Minecraft 1.21.21 update for Bedrock Edition: All you need to know

Minecraft: Bedrock Edition received a late update on August 14, 2024, in the form of Bedrock 1.21.21. A hotfix for the recently released 1.21.20 update for Bedrock, version 1.21.21 aims to quickly fix a problem that cropped up with the Realms services.

According to players on social media and Mojang's official feedback site, the Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.20 update introduced a problem where many fans couldn't connect to their Realms. In response, Mojang released the 1.21.21 update to address this issue, but it appears that many players are still being affected and can't access the Realms they've paid a subscription fee for.

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Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.21 still seems to not have fixed some players' Realms connectivity

Some Minecraft fans are still reportedly unable to connect to their Realms as of Bedrock 1.21.21 (Image via u/ANGE1K/Reddit)

According to Mojang's official patch notes for Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.21, the entire update was implemented to fix a problem where players could no longer connect to their Realms, stating in the changelog:

"Fixes: Improved reliability of connecting to Realms." - Mojang, August 14, 2024

Despite this apparent fix, it appears that many players are still encountering trouble connecting to Realms services regardless of whether they're the host of the Realms in question. Fans flocked to sites including X and Reddit to state that they still could not connect to their Realms, so it appears as though Mojang may not have collectively solved the connection issues for Realms users.

Given that Realms are a widely used way to enjoy multiplayer without creating or joining a third-party server, it's understandable for fans to be frustrated. However, given the urgency with which the Bedrock 1.21.21 patch was released, the overall stability improvements in Mojang's patch notes may not have had the wide-ranging effects that the developer had hoped for.

Whatever the case, the passage of time may help stabilize the seemingly problematic connection issues on Realms that many players are having. That being said, Mojang may need to continue to address this problem if a resolution isn't found quickly. Considering that many players pay to host Realms, they likely won't want to wait too long.

If the situation persists, the least Mojang could do is provide some form of compensation to subscribers of the Minecraft Realms service, as the time on their subscriptions has been effectively lost due to a Bedrock Edition update. It remains to be seen whether this will be necessary or if Mojang/Microsoft will be willing to do so, but more information should be available soon.