Watchful Eye — free Minecraft Bedrock addon that narrates the game for blind players

Yes! I play it myself on my iPhone. Minecraft Bedrock is the same game across iOS, Android, and consoles. I do all my testing playing on my phone.

Great question! Just so you know how it works, Watchful Eye isn't a server. It's a file you download and turn on in your own world settings. So if you enable it on your phone but not on your kids' console, only your phone will narrate. Each player controls it on their own device.

What specifically were you hoping to change? If you tell me, I might be able to add it as a setting or help you out.

Hey! Great questions.

1. It's for Minecraft Bedrock, which runs on iOS, Android, Windows, and consoles. I play and test it myself on my iPhone.

2. Yes! I made it specifically with blind players in mind. I'm visually impaired myself and I test everything by playing. It alerts you to drops before you walk off, tells you which direction you're facing, warns you about caves nearby, and tells you where mobs are coming from, like "creeper nearby, move away" or "zombie to your left." It even warns you when your hunger or health gets low so you know to eat or retreat, and tells you your compass direction.

I'm also working on a new feature that'll describe the area around you in even more detail.

Since you're a blind player, your feedback would mean a lot to me. Please try it out and let me know what you think as I keep making it better!

Great questions! In Minecraft Bedrock, go to Settings, then Accessibility, and turn on Text to Speech for UI. That makes the game read the menus out loud — the settings screens, the marketplace, creating a new world, all of it, and it works on all phones. And inside your world, when you tap on your inventory, it tells you what you're holding and what's in each slot. It basically narrates the whole interface so you're not guessing your way through menus.

Watchful Eye builds on top of that while you actually play. Right now the ore ping calls out rare ores like diamonds and ancient debris when you're near them, and I'm planning to add coal, iron, and lapis too.

Thank you so much for sending the link! Unfortunately that's only for Java Edition and it won't work on Bedrock. If you play Java and you have some good ideas for future updates, please let me know — I'm unable to play the Java Edition myself since it doesn't work on Bedrock.

Good question! Watchful Eye works on Minecraft Bedrock, and Bedrock is the same game whether you're on iPhone, Android, Windows, or console — so the addon works the same on all of them. The one exception is Mac: Minecraft on Mac is only the Java Edition, Bedrock isn't available on macOS at all, so Watchful Eye can't run there. That's a Minecraft limitation, not the addon's. And MelodicFate is exactly right — on a Mac, Java Edition plus the Minecraft Access mod is the way to go. If anyone tries Watchful Eye on a device I haven't tested yet (I've only tested on my iPhone so far) and something seems off, please let me know so I can fix it!

You're right — Bedrock doesn't exist on Mac at all, so Watchful Eye can't run there. Nothing I can do about that one, unfortunately.

Can I ask you something since you're a Java player? What does the Minecraft Access mod cover really well, and what do you wish it did better? I'm always looking for ideas to make Watchful Eye better, and I'd love to learn from what works over there.

Thank you, this is incredibly helpful! A few things: the mob tracker you love — good news, I just built one. Every 30 seconds it sweeps around you and tells you what hostiles are nearby and which direction they're in. It's coming in the next update. The drop and ore sounds you mentioned — Watchful Eye already does those too, so we're on the same page there.

Coordinates read aloud — you're right, that's missing, and I'm adding it. Getting lost is the worst.

Camera controls are the tricky one. On phones there's no numpad, so I've got a community vote running right now on how the look-around feature should work — reading automatically as you walk, or only when you hold up the compass. Waiting on the votes before I build it.

Crafting and building — totally agree they're vital, and honestly they're the hardest problem. If you turn on Text to Speech for UI in the game's Settings, it does read the crafting menus out loud, which helps. But placing blocks by feel is still unsolved — if you ever have ideas there, I'm all ears.

Great questions! One by one:

1. Bedrock vs Java: Bedrock is the version on phones, tablets, consoles, and Windows — same game everywhere, and everyone plays together. Java is PC/Mac/Linux only. The big practical difference for us: Java can run full mods like Minecraft Access, which is why its accessibility scene is more mature. Bedrock uses add-ons like Watchful Eye instead.

2. macOS: Minecraft on Mac is Java Edition only, and yes — with the Minecraft Access mod plus VoiceOver, it's currently the most accessible way to play on a computer. The keyboard shortcuts (like the numpad camera controls) make it fast once you learn them.

3. Free trials: yes! Java Edition has a free demo — about 100 minutes of playtime, straight from the official launcher. Bedrock has a free trial too — around 90 minutes, on Windows, Android, and PlayStation. Enough to feel it out before buying.

4. You're right that a keyboard is faster than a touchscreen — no way around that. But Watchful Eye takes a different approach: it's hands-free. You don't press anything to get information — it narrates on its own while you play (mobs, drops, ores, direction). And the compass gestures are my answer to shortcuts: hold it and look up to find home, look down for your coordinates.

Hi Grace, welcome — and don't worry, the setup is genuinely the hardest part. Once it's running, the addon talks to you on its own.

First, turn on Minecraft's built-in screen reader, because it makes all the menus readable. Open Minecraft, and on the main menu find the Settings button (if you use VoiceOver, swipe through until you hear "Settings"). Inside Settings, go to Accessibility and turn on "Text to Speech for UI". That one toggle changes everything.

Next, the addon itself. Downloading the file isn't quite enough — Minecraft needs you to activate it. After you import the .mcaddon file (you should get an "import successful" message), create a new world, or edit an existing one, and look for "Behavior Packs" in the world settings. You'll see Watchful Eye under "My Packs" — select it and hit Activate. Do the same under "Resource Packs", then start the world.

One honest warning: the world settings screen is a long scrolling list, and with only Minecraft's text-to-speech on, scrolling it is really difficult. Two ways around it: what I do is connect a controller to my phone, navigate the settings with that, then disconnect it and keep playing. Or by touch — put your finger at the bottom edge of the screen, below the last visible setting, and slide up slowly. That works too, but it can take a few tries. I'm going to reach out to Mojang about this, because it's a genuinely annoying problem and it needs fixing.

When you load in with the pack active, the guide introduces itself and starts narrating as you play. Also turn on "Text to Speech for Chat" in the Accessibility settings so everything it says gets spoken aloud.

Tell me exactly where you get stuck and I'll walk you through that screen step by step — we'll get you playing.

Hi! Great comment — let me take your points one by one.

First, the correction you asked for: the PS4 never got Java Edition. It went from its own PlayStation version to Bedrock back in December 2019, which is why you can play with everyone now. Java has never been on consoles — PC and Mac only.

Bookmarks and waypoints: I love this. The home finder only covers one bed, but saving multiple named spots with the same "which direction, how far" guidance is absolutely something I can build. That's going on my ideas list.

The Voice Vista-style ping: also very doable. Minecraft plays sounds in 3D, so a soft tone coming from your bookmark's direction would naturally tell you where it is without a word being spoken. Really elegant idea.

Waypoint on another player for multiplayer: yes, that works too — the game always knows where everyone is.

Building: keeping walls straight is something I can help with. Fully-enclosed detection — knowing for sure there's no hole anywhere — is genuinely hard; I'd be fighting the game's limits there. But a light-level check is realistic: I can warn you about dark spots inside the house where mobs could spawn. That one's going on the list too.

Resource finder for trees and cobblestone: same idea as the ore ping that already exists, just pointed at surface blocks instead of underground ores. Very doable.

The AI scene description — describing the beauty of a vista or what your castle looks like — I have to be honest: I can't build that. Addons can't take screenshots or see the screen at all, so there's no way to describe the view. I wish I could.

Thanks for writing all this out — half my roadmap just came from your comment.

Hey, thanks for the kind words — really means a lot.

On the Siri-photo idea: that works as a stopgap, but it pulls you out of the game right in the middle of the moment. I've been thinking about a better answer: a little in-game "camera" tool, probably as its own separate addon. You'd hold it, point it at your build, and it describes what it finds.

Honest limits though: it couldn't tell you your base is "cozy" or "beautiful" — no addon can actually see the screen. But it could give you the real facts: how big it is, what it's made of, whether it's hollow inside. And the surroundings too — like if your base sits in a nice forest, it can tell from the trees and terrain around you.

Would something like that be useful to you, or is the dream really about knowing whether it *looks* good?

— JB Tech

Hey, that's great news — an Android tester would be huge for me, since I've only ever tested on iPhone. If anything behaves differently on Android, I want to hear about it so I can fix it.

And yeah, the Java+Bedrock bundle is one of Mojang's better deals. If you're feeling adventurous there's also a v3.14 test build linked in my tester call comment below — but no pressure, the CurseForge release is the stable one.

Thanks for sticking with the thread — let me know how it goes!
— JB Tech

Hi Grace — deep breath, you're not doing anything wrong. That first screen is genuinely the worst part, and everything you're hitting is real.

First, the good news: **your Xbox controller works with your iPhone.** If it's an Xbox One or newer, hold the pair button on top until the Xbox button flashes fast, then on your iPhone go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap it in the list. Once paired, you can drive Minecraft's menus with the controller — that's exactly what I do, and it solves the whole "can't swipe to anything" problem.

No Bluetooth on your controller? A USB cable works too — plug the controller straight into your phone. iPhones with USB-C take it directly; older ones need a Lightning-to-USB adapter.

You're also right about VoiceOver — it doesn't work inside Minecraft. The game's own Text to Speech for UI is the replacement, but the catch-22 is reaching Settings to turn it on. The controller is your bridge there.

That "get started / view more options" screen is just the first-run sign-in — "get started" walks you through signing in with a Microsoft account (free). One time, then you never see it again.

For the app not opening: restart your phone first. If it's still dead, reinstall — you haven't built anything yet, so there's nothing to lose. Fresh installs fix this more often than you'd think.

I won't pretend the first 30 minutes are easy — I needed workarounds too. But once you're past setup, the game talks to you on its own. Don't quit right before the good part. Tell me how the controller pairing goes — that's step one.
— JB Tech

That's the spirit! Go explore and have fun with it — and if you run into any more walls or have questions, just drop them here. I'm around.
— JB Tech