Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.70.21, Packed Ice Bricks, Music Add-On & Tons of Fixes
What Changed
Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.70.21 is part of the ongoing Drop 4 of 2026 test cycle, available on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows, iOS (Preview) and Android via Google Play (Beta). It's a sizeable update touching blocks, mobs, sounds, gameplay parity, and even a brand-new free music system.
Packed Ice Bricks
A full decorative set built from packed ice is now testable. The family includes Packed Ice Bricks, Slabs, Stairs, Walls, and Chiselled blocks, all sporting that cool blue tint. They share the best trait of packed ice: they never melt, making them a reliable choice for permanent icy architecture. The pickaxe is the tool of choice for breaking them. A few details like inventory placement and waterlogging behaviour are still being finalised by the team.
Singing Ice & Sound Overhaul
Ice blocks positioned over water and surrounded by at least eight neighbouring ice blocks in the cardinal directions now have a chance to emit eerie, haunting ambient sounds, think ghostly singing echoing through frozen caverns. Packed, Blue, and Frosted Ice also gained their own dedicated sound events, replacing the old glass-sound placeholder.
Ice Caves Improvements
- Players can now tumble into caves beneath Crevasses when Brittle Ice gives way underfoot.
- Crevasses generate at a more consistent density regardless of ceiling height.
- Ice Ball base damage raised to 2, fading as it loses velocity.
- Polar Bears, Snow Golems, and Strays are now fully immune to the Freezing status effect.
- Frostbite mobs no longer sneak into underground areas outside their proper Ice Caves biome.
- Polar Bears can no longer spawn on Brittle Ice.
Music Features Add-On (Free!)
A completely free add-on is now baked directly into the game, no Marketplace trip required. Activate the Music Features resource and behaviour packs on any world to unlock:
- Blank Discs, craftable discs ready to be pressed with music.
- Disc Press, a new block that stamps Minecraft's main-menu songs onto Blank Discs to create Track Discs.
- Pocket Jukebox, a portable music player holding up to 20 Track Discs or vanilla Music Discs; only the holder can hear it. Craft it from a bundle, and its colour matches, or dye it later for a custom look.
Note: Music Features are not yet compatible with Realms.
Key Bug Fixes & Parity
- Frost Walker now freezes water in a circle (no more directional bias) and only while the player is on the ground, eliminating the nasty fall-into-ice glitch.
- Mining Fatigue, Haste, and Conduit Power now match Java Edition's exact speed multipliers.
- Guardian base attack raised to 6, Elder Guardian to 8, matching Java Edition.
- Evoker Fang damage now scales with difficulty, as it does on Java.
- The End portal flash duration now matches Java Edition.
- Honey Blocks once again provide support on every face.
- Breaking a Cushion or Armor Stand near a Sculk Catalyst no longer incorrectly spreads Sculk.
- The freezing screen overlay no longer lingers after respawning.
- Jukebox now mutes ambient music when a player re-enters its broadcast range after wandering away.
Why It Matters
This beta continues Mojang's steady push to close the gap between Java and Bedrock editions. The parity fixes for mining speed, projectile damage scaling, and Frost Walker aren't flashy, but they make gameplay feel more consistent and fair no matter which platform you're on. The Music Features Add-On is genuinely exciting, personalised, portable music in a multiplayer world adds a whole new layer of self-expression without touching any existing mechanics.
Java and Bedrock
This beta applies exclusively to Bedrock Edition (the Preview/Beta channel). However, many of the fixes, Guardian damage, mining speed modifiers, The End flash timing, are specifically described as matching Java Edition, so Java players benefit indirectly as cross-platform parity improves. Java's own snapshot track continues separately.
For Server Owners
If you run a Bedrock-compatible server, the Music Features Add-On requires the matching resource and behaviour packs to be applied per world, it won't activate automatically server-side just because it's bundled in the client. Also worth noting: Realms compatibility for Music Features isn't ready yet, so hold off on advertising that feature to players until an official update lands. The Frostbite spawn fix (no longer appearing in random underground areas) should reduce surprise mob encounters outside Ice Cave zones, making survival gameplay more predictable for your community.
For Parents
Beta and Preview builds are works in progress, they can be unstable and are separate from the regular game your child normally plays. If your child is eager to try Packed Ice Bricks or the Pocket Jukebox right now, just be aware that some features (like ice block naming and inventory placement) are still being finished. The Frost Walker fix is a welcome safety net: kids who love swimming and diving were sometimes getting trapped in ice formed mid-air, causing unexpected damage. That's now resolved.
For Players
Ice palace builders, this one's for you! Packed Ice Bricks finally give icy builds the same variety that stone, sandstone, and other materials already enjoy, stairs, slabs, walls, and chiselled versions mean so much more creative freedom. And that eerie singing sound coming from ice over water? Perfect for setting a mysterious, atmospheric mood in your frozen kingdom. The Pocket Jukebox is also a game-changer: bring your favourite soundtrack anywhere you go, without annoying your friends who want silence. Craft it, fill it with up to 20 discs, and adventure on!
Do SNT Kingdoms Need an Update?
No action needed, and SNT kingdoms are not affected by this beta. SNT Gaming kingdoms run on Paper 1.21.11 backends behind a Velocity proxy, with Geyser + Floodgate handling Bedrock crossplay. Minecraft client version 26.x (the year-based versioning Mojang introduced) is not yet supported by PaperMC, Velocity, or the Via family of compatibility plugins. This means 26.70.21 Beta clients cannot connect to SNT kingdoms at this time, and no server-side update is possible or required until the broader ecosystem catches up. Your kingdom is stable and fully playable for all clients on versions 1.13 through 1.21.11, everything is running exactly as it should.