Guide·8 min read

How to Use Addons on Realms, Servers and With Friends

Addons are more fun with friends, but multiplayer adds a question: who needs the addon installed, and where? The short answer is that the world carries the packs. Whoever hosts the world applies the addon, and everyone who joins downloads the resource pack automatically. Here is how that works for each way of playing together.

Local multiplayer (same Wi-Fi or Xbox friends)

The host imports the addon and applies both packs to the world under Behavior Packs and Resource Packs.
The host opens the world to friends as usual.
When a friend joins, Minecraft asks them to download the world's resource packs. They tap yes and load in.

Friends do not need to import the addon themselves. If a friend declines the download, the behavior still works but they will see missing textures.

Realms

Realms do not have an "add pack" button of their own, so the trick is to prepare the world on your device first and then upload it.

Option A: new Realm world

Create a local world, apply the addon packs, play for a minute to check everything works, then open your Realm settings and use Replace World to upload the local world.

Option B: existing Realm world

In the Realm settings, download the current world to your device. Apply the addon to that downloaded copy, then use Replace World to upload it back. Download first so you keep everyone's progress.

Replacing a Realm world overwrites whatever is in that slot. Always download a copy before you upload anything.

Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS) and hosted servers

If you run the official Bedrock Dedicated Server or rent one from a host, packs are added through files:

Extract the .mcaddon (it is a zip). You will get a behavior pack folder and a resource pack folder.
Upload them into the server's behavior_packs and resource_packs folders.
Open each pack's manifest.json and copy the uuid and version from the header section.
Inside your world folder, create or edit world_behavior_packs.json and world_resource_packs.json and add an entry for each pack using that uuid and version.
If you want players to be required to download textures, set texturepack-required=true in server.properties.
Restart the server.

A shortcut many people use: apply the addon to a local world on your device, then upload that whole world folder to the server. The pack list files are already filled in.

Common multiplayer problems

Friend sees purple and black textures: they skipped the resource pack download. Have them leave, clear the cached pack under Settings → Storage, and rejoin.
Addon works for the host but not for guests: the packs were applied on the host's device but not saved into the world. Reapply them to the world itself, not globally.
Server will not start after adding packs: a typo in the JSON file. Check commas and brackets.
Versions do not match: everyone should be on the same Minecraft version as the host or server.

Addons that shine in multiplayer

Addons that change how villagers or mobs behave are great with friends because everyone sees the reactions. Social Villagers adds voiced villager reactions and conversations that make a shared village feel alive, and Killing Mobs Drops OP Items turns every mob fight into a loot race.

Set up your server? Now pick something fun to run on it.

Browse addons