Minecraft Forums

Is this possible and how can I do this?

I have iMac running Minecraft server 1.14.4 version

I can connect to it using my iMac with Minecraft Java edition 1.14.4

I can add the localhost to the iPad Minecraft 1.12.1 but it always ends up giving "Unable to connect to world" error message

- And I don't see any notification on the server side on any connection attempt.

I suspect that the version incompatibility blocks me, but there is no 1.14.4 version on iPad so I'm asking here if there is a solution.

- Is hosting a 1.12.1 server an option that would work?

Java Edition and bedrock edition are different versions of minecraft

Unless im misreading

I understand that they are different versions of the game, but I see plenty of Minecraft servers on kids iPads that they can connect to.

So maybe the proper question is which server should I host and where to enable them a small dedicated server they can play on together?

If they are playing on iPads you will need a bedrock edition server, and only bedrock edition platforms will be able to connect to it (Pocket Edition, Xbox One edition, Switch edition, and Windows 10 edition). Conversely, only Java Edition can connect to Java Edition servers.

You cannot run a bedrock server on MacOS at this moment unfortunately.

You can however run a server on Windows if you are dual booting your mac. If you want to do that you have to make sure you are using the bedrock server and not the java server. The bedrock server can be found here: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock/

To answer your questions directly:

Is this possible and how can I do this?

Yes, but not on MacOS

Is hosting a 1.12.1 server an option that would work?

If you download the bedrock server you will see that it is on the 1.12.1 version. You are using the wrong server.