Multiplayer

Play with friends from your own world

This needs no server.

1. In your world, open the pause menu and choose the Friends button (the icon with two people), then Start Sharing. Horizon opens the world to your network and shows an invite code with Copy Code.
2. Send the code to your friends.
3. On their side, your friends choose the Friends button on the title screen (or Join a friend on the launcher's Play page), paste the code and choose Join. Pasting the code in Direct Connection works too.

There is no Horizon server in the middle. The code holds the host's addresses and a secret key, and the game between you is encrypted with it. A code works for as long as you keep sharing: closing the world or quitting ends it.

Can your friends reach you? The Play with Friends screen says what the game found:

• On the same network, or over a VPN such as Tailscale or ZeroTier, it just works.
• Over the internet, it asks your router to open the port by itself (UPnP). If the router does not allow it, forward TCP port 25580 to your computer.
• Some internet providers share one address between many homes (CGNAT), and no port can be opened. Use a VPN such as Tailscale instead; the code already contains your VPN address.

When you play signed in with your Microsoft account, your world checks each guest's Minecraft account, as vanilla does: guests need their own copy of Minecraft. Under an offline name there is no account check and guests join with the name their game uses, so only share the code with people you trust.

Guests can also use the host's workstations: the crafter, loom, stonecutter, grindstone, anvil, smithing table, enchanting table, beacon, lectern and cartography table.

Open to LAN

As in vanilla, Open to LAN in the pause menu lets people on the same network join your world. They see it in their server list. A vanilla 26.3 client can join a Horizon LAN world, and Horizon can join a vanilla one. A LAN world checks its guests' Minecraft accounts when you play signed in, and is in offline mode when you play under an offline name.

Joining a server

The Multiplayer page works like vanilla's: Add server saves one, Direct connect takes an address, and your servers are listed with their message of the day and ping. Horizon joins vanilla 26.3 servers and Horizon's own.

Online mode. Most public servers run in online mode: they check that each player really owns Minecraft by asking Mojang. Horizon joins them with the Microsoft account you signed in with in the launcher, as vanilla does. Your chat is signed too, so servers that require secure chat work. Under an offline name, Horizon joins only servers in offline mode (online-mode=false).

Realms does not work yet: its button on the title screen is greyed out.

Anyone can join an offline server under any name, so run one only on your network or a VPN, or share it with people you trust. Host a server explains the details.

Vanilla players on a Horizon server

A vanilla 26.3 client can join a Horizon server, and in online mode it signs in with its own account as on a vanilla server. Secure chat works for those players.