Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're describing is client-hosted Bedrock servers, not a persistent, always available, self-hosted server. AFAIK connecting to a friend's world in Bedrock is free, but they must also be online. Hosting a persistent Bedrock server is a paid feature (Realms).
Additionally, highlighting that Bedrock Minecraft is not supported on Mac.
There are surely other ways of enabling multiplayer Minecraft for a family than what I've described, but this is the way I'd recommend.
Re:Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3
by mghackerlady on Monday July 20, 2026 @12:23PM
(#48981010)
Correct. There are ways to host bedrock servers, it just isn't as easy and most people are better served by realms.
Also, I thought you could play the iOS version on Mac. Doesn't apple let you run iPad apps on macOS?
Unfortunately, Apple made the decision to have that be an opt-in flag for developers, and so the vast, vast majority of iPad apps don't allow themselves to be used on macOS.
Re:Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3
by mghackerlady on Tuesday July 21, 2026 @09:22AM
(#48991991)
That's absolutely idiotic
I brought up the bedrock/java bundle deal with the PC version since the main advantage of Bedrock is the crossplay. If you want to play with someone on (for example) android, you can simply choose to launch into bedrock on PC for multiplayer