Minecraft on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch has no field for a server address. A console can only reach servers from Microsoft's Featured list or from the local network, which is why the address your friends use is no help to the person on the couch. The Chunklink app supplies the missing field, on iPhone and Android phones.
How it works
- Type the server address into the app.
- Press start. Your phone announces the server on your Wi-Fi.
- On the console, open Minecraft and go to Play → Friends. The server is there under LAN Games, with its real name.
- Join. The console connects to the server directly, and once everyone is in you can put the phone away.
Nothing to install on the console, nothing to change on it, no DNS tricks.
What you need
- Phone and console on the same Wi-Fi. A hotspot from the phone works too.
- "Visible to LAN Players" switched on in Minecraft's multiplayer settings on the console. It is off more often than you'd think, and it is the number one reason nothing shows up.
- On a Nintendo Switch: an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and Minecraft in Online mode rather than Local Wireless.
Two ways a console joins
Most servers get the direct hand-off above, and your phone is out of the picture seconds after the console is in.
If a server runs a Minecraft version the hand-off doesn't cover yet, the app passes the whole connection through your phone instead. It then stays open with the screen on for as long as anyone plays, the battery notices, and a Nintendo Switch cannot join that way at all. The app tells you which of the two you're getting before you start.
Which servers work
Any Bedrock server, whoever runs it: a Bedrock Dedicated Server, a Java server with GeyserMC, or your Chunklink server. There is nothing to switch on at the server end.
What the app knows about you
It asks for Local Network access the first time you start it. That is the whole feature: consoles look for games on the local network, and your phone answers. It never asks for your location. Saved servers stay on your phone.
Free, no account, no ads.
If something doesn't work, ask on Discord.