How to play with friends online in Minecraft

Minecraft is a great solo game, but you can also share your experience with friends. By following these simple steps, you'll be adventuring through Minecraft's different biomes with your band of merry travellers in no time.

Your first step is to create a gamer tag connected to a Microsoft account. If you don’t already have one, you’ll have to create a new account, which can be done free of charge on the Microsoft website. Once you’re registered, log in to Minecraft on your mobile device using that account so you're ready to jump in.

Share your gamer tag with the friends you wish to play with online by exchanging friend requests in Minecraft. Then, start a new game and tap the Invite To Game button. This menu will open a list of all your friends. Select the names of those you wish to bring into your world, then click 'Send X invites'. As each player accepts, they’ll appear alongside you in the game.

If you want to check out one of your friend’s worlds, there are two ways to do it. One is by accepting a game invite when your friend sends you one. The other is by looking them up on the main menu. After you tap the Play button on the title screen, move over to the Friends tab to see all of your registered friends who are currently playing. From there, select one of them, tap Join and you're in.

Another way to play online is by creating a Realm. Realms are a step up from Worlds in that Realms will stay active after you log off and any of your friends who are members of the Realm can access it at any time. Realms can have between 2 to 10 players, but creating one does require a Realms Plus subscription. You can purchase this in the game's main menu.