How to install Minecraft Bedrock add-ons (.mcaddon and .mcpack) on Windows, Android and iOS

Step by step: import a .mcaddon or .mcpack file on PC, phone or iPad, switch it on in a world, add it to a Realm or server, and update it later without breaking your world.

· 5 min read

Every Lost Logic download is a single .mcaddon file. Installing it takes two steps on any device: import the file into Minecraft, then switch it on in a world. This guide covers both, on every device that can do it, plus Realms, servers and updating.

What the files are

  • .mcpack: one pack. Either a behavior pack (what things do: mobs, items, scripts) or a resource pack (how they look and sound).
  • .mcaddon: a bundle of packs in one file, usually a behavior pack and its matching resource pack. Importing it imports both.
  • .mcworld and .mctemplate: whole worlds. Not covered here.

All of these are ordinary zip files with a different ending. That matters on Android and iOS, where a browser sometimes saves one as .zip. More on that below.

Which devices can install add-ons

DeviceAdd-on files?
Windows 10 / 11Yes
Android phones and tabletsYes
iPhone and iPadYes
Chromebook (Android app)Yes, as on Android
Xbox, PlayStation, SwitchNo. Consoles can’t open add-on files at all. The only route onto console is the Marketplace.

If you play on console, you can still use an add-on in a Realm or on a friend’s world that has it switched on, as long as someone on PC or mobile sets it up.

Windows

  1. Download the .mcaddon. If your browser says the file “isn’t commonly downloaded”, choose Keep: that warning means few people have downloaded it yet, not that anything is wrong with it.
  2. Open your Downloads folder and double-click the file.
  3. Minecraft opens on its own and shows Import started, then Successfully imported.
  4. If Windows asks which app to open it with, pick Minecraft.

If double-clicking opens a zip program instead: right-click the file, choose Open with, pick Minecraft, and tick “Always use this app”.

Android

  1. Download the .mcaddon in your browser.
  2. Tap the download notification, or open your Files app, go to Downloads and tap the file.
  3. Choose Minecraft when asked what to open it with. Minecraft opens and imports it.

If Minecraft isn’t offered: open the file from a file manager such as Files by Google rather than from the browser. If the file was saved ending in .zip, rename it so it ends in .mcaddon again, then tap it.

There’s a 40-second video of the whole thing on a phone: watch the install video.

iPhone and iPad

  1. Download the .mcaddon in Safari. It goes to Downloads in the Files app.
  2. Open Files, go to Downloads, and tap and hold the file.
  3. Tap Share, then choose Minecraft from the row of apps (swipe along or tap More if it isn’t shown).
  4. Minecraft opens and imports it.

If iOS unzipped it into a folder: that happens if you tap a .zip instead of the .mcaddon. Download it again and use Share → Minecraft on the file itself rather than tapping it open.

Switch it on in a world

Importing only puts the packs in Minecraft’s library. A world uses them once you activate them:

  1. On the Play screen, either Create New world or press the pencil (Edit) next to an existing one.
  2. Scroll the left side to Behavior Packs. Under Available, find the pack and press Activate.
  3. Minecraft usually switches the matching resource pack on at the same time. Open Resource Packs and check it’s under Active. If it isn’t, activate it too.
  4. Play.

Without the resource pack, new mobs and blocks still exist but have nothing to draw with: you get invisible mobs or purple-and-black blocks.

Experiments: LLS add-ons use only the stable scripting API, so leave Beta APIs and the other experiments off. Switching an experiment on for a world can’t be undone for that world, and it turns achievements off there.

Adding an add-on to a world you care about? Back it up first: on the edit screen, scroll down and use Copy World, or Export World to save a .mcworld file. Add-ons can add new blocks and data to a world that stays there if you take the add-on away again.

Realms

  1. Import the add-on on a PC, phone or tablet as above.
  2. Open the Realm’s settings (the pencil next to it under Realms).
  3. Activate it under Behavior Packs and Resource Packs, the same as a world.

Everyone who joins downloads the packs automatically, console players included.

Dedicated servers

On a Bedrock Dedicated Server, add-ons aren’t imported, they’re copied:

  1. Rename the .mcaddon to .zip and unzip it. You get a behavior pack folder and a resource pack folder.
  2. Copy them into the server’s behavior_packs and resource_packs folders.
  3. Open your world’s folder (worlds/<your world>) and list each pack in world_behavior_packs.json and world_resource_packs.json, using the uuid and version from the header of each pack’s manifest.json:
[
  { "pack_id": "the-header-uuid-from-manifest.json", "version": [1, 0, 0] }
]
  1. Restart the server.

Updating to a new version

  1. Download and import the new file the same way. A higher version number imports alongside the old one.
  2. Remove the old version: Settings → Storage, find it under Behavior Packs and Resource Packs, and delete it.
  3. Open your world’s edit screen and check the pack is still active, now at the new version.

If Minecraft says the pack is already installed, you’ve imported that exact version before. Nothing to do: it’s ready to switch on.

Still stuck?

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