the others. There are sets of achievements for each platforms.) As with Legacy Console Edition and Java Edition, updates are free of charge.

Gameplay
The objective of the game remains the same as its Java Edition and Legacy Console Edition counterparts, where players can build virtual realities in a sandbox-like environment. Like its counterparts, Bedrock Edition also has survival elements present in other versions of the game such as brewing, hunger, and dimensions like the Nether and the End. The multiplayer mode is cross-platform compatible between all touch-screen and console devices capable of running Bedrock Edition.

Bedrock Edition differs from Java Edition in a variety of ways, such as more vibrant graphics, revised terrain, some exclusive items, and an official add-on system. The development team stated that once Bedrock Edition is up to date with Java Edition, it will start making its own diverse progress but later stated it would be developing and releasing features in tandem with Java Edition. The HUD and other elements are adapted for each relevant device. Interactions are made either via keyboard and mouse, touchscreen or controller.

Differences from Java Edition include:


 * Some mobs have some sort of difference from their Java Edition counterparts.
 * Multiplayer allows for 4 ways of player connection:
 * Through LAN, allowing for 8 or more players to be on a single world
 * Through Minecraft Realms.
 * Through a user-created external server. A list of server software can be found on Bedrock Edition server software.
 * Through Xbox Live
 * A list of "featured" (Microsoft partner) servers, offering predefined multiplayer mini-games in a Minecraft setting, is also provided.

Some features of Bedrock Edition are only available on certain platforms.
 * Virtual reality is only available on Gear VR and Windows 10.
 * Joining servers through IP isn't supported by Xbox One or Nintendo Switch.
 * Exporting 3D models is only supported by Windows 10.

Compatible devices
Some devices below these specifications have been known to work fine either with or without custom ROM images, kernels, and overclocking of the CPU. However, the CPU "MSM7227" is not supported due to its lack of the floating-point unit. The processor "Tegra 2" is also not supported because the processor has no support for Neon.

Development

 * Planned versions
 * Mentioned features
 * Removed features
 * Development versions

Release
A video of an early prototype was released on Twitter, showing the game on the Xperia PLAY. The Alpha version was later released, and was released for different platforms on October 7, 2011. The non-exclusive version was going to be released on September 29 for Android but there were several severe bugs that needed to be fixed; the release was delayed until October 7.

A version for iOS devices was confirmed to be released before 2012 in an interview with Mojang and was subsequently released on November 17, 2011.

Alpha
After the initial releases for Android and iOS, updates were released in parallel, with the same features being added for both platforms. During the Alpha stage, various aspects of gameplay were introduced into the Bedrock codebase including: crafting, smelting, more blocks, items, mobs and more game modes to bring it closer to the Java Edition. As the Pocket Edition development team works closely, often blocks released on the Java Edition are released around the same time for Pocket Edition. Certain features were also tested on Pocket Edition before their Java releases, such as beetroots and their related items, and also block models.

During the Alpha phase, the Bedrock Edition was ported to more platforms: first, Pocket Edition was released for Fire OS on September 13, 2012, and for Windows Phone on December 10, 2014. The Windows 10 Edition Beta was released on July 29, 2015, at a higher price than Pocket Edition. Gear VR Edition was released April 27, 2016 for the same price as Pocket Edition.

Two other versions of Minecraft that's based on the Bedrock codebase, but separate from Bedrock Edition, were also released during this period. Pi Edition is a free and disconnected version of Minecraft for the Raspberry Pi, which was based on an old alpha version of Bedrock. Education Edition was released for Windows 10 and macOS on November 1, 2016.

Full Release
On November 11, 2016, 1.0 (the Ender Update) was announced. It was released on December 19, 2016, along with the Apple TV Edition and Fire TV Edition. Pocket Edition began to receive updates again for Windows 10 Mobile on February 22, 2017.

From 1.2, the Better Together Update, all editions of Bedrock Edition no longer have the "Edition" subtitle and are renamed to simply Minecraft. A port of Bedrock Edition for Xbox One was released along with the update, and one for the Nintendo Switch was released digitally and physically on June 21, 2018. Owners of the original Legacy Console Edition for these consoles will be able to download the new version for free.

Builds
Starting on November 22, 2013, Mojang began to publicly release testing versions of full updates to Android users who opt into the beta program, in order to get major feedback, especially for bug reporting. This enabled the official updates to be considerably more stable.

Versions from 0.8.0 to 0.12.1 required opting into a Google+ group to receive development builds. Players would then see development updates appear as normal updates in the Play Store. On July 17, 2015, the Google+ group was removed due to the amount of spam and advertisements that the group attracted."  On November 3, 2015, the PE Beta team published a dedicated blog which was subsequently used for users to opt into the 0.13.0 beta program and to display changelogs for these development builds.

The Xbox Insider Hub app is used to opt into the beta program on Windows 10 since July 31, 2017, and on Xbox One since August 24. Before the release of the Better Together Update, the Xbox One beta was available only to owners of the digital version of the original Xbox One Edition, and not owners of the disc version.

On Android, iOS and Nintendo Switch, players can test features using Experimental Gameplay, a toggle that can be turned on through world settings, but it cannot turned off upon creation.

Sales
As of December 2013, Pocket Edition (the only Bedrock Codebase edition at the time) had sold 16.5 million copies, while at the same time, the Java Edition had sold 13 million. These calculations came out after the 0.8.0 update. This was considered a huge success, with Pocket Edition outselling both Java Edition and Legacy Console Edition, despite being considered to be the least-developed at the time.

On December 2, 2016, Marsh Davies announced that Pocket Edition had sold over 40 million copies (at the time, Java Edition had sold over 24 million). This statistic included Windows 10 Edition and  Gear VR Edition.

Minecraft is also usually in the top 10 and regularly #1 in the App Store's and Google Play's Paid Apps Section in the Top Charts.

Platform differences
There are several features in Bedrock Edition which are exclusive to certain platforms, either due to only certain platforms being capable of using those features, or due to platform restrictions preventing certain features from being implemented. Here is a table of the features that are only available on certain platforms.