What is the locator bar in Minecraft?

Minecraft is about to get a very important and needed quality of life improvement in the next update. Mojang Studios announced the latest addition to the game via an X post and a blog post. A locator bar will be a new UI feature that will replace the XP bar in multiplayer mode, and it helps you locate all the other players in your world.

This might seem like a simple feature. But anyone who has played the game with their friends can understand how difficult it can be to locate if the other player is stranded somewhere and you do not have a map.

The locator bar works like a compass and it points you towards the player. Here’s everything you need to know about this upcoming feature in Minecraft and how to use it.

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The locator bar in Minecraft

The locator bar will be found where the XP bar is when you start a multiplayer game. Do note that all the features mentioned in this article and the official announcement are subject to change. The final version can have drastically different mechanics. But as of now, here’s how it works.

The bar displays colored square icons that represent your friends. As you move around, the icons will move in the bar with respect to your orientation and location. Think of it as a compass which points towards your friends instead of pointing North.

You will see a colored icon in the locator bar if the other player is within 120 degrees of your camera’s viewport. This would indicate that you do not need to turn around much and they are within your viewing range. If the other player is 30 degrees above or below your view, the icon will have an up or down arrow indicating their vertical location.

Using a mob head or carved pumpkin will hide the player (Image via Mojang Studios)

Here are some interesting aspects of the locator bar. If you do not want to be located by your friends in the locator bar, you can either crouch or put a mob head/carved pumpkin to disappear from the bar. Brewing and drinking a Potion of Invisibility will also get you off the grid. Moreover, players in Spectator Mode will not be visible in the locator bar.

There are some things you need to keep in mind. Currently, there is an issue with the experimental version that prevents it from working if the simulation distance is set to more than four chunks.

You can download the latest Beta and Preview from the Minecraft Launcher app to try it yourself. Mojang Studios will be releasing a Java Snapshot very soon.

Once the locator bar is finally released, it will be a player toggle feature, meaning that you can decide to turn it on or off. The upcoming Minecraft Live event is scheduled for March 22, 2025, and the developers will talk more about the final release date of the feature in the event.