Minecraft announces new player locator bar feature for second game drop of 2025

Minecraft has just announced a unique new player locator bar feature for the second game drop of 2025, making it one of the most useful gameplay mechanics for multiplayer fans. It will essentially allow one to locate their fellow players and teammates on the map, as well as offer unique perks and ways to evade detection.

Here's everything you need to know about the new player locator bar feature coming to Minecraft.

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Minecraft announces new player locator bar for second game drop of 2025

Minecraft has just announced a new player locator bar for the second game drop of 2025, greatly enhancing multiplayer capabilities. Looking for fellow players in the vast overworld has always been a hassle, with players relying on coordinates call-outs to locate structures and each other. However, this new integrated locator is set to provide a nifty solution to the problem.

As part of the new Minecraft Beta & Preview 1.21.80.20, Mojang allowed players to test this feature ahead of its release in the future game drop. The XP bar is replaced by the location bar, assigning a unique icon color when any of your friends joins your world.

The Player Locator bar will replace the standard XP bar whenever other players are in the world unless you’re actively earning XP, making it a seamless way to track them. Additionally, if a player is positioned comparatively higher or lower than you, the bar will also depict an arrow on top of or below the colored icon to indicate their elevation.

However, the player indicator also has a few tricks up its sleeves, allowing players to stay hidden if they wish to. Sneaking or wearing a mask will immediately hide the player locator icon, allowing you to surprise your teammates or prank them without being discovered. Additionally, drinking a potion of invisibility will grant the same effect — easily wiping you off the player locator bar.

Additionally, approaching a player from behind will not show their player icon — however, the locator bar will be present, giving unsuspecting players a chance to detect surprise ambushes. However, if this feature seems like a hassle, the creator or server owner can choose to disable this feature to suit their playstyle.

The player locator bar feature will be turned on by default in Minecraft Java snapshot, Bedrock beta, preview, and currently cannot be disabled by players. Once it is officially released as a feature, this feature can be toggled as per need. This new feature provides an official solution to the problem, which was earlier solved by mods or physical coordinate callouts.

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