The Minecraft Bedrock allowlist (whitelist) lets only the players you pick join your server. Turn it on in server.properties, then add each player's Xbox Gamertag with one console command.
Mojang renamed the Bedrock whitelist to the allowlist in Bedrock 1.18.10. Both names describe the same feature, so this guide gives the original whitelist names and the current allowlist names side by side.
Minecraft Bedrock allowlist (whitelist): add and remove players
If the white-list property is enabled in server.properties, the server will only allow selected users to connect. On current Bedrock versions this property is called allow-list. To allow a user to connect, you need to know their Xbox Live Gamertag.
- In the game panel, open Configuration Files (or File Manager) and edit
server.properties. Setwhite-list(orallow-liston current versions) totrue, save and restart the server. - Press Web Console to open the server console.
- The easiest way to add a user to the whitelist is the command
whitelist add <Gamertag>(eg:whitelist add ExampleName). - If there is a space in the Gamertag, you need to enclose it in double quotes:
whitelist add "Example Name"
If you later want to remove someone from the list, use the command whitelist remove <Gamertag>.
On current Bedrock versions the commands are allowlist add <Gamertag>, allowlist remove <Gamertag> and allowlist reload. If the console doesn't recognise a whitelist command, use the allowlist version instead.
Edit the whitelist.json (allowlist.json) file
The whitelist will be saved in a file called whitelist.json. On Bedrock 1.18.10 and newer the file is called allowlist.json. If you want to automate the process of adding or removing players, you can edit this file directly. After you've modified the file, run the command whitelist reload (or allowlist reload) so the server knows about your change.
The file contains a JSON array with objects that contain the following key/values:
name(String) - The gamertag of the user.xuid(String) - Optional. The XUID of the user. If it's not set, it will be populated when someone with a matching name connects.ignoresPlayerLimit(Boolean) - True if this user should not count towards the maximum player limit. Currently there's another soft limit of 30 (or 1 higher than the specified number of max players) connected players, even if players use this option. The intention for this is to have some players be able to join even if the server is full.
Example whitelist.json file:
[
{
"ignoresPlayerLimit": false,
"name": "MyPlayer"
},
{
"ignoresPlayerLimit": false,
"name": "AnotherPlayer",
"xuid": "274817248"
}
]Keep the JSON valid: a comma between entries, no comma after the last one, and quotes around every name and XUID. One missing bracket and the server can't read the list.
Bedrock allowlist questions
How do I use the allowlist on Minecraft Bedrock?
Set allow-list=true (called white-list on older versions) in server.properties and restart the server. Then type allowlist add <Gamertag> in the Web Console for each player. Put Gamertags with a space in double quotes.
Is it allowlist.json or whitelist.json?
Both are the same list. Bedrock Dedicated Server used whitelist.json until version 1.18.10, when Mojang renamed it to allowlist.json. Edit whichever file your server has, then run allowlist reload (or whitelist reload).
I added a player but they still can't join. Why?
Check the Gamertag is spelled exactly right, with double quotes if it has a space. If you edited the file by hand, run the reload command and check the JSON is valid. Also make sure the allowlist property in server.properties is set to true and the server was restarted after you changed it.
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