Mojang has pushed out another sizeable Minecraft Bedrock 26.40 update, and there’s considerably more tucked into this one than a routine collection of bug fixes.
Version 26.40 brings gameplay adjustments, accessibility upgrades, visual fixes, performance work and several changes specifically affecting Nintendo Switch players. It also gives players another look at experimental content being prepared for an upcoming Minecraft game drop, including the Dappled Forest, Abandoned Camps, Poplar Trees, Cushions and Straw Beds.
Minecraft Bedrock 26.40 Is Now Available
Minecraft Bedrock Edition has officially moved to version 26.40, continuing Mojang’s newer year-based version numbering system introduced in 2026. The update touches a surprisingly wide chunk of the game rather than focusing on one headline feature, with everything from boats and minecarts to graphics, Realms and multiplayer getting attention. Mojang has also continued narrowing some differences between Bedrock and Java Edition, something that shows up several times in the patch notes.
Nintendo Switch Players Get Some Important Fixes
Switch players have a couple of particularly useful fixes waiting for them. Mojang says it has corrected an ID collision that could happen when adding split-screen guests, which should make it more reliable for multiple local players to join a session. The update also fixes an issue where players couldn’t use the A button to join a friend’s world after dismissing the “Online play is not rated” warning. They aren’t flashy changes, but anyone who regularly plays Minecraft locally on Switch may appreciate them more than another decorative block.
Boats Are Less Annoying to Break
One tiny change could end up being one of the most noticeable. Boats now require fewer hits before breaking, bringing their behaviour closer to Minecraft Java Edition. Boats will also regenerate damage they’ve taken. Arrow damage has been adjusted as well, with damage now scaling according to velocity instead of being completely randomized. Mojang has made additional changes to how arrows fired by different mobs behave depending on weapons and world difficulty.
Minecarts Have Been Put Back in Order
Minecart entity separation has been restored to the way it behaved before Minecraft 1.21.0. That is the sort of patch-note entry that looks harmless until you’ve built something complicated around minecart behaviour and suddenly discover an update changed it. Version 26.40 also fixes several smaller gameplay quirks, including inconsistent structure loot when using the same world seed and an arm animation that could trigger even when a block wasn’t actually being affected.
The Dappled Forest Is Taking Shape
The stranger stuff lives behind Minecraft’s experimental features. Mojang is testing the Dappled Forest, a new forest biome designed to generate close to colder areas. Poplar Trees appear throughout the biome alongside fallen trees, Red Shrubs and Shelf Mushrooms. Sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits and foxes can also spawn there, with cold variants appearing where applicable. An abandoned camp variant has been created specifically for the biome too.
The Poplar Trees are probably going to be the immediate attraction for builders. They arrive with red, orange or yellow leaves, matching falling-leaf particles and an entire Poplar wood block set. Saplings don’t lock players into one leaf colour either — growing one can produce any of the three variants. Shelf Mushrooms and Leaf Litter can naturally appear around the trees, giving the biome a much more autumn-like character than Minecraft’s older forests.
Abandoned Camps Add Another Reason to Explore
Abandoned Camps are also part of the experimental package. Mojang says they can appear across a long list of biomes including Meadows, Cherry Groves, Forests, Taigas, Swamps, Savannas, Bamboo Jungles and the Pale Garden. Different biomes receive their own camp designs rather than recycling exactly the same structure everywhere, and players can find chests and barrels containing loot inside them. Straw Beds can now appear at the camps as well.
It sounds like a fairly small structure addition on paper, but it’s exactly the kind of thing Minecraft’s overworld can use. Finding something unexpected between destinations is usually more interesting than simply adding another destination marker.
Cushions and Straw Beds Are Surprisingly Useful
Cushions are another experimental item being tested. They can be placed on flat surfaces and players can actually sit on them, with 16 colour variants available. Three matching Wool Slabs are required to craft one. Cushions aren’t currently generating naturally inside Abandoned Camps because of a known issue, although they remain available through the Creative inventory while testing continues.
Straw Beds work very differently from normal beds. Players can use one to skip the night without changing their spawn point, but the bed is destroyed immediately afterward. Three Hay Bales craft four Straw Beds. Trying to use one in the Nether or The End destroys it as well, so don’t expect a cheap portable explosion machine.
Accessibility Settings Get More Attention
Accessibility continues to receive incremental improvements. Minecraft 26.40 introduces a Screen Distortion setting that lets players control how heavily the display distorts during effects such as nausea or travelling through Nether portals. Furnace screen narration has been improved, text fields behave better with narration, and Sweet Berry Bush damage now produces closed captions. Mojang has also changed the focus indicator on the start screen’s More Options button so it doesn’t rely exclusively on colour.
Vibrant Visuals Receives Another Round of Repairs
A fair amount of the update is devoted to graphical cleanup. Guardian and Elder Guardian beams should render correctly with Texture Streaming enabled, End Crystal beams should no longer become white cylinders, and high-resolution texture packs should be less prone to appearing blurred. Mojang has also addressed missing enchantment glints, Anti-Aliasing problems in fullscreen mode and several rendering bugs involving Vibrant Visuals.
There are fixes for clouds appearing in front of transparent blocks, projectiles displaying as solid colours and corrupted mob visuals when certain PBR resource packs are used. Some Android GPUs were also producing invisible items or text under Vibrant Visuals, another problem targeted by this release.
Minecraft Realms Gets Easier to Manage
Realms isn’t being ignored either. The Realms Hub can now be opened directly through the in-game pause menu, while Realm owners receive more options for managing and restoring automatically or manually saved worlds. Mojang has added a Delete button for expired Realms subscriptions and made several UI adjustments across the World and Slots sections.
An outdated client will also still be allowed to load the Realm list and enter the Realms Hub. Players simply won’t be able to enter the actual Realm until Minecraft has been updated.
Performance and Crash Fixes Are Buried Everywhere
There is a substantial collection of stability fixes underneath the more visible changes. Mojang fixed a Character Creator memory leak that could cause crashes after extended use on devices with limited memory, along with crashes involving structure loading, NPC settings, Iron Golems and Concrete Powder conversion. Servers can now attempt to repair certain player connection problems automatically as well.
Resource-pack downloads have received some storage management improvements. When a device doesn’t have much free space, Minecraft can clear unused cached packs from older sessions and download incoming packs individually to reduce the amount of temporary storage needed.
Not glamorous. Probably more useful than half the headline features.
One Known Issue Remains
Mojang has already identified at least one problem in the release: arrows fired downward can become stuck inside the player’s own hitbox. Experimental Poplar Leaves also have an issue where some Vibrant Visuals settings aren’t being applied properly. Players jumping straight into the new experimental content should keep those limitations in mind.
Minecraft 26.40 Feels More Like Cleanup Before Something Bigger
There isn’t a single enormous feature defining Minecraft Bedrock 26.40. That’s almost the point.
This release looks more like Mojang clearing out dozens of irritating problems while gradually moving its next collection of experimental features closer to finished form. Switch multiplayer gets attention, Bedrock and Java behaviour move slightly closer together, Vibrant Visuals gets another polish pass, and the Dappled Forest ecosystem is beginning to look much more complete.
For builders, those Poplar blocks may be the real prize. For everyone else, boats taking fewer hits to break might somehow be the change they notice first.
Sources
- Nintendo Life — Minecraft’s Latest Update Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
- Minecraft Feedback — Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.40.30
- Minecraft Feedback — Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.40.22/23
- Minecraft Feedback — Minecraft: Bedrock Edition 26.0 Changelog
