How to enable the allowlist on a Minecraft Bedrock server

Allowlist enabled on a Minecraft Bedrock server

By default, anyone can join a Minecraft Bedrock Edition server. Enable the allowlist to only allow your friends to join. This guide will show you how to enable the allowlist and add friends in a few simple steps.

Enable the allowlist

  1. Start your server
  2. Pause your server
  3. Open the Config screen
  4. Edit the gameserver/server.properties file
  5. Find the line that says allow-list=false
  6. Change the line to say allow-list=true
  7. Save the file
  8. Restart your server

Add friends to the allowlist

  1. Start your server
  2. Open the Console screen
  3. Enter allowlist add YourFriendsUsername
    • Replace YourFriendsUsername with the username of your friend

That's it! Your friend should now be able to join your server.

Remove friends from the allowlist

To remove a friend from the allowlist again, follow these steps:

  1. Start your server
  2. Open the Console screen
  3. Enter allowlist remove YourFriendsUsername
    • Replace YourFriendsUsername with the username of your friend

Disable the allowlist

Disabling the allowlist again is just as simple.

  1. Start your server
  2. Pause your server
  3. Open the Config screen
  4. Edit the gameserver/server.properties file
  5. Find the line that says allow-list=true
  6. Change the line to say allow-list=false
  7. Save the file
  8. Restart your server

Allowlist vs whitelist

In version 1.18.10 of the Minecraft Bedrock Edition, the whitelist was renamed to allowlist. Only the name changed, the functionality is exactly the same.