Minecraft on Nintendo Switch gives you a list of Mojang's featured servers and no box to type an address into. There is exactly one mechanism that gets around that in 2026, and most of the guides you will find are recommending tools that cannot work on a Switch at all. Here is what actually works, and why the popular advice fails.
Why the Switch blocks this in the first place
On phones, tablets and Windows, Bedrock Edition has an Add Server button: you type a hostname and a port and you are in. The console builds of Minecraft ship without that button. What the Servers tab shows instead is a curated list of partner servers, and there is no supported route from that screen to an arbitrary address.
So every working method comes down to the same trick: make one of those featured servers resolve to something else. That is a DNS problem, and DNS is one of the very few network settings a Switch actually lets you edit.
First, the advice that cannot work on a Switch
This is the part almost every tutorial and forum reply gets wrong, and it is worth reading before you waste an evening. Two tools dominate the "custom server on console" conversation:
- BedrockTogether, a phone app that sets itself up as a middleman on your Wi-Fi.
- Phantom, a PC tool that does the same thing from a desktop.
Both work identically underneath: they advertise a remote server on your local network so it appears as a LAN world in the game's Friends tab. On Xbox and PlayStation that works nicely. On Switch it can never work, because Minecraft on Switch does not display LAN worlds. There is nothing to configure and no setting to flip. Phantom's README states that Nintendo Switch is not supported, GeyserMC's console page repeats that the method will not work with the Switch, and BedrockTogether's own site lists Switch as unsupported alongside Realms.
If you are trying to reach a third-party server and you are following any guide whose step one is "install this app on your phone and look in the Friends tab", stop. On a Switch that tab will stay empty no matter what you do.
The other stale answer you will find on Reddit is the bot method: look up a BedrockConnect bot gamertag, send it a friend request, wait for it to accept, then join its session. That genuinely used to work. The bot accounts have since been shut down, an open request to bring them back has sat unanswered since May 2026, and the public status page that used to list them now tracks only DNS and server endpoints. Treat any guide that leads with the friend-bot trick as out of date.
The method that works: point the DNS at BedrockConnect
BedrockConnect is an open-source project that runs a DNS server and a Minecraft server together. When your console looks up a featured server's hostname, that DNS answers with BedrockConnect's own address, so tapping the featured server drops you into a server-list interface instead. From there you type any Bedrock address, it saves it, and it transfers you to the real server. Nothing is installed on the Switch and nothing about the console is modified.
Step 1: pick an instance
These are volunteer-run, so pick one that is actually up. The table below reflects the public status page as of 14 August 2026. Geography barely matters for the menu itself, since it only serves the server list, not your gameplay traffic.
| Primary DNS | Run by / region | DNS status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
104.238.130.180 | Pugmatt, US | Up | The main instance. Start here. |
82.22.36.200 | AlbieBH, Switzerland | Up | Solid European alternative. |
87.106.68.173 | AlbieBH, UK | Up | Second European option. |
185.169.180.190 | hasankayra04, Turkey | Up | Reliable third choice. |
134.255.231.119 | ZAP-Hosting, Germany | Flaky | DNS answers, but the server endpoint has been dropping. Use as a fallback. |
57.128.153.204 | AdrianJoeK, UK | Down | Listed in older guides. Currently offline, so skip it. |
If a guide hands you an address that no longer responds, that is normal attrition rather than something you did wrong. The project's GitHub readme carries the canonical list, and bcstatus.xyz shows which instances are live right now.
Step 2: set the DNS on the console
Do this from the system menu, not from inside Minecraft:
- From the Switch home screen, open System Settings.
- Scroll to Internet, then Internet Settings, and wait for the network scan.
- Select the Wi-Fi network you play on, then Change Settings.
- Set DNS Settings to Manual.
- Primary DNS: the instance from step 1. Secondary DNS:
1.1.1.1or8.8.8.8. - Save, then reconnect to the network.
Leave that secondary DNS in place. It is what keeps the eShop, updates and every other online feature resolving normally if the BedrockConnect instance has a bad day.
Step 3: open the hidden server list
Launch Minecraft, go to Play and then the Servers tab. Tap one of the featured servers that BedrockConnect is set up to intercept: The Hive, Lifeboat, Mineville, Galaxite or Enchanted. Instead of that server, the BedrockConnect menu loads.
Choose the option to add a server, enter the address and port, and connect. The entry is saved to the list, so from then on getting back in is: open the featured server, pick your entry.
Server address: play.example-server.net Port: 19132
Bedrock servers default to UDP port 19132. A hosted server will give you its own port, which is often not 19132, so copy the exact number from your host's panel rather than assuming the default.
Nintendo Switch Online is not optional
Reaching a third-party server counts as online multiplayer, so it sits behind a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership just like any other online play on the console. Singleplayer and local wireless with a console in the same room do not need it. There is no workaround for this one, and it is a common reason a setup that looks correct still refuses to connect.
Switch 2
Everything above applies unchanged. Switch 2 exposes the same manual DNS fields under System Settings and runs the same Bedrock featured-server list, so the setup is identical and works as of August 2026. Guides that promise a special Switch 2 method are padding.
What about joining a Java server?
BedrockConnect can only send you to a server that speaks the Bedrock protocol. Point it at a plain Java server and it will fail to connect, which is the second most common dead end after the LAN apps.
The fix is on the server side: GeyserMC translates Bedrock to Java in real time, so a Java server running Geyser and Floodgate accepts your Switch as a normal player. You still need BedrockConnect on the console to type the address. If you would rather not install anything, a SpawnFort server has crossplay as a single checkbox at creation, and Geyser plus Floodgate are wired up for you on the Bedrock port.
When it does not work
| What you see | Likely cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Featured servers load normally, no BedrockConnect menu | The DNS did not take. Reconnect to the Wi-Fi, confirm the primary DNS is still saved under Change Settings, and reload the Servers tab a few times. Tap a different featured server from the compatible list. |
| The Servers tab says “Coming Soon” | A known Minecraft bug that mostly hits the Switch build. Sign out of your Microsoft account and back in, reload the tab, or restart the game. |
| “Unable to connect to world” | The BedrockConnect menu worked and the target server is the problem. Check it is online, that the port is right, and that it is Bedrock rather than Java. |
| Nothing resolves at all, console feels offline | The instance you chose is down. Swap the primary DNS for another from the table, or set DNS back to Automatic to restore normal service. |
| Worked yesterday, broken today | Volunteer instances come and go. Check bcstatus.xyz and switch to one that is up. |
| You are on a VPN or a router that forces its own DNS | DNS-level redirection cannot survive that. Set the DNS on the router itself, or disable the VPN for the console. Also disable IPv6 if your router offers it, since consoles cannot take a custom IPv6 DNS. |
A newer alternative, with the same shape
MCCompanion is a free companion app for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS that offers the same capability through its own relay. Worth knowing about because its marketing implies console LAN support, but its own documentation is refreshingly blunt about the Switch: it is DNS mode there, not a LAN broadcast, and it says so directly, noting the Switch will not see a LAN world. So it is a second DNS provider to try (its instances are 161.97.182.113 in the EU and 217.77.15.138 in the US, with the secondary field left blank and the app running), not a different mechanism. If BedrockConnect is having a bad week, it is a reasonable fallback.
Put the DNS back when you are done
While the manual DNS is set, a hobbyist-run server is answering your console's domain lookups. That is the actual trade-off, and it is a small one, but there is no reason to leave it in place permanently. System Settings, Internet, your network, Change Settings, DNS Settings, back to Automatic. Reverting costs thirty seconds and takes the whole arrangement out of the path of everything else the console does.
One last note on the thing that makes this whole dance necessary: the Switch needs a plain, stable address and port to type in. A hosted server gives you one that does not change when your home IP does, and stays up when the PC in the corner is off, which matters a lot more once the address is saved in a BedrockConnect list you would rather not edit again.