Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition (also known as the Bedrock editions, Bedrock versions, or just Bedrock) refers to the multi-platform versions of Minecraft developed by Mojang Studios, Xbox Game Studios, and SkyBox Labs and based on the Bedrock codebase. The latest Bedrock Edition version is.

Although all Bedrock editions are nearly identical, the price varies depending on the platform. The Android version costs 7.49 (£5.41), while the iOS and Fire versions cost US$6.99 (£5.05). PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Fire TV versions cost US$19.99 (£14.45). The Windows 10 version costs US$26.99 (£19.51), and the Nintendo Switch version is the most expensive, costing US$29.99 (£21.68). DLC purchased from the Marketplace on one platform is usable on all other platforms, but the game itself is sold separately on each platform. Xbox Live achievements are not shared between platforms and buying the game on one of these platforms does not get the game on the others. Despite all being apps, Minecraft is sold as 3 separate apps at different prices on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, and Xbox One. The Xbox One version is also playable to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions are playable on and  respectively via backward compatibility. As with all other versions of Minecraft, updates are free of charge.

Bedrock codebase
The term "Bedrock Edition" comes from the Bedrock codebase, which was created by porting the Java code for Java Edition 1.9 to the C++ programming language for use in building a version to run on platforms that can't support Java. Code was then added to accommodate differences in the target platforms for such facilities as networking and storage access, but around 90% of the code is used on every platform. This common core of functionality is called the "Bedrock engine", but the engine itself has no independent physical existence.

The codebase resides within a software system that manages the pieces of code and tracks their evolution. This allows the codebase to host not only the current version but all past versions, the standalone Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS) versions, and several Beta versions simultaneously with no conflicts.

Target platform builds are created individually, then transmitted to the platform's app store. Most stores have their own compliance requirements and will subject the incoming edition to a series of certification tests before making it available for download. Xbox Game Studios attempts to synchronize availability across stores, but the certification process is not under their control and can delay an edition's availability on a certain platform, especially if it fails certification and has to go back to the developers for a fix.

Nomenclature
The name "Bedrock Edition" is not the official name of any edition of the game. Starting with the Better Together Update, all Bedrock editions of Minecraft have been named simply Minecraft. Before then, they each had a subtitle identifying the target platform, including (for all mobile platforms), Windows 10 Edition, Gear VR Edition, and Fire TV Edition. The earliest of these was Pocket Edition, also known as "MCPE" or "PE", and these names were (and still are) sometimes used to refer to all the Bedrock editions, possibly even including those that were introduced after the renaming occurred.

The renaming of the Bedrock editions to Minecraft with no "Edition" subtitles created confusion in the community for several reasons:
 * This name had until then referred to the version now known as Java Edition, which is not a Bedrock edition. The Java version was renamed to Minecraft: Java Edition at the same time the Bedrock editions were renamed to Minecraft, so for a while any use of the name was hopelessly ambiguous.
 * Although officially named just Minecraft, the Bedrock editions for consoles were marketed in their corresponding app stores as Minecraft for Xbox, Minecraft for PlayStation 4, and Minecraft for Nintendo Switch.  These names were too similar to the already existing Legacy Console Editions styled as Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition, and Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition, leaving users confused about whether the Bedrock editions were new or just the older versions under slightly modified names.
 * The term "Minecraft" was (and still is) also commonly used to refer to the game in general.

Together, these complications made the official name Minecraft useless for referring to the Bedrock editions collectively. The editors of this wiki, however, needed such a term in order to describe the functioning of the Bedrock engine across all editions, so despite there not being a real Bedrock Edition, the wiki chose to use this as a term of art. Subsequently, the community adopted it as well and it is now the de facto standard term for referring to all the Bedrock editions collectively.

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 them, Bedrock Edition has survival elements such as hunger and brewing, and the Nether and the End dimensions. The multiplayer mode is cross-platform compatible between all supported devices.

Bedrock Edition differs from Java Edition and Legacy Console Edition in a variety of ways, such as more saturated graphics, different terrain generation, some exclusive items, and an official add-on system. The HUD and other elements vary for each relevant device. Players can interact with the game 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:
 * LAN, allowing for 8 or more players to be on a single world
 * Realms
 * a user-created external server
 * A Microsoft Account
 * A list of "featured" (Mojang Studios partner) servers, offering predefined multiplayer mini-games in a Minecraft setting, is also provided.

Some features of Bedrock Edition are available only on certain platforms.
 * Virtual reality is available only on Gear VR, Windows 10 and PlayStation 4.
 * Importing or exporting worlds is supported only on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.
 * Joining servers through IP isn't supported by PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch or Xbox One.
 * Playing with friends using Xbox Live is available only on Windows 10 and Xbox One.
 * Windows 10 Edition supports multiple different control types. Xbox One gamepads, keyboards, or a touchscreen can be used if attached.

Compatible devices
Some devices below these specifications have been known to work fine either with or without custom ROM images, kernels, and of the CPU. The CPU is not supported due to its lack of the floating-point unit. The "Tegra 2" processor is also not supported because it lacks 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 Studios 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 codebase was ported to more platforms: first, Pocket Edition was released for Fire 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 are based on the Bedrock codebase, but separate from Bedrock Edition, were also released during this period. Pi Edition is a free and discontinued 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, the full release of the game, version 1.0.0 (dubbed 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 version 1.2.0, the Better Together Update, the Bedrock editions 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. PlayStation 4 users received the Bedrock Edition with the 1.14.0 update on December 10, 2019. Owners of the original Legacy Console Edition for these consoles are able to download the new version for free. In October 2020, the Gear VR and Windows 10 Mobile editions of the game were discontinued.

Beta test versions
Starting on November 22, 2013, Mojang Studios 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 that 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.

Players can also test certain features using Experimental Gameplay, a toggle that can be turned on through world settings, but once on it cannot be turned off again in that world.

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
Further information: Compare platform & features

There are several features in Bedrock Edition that are exclusive to certain platforms due to capability restrictions on different platforms. Here is a table of the features that are available only on certain platforms.

Trivia

 * The Bedrock Edition logo is flatter than the logo.
 * The button textures are recolored versions of the buttons that are in Notch's unfinished game Legend of the Chambered.