Bedrock Edition unused features

Since the beginning of Minecraft's development, there have been a number of features added to the game that has little to no actual use. Some of these features are leftovers from removed features, or simply placeholders for new features in future updates.

Enchantments
This is a list of unused features related to enchantments.

Enchant anything
$$, players cannot enchant a block or item; only tools, weapons, and armor can be enchanted, even if the player is in creative mode. However, it is possible to apply enchantments to non-enchantable items or blocks using an NBT editor. By using an NBT editor, it is possible to apply enchantments that cannot be applied in-game normally, such as Fire Aspect on flint and steel or Blast Resistance on TNT. It is also possible to add multiple enchantments that are not compatible with each other such as Smite or Bane of Arthropods to a sword. Although the command $$ cannot enchant past the maximum level limit, it is possible to enchant items with a higher level than the max limit via the NBT editor.

Spectator mode
Spectator mode was added in an unknown version of Bedrock Edition, but it cannot be entered by using commands and world settings. Spectator mode used to be accessible through servers where a player's inventory would be filled with dandelions could not be replaced or placed. It can be entered only by using an NBT editor and players in spectator mode cannot spectate other entities. It is now accessible through experimental features.

Mobs
In vanilla behavior packs, there is a loot table for the giant, a mob that cannot be spawned in Bedrock Edition.

Chest loot

 * Old village

New Village architecture is no longer behind Experimental gameplay in 1.11.0, which consists of new chest loot. However. old village chest loot has not been removed but has become unused. This old loot consists of:


 * Old dungeon

There are unused loot tables that have similar loot, like dungeon chest loot before the Better Together Update. It is named monster_room.json (unknown structure)

Other
There is also unknown equipment loot called low_item_tiers.json

Old stonecutter
Bedrock Edition 1.10.0 introduced the stonecutter with the model and texture similar to the stonecutter, however, the new stonecutter does not replace the old stonecutter, as the old stonecutter was removed only from the creative inventory and commands. It is still available if the player already had it in a world prior to 1.10.0 or uses inventory editing.

Lava in cauldron
Cauldrons can be used to store lava, but always filled by $10/46$ level. However, using or  command with different data values can obtain a cauldron with $10/46$ through $15/46$ level filled by lava, which normally can't happen due to the fact that dying leather armor and filling glass bottles isn't possible with lava.

Glowing obsidian


Glowing Obsidian blocks were part of the (now obsolete) Nether reactor. It emits a soft red glow at light level 12, and drops a single obsidian when broken with a wooden pickaxe. It can be obtained only by using inventory editors or a Silk Touch enchanted pickaxe and doing the Gravity Block Glitch. As of 0.12.1, this block doesn't generate anymore. The block may still be obtained using inventory editors or by retaining it from previous worlds before the update.

reserved6
This block was implemented as a temporary fix to a bug causing Fire to spread to any block. This block replaced any Fire blocks created in a world until v0.7.0 when the aforementioned bug was fixed.

Nether reactor core


The functionality of the Nether Reactor was removed in Pocket Edition v0.12.1 alpha. However, the reactor core block still exists in-game and can be obtained through inventory editing or by retaining it from previous worlds before the update. It now drops its ingredients, and cannot be obtained though normal methods or with Silk Touch. Prior to v0.12.1, they were used to activate the nether reactor. Tapping on it would activate the reactor if built correctly. When the core is activated for the nether reactor structure, the cobblestone and the blocks of gold are both replaced with glowing obsidian.

Paintings
In v0.5.0 alpha, with the addition of paintings to Pocket Edition, four unused 32×32 paintings were present in kz.png that remained unused - using IDA and the Android  file, it has been found that the paintings are referenced from the game code, particularly in the   method (get all paintings), but the   method excludes them as possibilities for a random painting. In v0.8.0 alpha build 2, despite still being unused, the textures of these paintings were updated to be more detailed.

The paintings are named and designed according to the four classical elements - "Earth" features a brown square on a light brown background, "Water" is split into a lower light blue half and an upper blue half with a jagged line, "Fire" consists of three orange isosceles triangles on a yellow background, with the largest having a small red triangle inside it, and "Wind" features a beige hollow circle on a white background.

According to Helen Zbihlyj, these paintings were originally added "as part of a Pocket Edition promo map" (no footage found) which was planned to be a part of Pocket Edition promotion at MINECON 2012 or 2013 and have never been used in game. The artist of these paintings remains unknown.

Update game blocks
The update game block looks like a dirt block with the word "update!" written with what appears to be grass. This was a placeholder for blocks that were put into the game before the full files made. It was available for the outdated version of 1.13.0 $5/46$. It could be seen if the player was playing with a friend on 1.13.0 and their device wasn't updated or if using an item in a world then downgrading Minecraft to a version that didn't have the block. Players can still get this by placing an Education Edition block, then disabling Education Edition, also using the /setblock command for a block called "Unknown" places this block, which can then can be broken and collected. It wasn't called the update game block either, the name used numbers and letters. It can be found if a friend runs a world on a newer version and all added blocks on that version then have this texture. There is also a version of this block with the word "ate!upd".

Old wooden slab
Before normal wooden slabs were added, another type of wooden slab existed with stone characteristics.

More explorer maps
Despite ocean explorer maps, woodland explorer and buried treasure maps being the only explorer maps that can be obtained in game, other explorer maps actually exist in the game files, and can be obtained only via inventory editing. These maps being:


 * Village Explorer Map: Shows the nearest village; the reason why this map is not obtainable is that it sometimes shows the nearest village from the player, and is sold by the cartographer villager who also spawns in the village, making this explorer map no more useful than a locator map because it shows the current location of the village that the player just found.
 * Mineshaft explorer map: Shows the nearest abandoned mineshaft, for normal or mesa variant.
 * Temple explorer map: Shows one of these structures if they're nearby:
 * Jungle pyramid
 * Desert pyramid
 * Igloo
 * Swamp hut
 * Stronghold explorer map: Shows the nearest stronghold. This explorer map often leads the player to a village, because strongholds in Bedrock Edition have a high chance to generate underneath a village's well or meeting point. This can be an alternative way to find strongholds beside using an eye of ender.
 * Ruins explorer map: Shows the nearest ocean ruins.
 * Shipwreck explorer map: Shows the nearest shipwreck.
 * Pillager outpost explorer map: Shows the nearest pillager outpost.
 * Fortress explorer map: Shows the nearest Nether fortress. Unlike other explorer maps, this map uses the Nether map layout instead of the explorer map layout, which is a static gray color with a destination pointer that stays in one place but spinning wildly like the player pointer.
 * End City Explorer Map: Shows nearest end city. Unlike other explorer maps, this map uses the End map layout, instead of the explorer map layout.

These explorer maps, named "Unknown Maps", have the same scale as the woodland and ocean explorer maps. However, when held, its name is changed to Map 0 and shows a green triangle to mark the destination structure. These explorer maps have normal map textures but have the same layout as a woodland and ocean explorer maps, which are brown. They use stripes for bodies of water, and a sort of tan color for landmasses. If the player obtains these unused explorer maps in an incorrect dimension, ex: obtaining a fortress explorer map in the Overworld causes the game to freeze and/or eventually crash.

Potions and tipped arrows
Some potions are unobtainable in normal gameplay, they appear in 3 different types: drinkable potions, splash potions, and lingering potions. Each potion also has its own respective tipped arrow variant, they are:
 * Potion of Haste
 * Potion of Dullness
 * Potion of Blindness
 * Potion of Resistance
 * Potion of Absorption
 * Potion of Health Boost
 * Potion of Confusion
 * Potion of Levitation

Tipped arrows
Besides the tipped arrows that are created from unused potions, some tipped arrows are also unused. These tipped arrows do not give any effects when shot at an entity. These arrows are tipped arrows from base potions:
 * Arrow of Water
 * Arrow of Mundane
 * Arrow of Long Mundane
 * Arrow of Thick
 * Arrow of Awkward

Purpur blocks
There are unused data values of the purpur block that have the same texture as the normal purpur block and can be obtained only by or inventory editing. These are:
 * 1 - Chiseled Purpur
 * 3 - tile.purpur_block.smooth.name

Unused grass variants
There are unused data values of grass variants which can be obtained only by or inventory editing. These are:


 * 0 - Fern (looks identical to grass)
 * 3 - Fern (looks identical to actual fern)

Textures
There are no items, placeable blocks, or mobs for these, as they appear only as textures, meaning they are currently without use in-game. Some of these are from the Education Edition of Minecraft, and their textures still exist $5/46$.

Chalkboard
Chalkboard comes in 3 variants: slate, poster, and board.

Camera
The camera's texture still remains, despite it no longer existing as a block, although it was re-added in beta 1.12.0.2, being obtainable with the command, but only as an item. However, the ability to get the camera using commands were removed again in beta 1.13.0.1. It is used to take photos because back then, phones didn't have the ability to take screenshots. Cameras are once again obtainable with in beta 1.16.100.54, and can now take screenshots. However it was removed again in beta 1.16.100.58.

Old rose
The exclusive blue rose was removed from the game, but its texture still remains as

Items from Education Edition
Items that were added during v0.16.0 development versions:


 * All chalkboards
 * Slate
 * Poster
 * Board

Portfolio
The Portfolio was an item that can save photos that were taken with the camera.

Chalkboard
Comes in all 3 variants: slate, poster, and board.

Camera
The camera item takes a screenshot and saves it to the internal storage of the device the game is being played on.

Spawn agent
Does not spawn an agent unless connected to a WebSocket server.

Minecart with furnace
The minecart with furnace exists $1/46$, while in Bedrock Edition it appears as an inventory icon texture.

Quiver
The quiver was going to be used to hold arrows, but it was never implemented; Dinnerbone said that holding arrows in the offhand felt more natural.

Ruby
Rubies were supposed to be in the game, but since Dinnerbone was color-blind and couldn’t tell the difference between it and Redstone, it was scrapped, leaving only a texture. It was implemented in Minecraft Earth, with a completely different use and texture.

Hoglin meat


In 1.16.0, two textures named and  were added. They are textured identically to raw beef and cooked beef, respectively.

Gray tabby cat
In the vanilla resource pack, a texture file for a gray tabby cat exists. However, it is completely unused and cannot be spawned in-game.

Tamed ocelot
In the vanilla resource pack, textures exist, along with the other cat textures, for an ocelot texture, as well as the texture for a tamed ocelot. Again, it is completely unused and can't be spawned in-game.

Old nitwit villager and old nitwit zombie villager
Nitwit villagers have existed $3/94$ from earlier versions alongside its zombie villager version, but remain unused. Its texture still exists in the game files. Nitwit villager and zombie villager added in 1.10.0 but they are new villagers with a different ID and texture, which means the old nitwit villager and zombie villager textures are unused.

Clownfish
In the vanilla resource pack, there is a texture for a generic clownfish, which is completely unused, instead, clownfish are a variant of tropical fish.



Old Pocket Edition panorama
As of Bedrock Edition 1.2.0, a new panorama background is used, but the old panorama before 1.2.0 was not removed. Despite many updates to the main panorama, the (now unused) old panorama texture still exists.

Status effects
Some of the status effects in Bedrock Edition are unobtainable and can be obtained only by using inventory editing or.

Health boost
Health Boost was added to the game in v0.12.0. It gives extra health that can regenerate. It can be obtained only with commands.

Nether in Old world type
Nether Portals cannot be activated in the Old world type unless converted to the Infinite world type.

As of Alpha 0.16.0 build 5, commands can be used by players to access the Nether in the Old world type without converting it to Infinite by using commands or  with the Nether Portal.

The Nether in the Old world type looks like the normal Nether but is limited in size. It is the same size as the Overworld, which is 256×256 with a 128 block height. However, since the Nether and the Overworld have the same size, and traveling 1 block in the Nether is still equal to traveling 8 blocks in the Overworld, this leads to a problem that can make the game freeze or crash. This is the reason why the Nether can not be accessed in the Old world type. When the player goes to the Nether, a new Nether portal generates naturally in the Overworld, because a portal placed with commands is not counted. However, the player cannot make a nether portal normally.

End in Old world type
The End Dimension was added, and alongside it the End in the Old world type. The End is inaccessible because strongholds never generate in the Old world type and building an end portal also does not work. The only way to access it is via block-placement commands such as and.

Unlike the Nether in Old worlds, which can generate all structures, The End here generates just the main island and not the outer islands, due to the size limit of 256×256 blocks.

However, sometimes the End in the Old world type generates improperly, resulting in the central island not generating due to the border. If this happens, the ender dragon may get stuck in mid-air at the border, and the exit portal generates halfway or does not appear. The end gateway portal is also nonfunctional, due to the size limit.

These problems are the reasons why the End dimension is normally inaccessible, as the only way to go back to the Overworld is via cheats or death.

Custom superflats
There is an NBT string in every level.dat file called "FlatWorldLayers", which when edited properly, can cause the respective world to generate custom layers. This is used when Custom Superflats created on Legacy Console Edition get converted over to Bedrock Edition.

Custom Superflats can, nevertheless, still be created without cheats through custom world folders.

Fifth giant tree taiga biome variants
The file  contained a biome name that never existed in game.

"mega_taiga": { "water_surface_color": "#2d6d77", "water_fog_color": "#2d6d77" },   "mega_spruce_taiga": { "water_surface_color": "#2d6d77", "water_fog_color": "#2d6d77" },   "mega_taiga_mutated": { "water_surface_color": "#2d6d77", "water_fog_color": "#2d6d77" },   "mega_spruce_taiga_mutated": { "water_surface_color": "#2d6d77", "water_fog_color": "#2d6d77" },   "mega_taiga_hills": { "water_surface_color": "#286378", "water_fog_color": "#286378" },

Out of the five giant tree taiga biomes, only four can generate in the game while another one,, appears only in this code, as that biome is not defined in the vanilla behavior pack in the biomes folder. Whether the biome is a dropped feature or not is unknown.

Colors:

World settings
level.dat contains several player abilities. Most of these are used in multiplayer, to determine who has what permissions. However, some are completely inaccessible without an NBT editor. With the exception of, none of these settings can be altered in-game for the world itself, only for individual players. The  changes in-game as players toggle flight mode, but cannot be altered manually without editing.

Armed zombie villager
The zombie villager was added, but it cannot spawn with armor equipped. However, armed zombie villagers are still spawnable via mob editing. If a zombie villager is wearing armor, the helmet is struck through the head, the chestplate and leggings can be seen through holes in their clothes, while the boots look normal.

Wither skeleton archer
If a wither skeleton is equipped with a bow, it uses it as a ranged weapon, and arrows shot are always set on fire regardless of what enchantment it has, or if it has an enchantment. However, wither skeleton archers cannot spawn naturally.

Minecraft Dungeons has wither skeleton archers.

Wither jockey
Spiders spawned in the Nether have a 1% chance of spawning while being ridden by a skeleton, which has an 80% of being a wither skeleton and a 20% of a normal skeleton. However, since spiders cannot naturally spawn in the Nether, this mob is unused. Instead, it can be spawned using spider spawn eggs in Creative mode. Wither jockeys also have a cave spider variant. It can also be spawned with commands.

Zombie horse
Zombie horses can be spawned only by using its spawn egg or, as it cannot spawn naturally.

Zombie horse jockey (and variants)
These jockeys (see below) are unused since zombie horses cannot spawn naturally.
 * Zombie horse jockey
 * Baby zombie riding zombie horse
 * Husk zombie horse jockey
 * Baby husk riding zombie horse
 * Zombie villager riding zombie horse jockey
 * Baby zombie villager riding zombie horse

Baby trader llama
Trader llamas were added in beta 1.11.0.1, which at that time were breedable and could spawn a baby. However, as of beta 1.11.0.3, trader llamas no longer spawn naturally as babies since they are no longer breedable, causing the baby trader llama to become unused.

Ravagers
Some Ravager with riders do not spawn naturally and must be summoned using :


 * Vindicator riding Ravager
 * Pillager Captain riding Ravager
 * Vindicator Captain riding Ravager

Agent


The agent was added in alpha 0.17.0.1, although it was hidden in the .apk file of the game. However, it is still used in conjunction with Code Connection.

Camera
The camera was first found in the Pocket Edition v0.1.0 alpha .apk file, as of this version, the camera has functionality.

As of v0.9.0, the camera entity was removed. Tommaso stated "It doesn't mean that it's dead forever, in fact, I have a lot of ideas for it! I think it will be back when have shaders, sharing and redstone."

The camera was re-added in alpha v0.14.0, accessible only with inventory editors, but was removed again in alpha v0.16.0. However, the block can still be obtained in servers.

Cameras were added again in beta 1.8.0.8, but it requires mob editing to summon it or using an NBT editor to get its spawn egg. The camera can now be obtained using as of beta 1.12.0.2.

In beta 1.13.0.1, this item can be used by slide while using the item, the take picture sound can be heard and an explosion can be seen and a picture is saved to LocalState/screenshots folder on Windows 10 or /storage/emulated/0/screenshots folder on Android. However, Cameras are no longer obtainable using

As of beta 1.16.100.54, Cameras are once again obtainable using. It was reverted again in beta 1.16.100.58

Old villager
Old villagers, prior to the Village and Pillage update are still available in the game, but they are instantly converted into  (new villagers). Their spawn egg can be obtained only via. However, trying to spawn them with that spawn egg spawns an old villager who is instantly killed. A new villager then spawns and take its place.

Their trade tables were not removed, even though trading GUI has changed between Village and Pillage and prior updates.

Elder guardian ghost
The elder guardian ghost is an unused mob added in beta 1.13.0.4. Its file isn't included in the behavior pack, and it can be spawned only by using the command.