How to play Minecraft Bedrock Edition on Linux

Minecraft Bedrock Edition works on Linux with the help of the Minecraft Bedrock Launcher for Linux. It is an unofficial app that makes the game work on Linux with the Minecraft Android APK. 

In this guide, we will go over how to set up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on Linux. However, keep in mind that Minecraft Bedrock Edition requires a Microsoft account, and you will also need to own the Android version of the game on the Play Store.

Installation instructions

To start the installation of the Minecraft Bedrock Edition launcher on your Linux PC, open up a Linux terminal on the desktop. Once the terminal window is open, follow the installation instructions outlined below that corresponds with the distribution you use.

Ubuntu

The unofficial Bedrock Edition launcher is available in Ubuntu. Unfortunately, the app software repository has not been updated to run on Ubuntu 20.04 or 20.10. As a result, if you want to play Bedrock on Ubuntu, you will need to use the Bedrock launcher AppImage instead.

To get the latest AppImage, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, create a new folder with the name of “AppImages” in your home directory using mkdir.

mkdir -p ~/AppImages

After creating the new folder, use the wget downloader command to download the Minecraft Bedrock Edition AppImage file to your computer. 

wget https://mcpelauncher.mrarm.io/appimage/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage -O ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Once the download is complete, use the chmod command to update the AppImage file’s permissions. Permissions need to be updated so that the AppImage file can run as a program. 

chmod +x ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

With the file’s permissions changed, use the CD command to move into the “AppImages” directory where the launcher file is.

cd ~/AppImages/

Inside of the “AppImages” folder, you can launch Minecraft Bedrock Edition using the command below. Or, double-click on the Minecraft Bedrock Edition file in the “AppImages” folder with the Linux file manager.

./Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Debian

There’s currently no support for Debian with the Bedrock launcher via a DEB package. However, the AppImage file should work just fine. To get started, open up a terminal window and use the mkdir command to create a new directory called “AppImages.”

mkdir -p ~/AppImages/

After creating the new folder, you will need to download the Bedrock AppImage file from the internet. Using the wget command, grab the file from the internet. 

wget https://mcpelauncher.mrarm.io/appimage/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage -O ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Once the file is done downloading to your Debian Linux PC, you will need to update the file’s permissions using the chmod command. 

chmod +x ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

With the permissions up to date, enter the “AppImages” directory using the CD command. 

cd ~/AppImages/

Inside of the “AppImages” folder, execute the Bedrock launcher using the command below. Alternatively, open up the “AppImages” directory using the Linux file manager and double-click on the AppImage file to start it up.

./Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Arch Linux

On Arch Linux, the Minecraft Bedrock Edition client is available in the AUR. The installation process is not complicated, thanks to the Trizen AUR helper. To install Bedrock on your Arch system, open up a terminal and enter the commands below.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri trizen -S mcpelauncher-msa-git mcpelauncher-msa-ui-qt-git mcpelauncher-linux-git mcpelauncher-ui-git lib32-libpulse lib32-alsa-plugins

Fedora/OpenSUSE

Both Fedora and OpenSUSE Linux support Flatpak very well. As a result, it is ideal to follow the Flatpak installation instructions to get Bedrock working on your Linux system.

Flatpak 

The Minecraft Bedrock launcher is available on Flathub as a Flatpak package. To start the installation process, you will need to install the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Once the runtime is set up, install the Bedrock launcher using the commands below.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub io.mrarm.mcpelauncher

Setting up Minecraft Bedrock Edition 

To set up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC, open up the Bedrock launcher on your computer via the app menu. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Note: If the game doesn’t load with the latest version, click on the pencil icon, select the drop-down menu next to “Versions,” and download an older release.

Step 1: Look for the “Sign in with Google” button in the launcher window, and click on it with the mouse. Upon selecting this button, a Google sign-in window will appear. Using this window, log into your Google account.

Step 2: After signing in, you’ll see the Bedrock launcher show the “DOWNLOAD AND PLAY” button, with version 1.16.100.04 on the screen. Select this button to download the latest version of the game.

Step 3: Select the “PLAY” button to start up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC to start up the game. When the game starts up, select “Sign In For Free” to log into your Microsoft account.

Upon signing in, you will be able to play Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC!