Sneaking

Sneaking (or crouching) is a gameplay feature that prevents players from falling off of blocks and helps them hide from mobs, among other useful features.

Controls

Main article: Controls

In Java and Bedrock editions with keyboard controls, the control for sneaking defaults to ⇧ Shift. The player sneaks as long as the key is held down. In Bedrock Edition with touch controls, sneaking is toggled by double-tapping and toggled back by double-tapping . In Bedrock Edition with gamepad controls, sneaking is toggled by pressing on . Certain actions like opening the inventory can cancel sneaking, even if the player is still holding down the key for sneaking. This never happens on touch devices as the player doesn't need to hold down the sneak key.

Effects

A player sneaking to avoid falling into lava.

While sneaking:

• Players are prevented from walking off edges if the difference in height between the two surfaces is ⁵⁄₈ of a block or higher, which makes sneaking useful for building horizontally outward over empty space.
  • The player can still dismount blocks while sneaking by jumping over the block's edge.
  • A sneaking player still falls if the block beneath the player's feet is destroyed.
• The player moves slower, at a speed of 1.295 m/s.
  • If two movement keys are pressed at once, the player sneaks diagonally at a faster speed of 1.832 m/s.
• Hostile mobs do not become aware of the player until within 80% of the usual detection range.
• Eye level moves down ¹⁄₈ of a block, and the character model bends over slightly. This can be seen in 3rd person view.
• The player's hitbox height reduces from its usual 1.8 blocks to 1.5 blocks.
• Players cannot hear their own footstep sounds.
• In multiplayer, a sneaking player's name tag appears fainter than normal, invisible to players more than 32 blocks away, and invisible through solid blocks.
• If players are on a ladder or vines, they do not move down. This gives the impression of holding on to that specific ladder rung or vine. Mining speed is still decreased by a factor of 5.
• Pressing use prioritizes using a held item over interacting with a targeted block. For example, this allows placing a hopper on a chest, a torch on a furnace, or redstone on a command block.
• Players are able to interact with a horse (donkey or mule inventories, also) when pressing use item control while holding the sneak key.
• The player moves downward on scaffolding.
  • The player can't fall through a scaffolding block hanging in mid-air.
• The player moves downward in powder snow if they are wearing leather boots.
  • Without leather boots, the player simply sinks into powder snow without control.
• Sneaking prevents the player from bouncing on slime blocks, resulting in fall damage.
• Magma blocks do not cause harm.
• Redstone ore does not light if stepped on by a sneaking player.
• Sneaking causes a player to sink faster when submerged in water or lava.
• Sculk sensors and wardens do not detect sneaking players, even if they jump while sneaking.
  • Sculk sensors can still detect players that stand on top of them, even when they are sneaking.
  • The warden can still "sniff out" a sneaking player's location and slowly approach them.
• In Java Edition, if sneaking is set to "Toggle" under Accessibility Settings, the player keeps sneaking when interacting with blocks that have a UI if the player was sneaking when they interacted with the block.
• In Bedrock Edition, sneaking is used to block attacks while holding a shield.

Sneaking does not affect:

• Jump height; players can still jump up to the same heights and at the same vertical speed. Horizontal jump speed and distance is decreased, however.
• Farmland and crops; they are still trampled when jumped upon.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Sneak 100	Sneaking [sic] next to a Sculk Sensor without triggering it	Sneak next to a Sculk Sensor or Warden without triggering or aggravating it.	10G	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Sneak 100	Sneak near a Sculk Sensor or Warden to prevent it from detecting you	Adventure	Sneak within 8 blocks from a sculk sensor, or 16 blocks from a warden.	adventure/avoid_vibration

History

Java Edition Classic
May 18, 2009					Sneaking was first suggested on the TIGSource forums.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.1.1					Added sneaking.
v1.2.3_05					In multiplayer, players can now see other players sneaking. Names of sneaking players are fainter and visible at a shorter distance, and are not visible through solid blocks.
					Leaving sneak mode no longer rapidly plays all the step sounds that it silenced during the sneak.
Java Edition Beta
1.4					Sneaking now allows the player to hold their place on a ladder.
1.6		Test Build 3			The ability to sneak up and down half-meter slopes has been added.
Java Edition
1.3.1		?			The player no longer falls off the edge of a block if they stop sneaking too soon after reaching the edge.
1.4.6		12w49a			The player can now place blocks, such as redstone dust or levers, on interactable blocks while sneaking.
1.6.1		13w16a			Sneaking is now used to get out for all transportation methods, such as boats, horses and minecarts.
		?			The player's arm changes position when sneaking.
1.8		14w06a			A smooth transition is no longer applied to the camera when the player sneaks.
1.9		15w42a			Sneaking now lowers the player's hitbox from the normal height of 1.8 blocks to 1.65 blocks.
		15w49a			Sneaking now increases exhaustion by 0.005/m, decreased from 0.01/m.
1.11		16w32a			Sneaking no longer increases exhaustion.
		16w44a			Sneaking now prevents drops from heights of 5⁄8 of a block or greater (any drop higher than a half-block); previously, it was 1 full block or greater.
1.13		18w07c			A smooth transition is once again applied to the camera when the player sneaks.
1.14		19w12a			Sneaking now lowers the player's hitbox to 1.5 blocks.
		19w14a			Entering any vertical space 1.5 or taller, but less than 1.8 blocks tall initiates the sneaking pose.
		Pre-Release 1			Entering any vertical space 1.5 or taller, but less than 1.8 blocks tall initiates actual sneaking, the non-interactivity of blocks.
1.15		19w41a			Sneak inputs can now be switched between Hold and Toggle mode in the Accessibility Options.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.5.0					Added sneaking exclusively on the Xperia PLAY gaming console.
v0.12.1		build 1			Added sneaking on all other devices.
v0.15.0		build 1			Sneaking can now be used to access a horse, donkey, or mule's inventory.
					Sneaking is now used to dismount from animals.
v0.16.0		build 1			The player now uses a sneaking stance when flying downward.
Pocket Edition
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Sneaking can now be used to access a llama's inventory.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Sneaking is now used to change armor stand poses.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Sneaking is now used to block with shields.
1.19.70		beta 1.19.70.20			Sneaking now lowers the player's hitbox to 1.5 blocks.
					Entering any vertical space 1.5 or taller, but less than 1.8 blocks tall initiates actual sneaking, the non-interactivity of blocks.
		beta 1.19.70.24			Changes from 1.19.70.20 temporarily reverted.
Short Sneaking (Experimental)		beta 1.19.80.20			The player's hitbox is once again lowered to 1.5 blocks when sneaking with the "Short Sneaking" experimental toggle enabled.
Short Sneaking and Crawling (Experimental)		beta 1.20.10.20			Sneak under 1.5 blocks tall is now behind the "Short Sneaking and Crawling" experimental toggle.
1.20.10		beta 1.20.10.23			Sneak under 1.5 blocks tall is now available without the "Short Sneaking and Crawling" experimental toggle.
					Players can now be forced into sneak state while flying.
1.20.30		beta 1.20.20.20			The player now gets forced out of sneak state when riding.
		beta 1.20.30.21			Players can now toggle flying when sneaking in Creative mode.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.00	Patch 1		Added sneaking.

Issues

Issues relating to "Sneaking" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• While flying in Creative mode, holding the jump and sneak buttons simultaneously causes the player to remain at the same height.
• In Bedrock Edition, the player uses a sneaking stance when flying downward. The player can also place blocks on chests, furnaces and other utility blocks in this stance, suggesting the player is actually in a sneaking mode. In Java Edition, the player no longer enters sneak mode when flying downward, but they still don't interact with blocks by right-clicking.
• In Bedrock Edition, the player can bridge out by looking at the air block they are placing on, though it must be adjacent to an existing block. This works even if the player is not sneaking.
  • In Java Edition, the player must travel to the edge of the block (usually by sneaking) and look backward to place the next block.
• If the player begins to sneak while sprinting, they sneak faster than one who sneaks without sprinting.
  • This is more noticeable when the player is wearing pants or leggings with the Swift Sneak enchantment.

Gallery

Player

• 

  Alex

• 

  Steve

Screenshots

• 

  The first image of sneaking.

• 

  Kai sneaking under a slab at a pillager outpost.

• 

  A side view of sneaking.

See also

• Crawling
• Swimming
• Sprinting

References

Gameplay 

View at: Template:Gameplay/content [edit]