Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.70.23: Calcite Bricks, New Music Disc & Big Bug Fixes
What Changed
Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.70.23, released on 3 November 2026, is the final test build before the full Drop 4 of 2026 launch. It lands on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows, iOS (Preview) and Android via Google Play (Beta). The headline additions are a sweeping new family of calcite building blocks and a brand-new music disc, but there is also a mountain of quality-of-life fixes and accessibility improvements underneath.
New Calcite Block Sets
- Calcite Stairs, Slabs & Walls, completing the plain calcite family that already had the basic block.
- Polished Calcite and a full Polished Calcite Brick set, including double slabs.
- Calcite Pillar, a rotatable column block for grand colonnades and fantasy architecture.
All of these are classified as both Decorative and Building blocks, so they slot neatly into the creative inventory alongside stone and deepslate families.
New Music Disc, "flurry" by Hyper Potions
A new disc carrying the track "flurry" has a 30% chance to appear inside igloo chests, making igloo-hunting worthwhile even for veteran players. Pop it in a jukebox for an icy, atmospheric vibe.
Ice & Packed Ice Improvements
- Packed Ice Bricks and Chiseled Packed Ice now conduct redstone signals.
- Packed Ice and Packed Ice Bricks can be cut in a Stonecutter into the full brick sub-set (slabs, stairs, walls, chiseled).
- Brittle Ice, Packed Ice Bricks, Chiseled Packed Ice, and Snow Bricks now block light correctly, so mobs underneath no longer burn in daylight.
- Ice and Frosted Ice reduce light by 1 instead of 3, matching intended design.
- Packed Ice Brick Walls no longer stop chests from opening.
Gameplay & Controls
- Off-hand swapping arrives: press F on keyboard/mouse (or the Crafting button on a controller) to swap eligible items between main hand and off-hand instantly.
- Being on fire now prevents the Freezing effect from building up until the flames go out, no more simultaneous burning and freezing chaos.
- Jukeboxes no longer emit vibrations when a disc is taken or swapped from their playlist.
- Fixed hoppers collecting dropped items more slowly when connected to a container below them.
- Fixed chest loot differing on the same seed.
Accessibility & Audio
Dozens of subtitles and narration fixes land this build: animals (pigs, chickens, cows, cats, sheep), hanging signs, tuff blocks, turtle eggs, and villager workstations all now announce themselves correctly to screen-reader and subtitle users.
Why It Matters
Calcite has been a lonely block since its introduction, just one plain white stone with nowhere to go architecturally. The new brick, polished, and pillar variants finally give builders a full marble-like palette that pairs brilliantly with snow, dripstone, and quartz. Combined with the stonecutter support for Packed Ice, cold-climate builders have never had more tools. The off-hand swap shortcut is a small change with a surprisingly large quality-of-life payoff for every player style.
Java and Bedrock
This is a Bedrock-only beta/preview build, Java Edition has its own snapshot track and is not part of this release. Java players should watch for separate snapshot announcements. Everything described here applies exclusively to Bedrock Edition platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Windows, iOS, Android).
For Server Owners
If you run a Bedrock Dedicated Server, pay attention to the networking changes. The server now defaults NetherNet UDP connections to a shared port matching server-port, and invalid network settings will now prevent server startup entirely rather than silently failing. Legacy IP prefixes in server-udp-ports are deprecated, now is a good time to audit your config before the full Drop 4 release. Also note: the new calcite and packed ice blocks will need to generate in fresh chunks, so consider expanding your world border or preparing an exploration world ahead of the update.
For Parents
This is a beta / preview build, it is a work-in-progress version that can be unstable and is not meant for everyday play. If your child is on the standard release of Minecraft, nothing changes for them yet. If they have opted into the beta on Android or Preview on other platforms, they may notice new blocks and the new music disc. The accessibility improvements (better subtitles, screen-reader fixes) are genuinely great news for children who rely on those features. Everything here will roll into the full Drop 4 release once testing is complete.
For Players
So much good stuff to look forward to! Here are the highlights you'll want to test right away:
- Build with calcite like never before, pillars, polished bricks, stairs, slabs, and walls all in that clean white marble style.
- Hunt igloos for the new "flurry" disc and add it to your jukebox playlist.
- Try the off-hand swap, press F to flick items between hands without opening your inventory.
- Use the Stonecutter on Packed Ice to craft the entire brick sub-set without needing special loot.
- Keep an eye out for the hidden new decorative block teased in the patch notes, the team says it's been added "somewhere" in the world!
Do SNT Kingdoms Need an Update?
No action needed, and SNT kingdoms cannot connect to 26.x clients yet. SNT Gaming kingdoms run on Paper 1.21.11 backends with a Fabric 1.21.4 world, fronted by a Velocity proxy. Bedrock crossplay is handled through Geyser + Floodgate. Right now, PaperMC, Velocity, and the ViaVersion family have not yet migrated to Mojang's new year-based versioning scheme, which means Minecraft 26.x Bedrock clients are not supported for connection to SNT kingdoms at this time.
Your kingdom is fully up to date and stable on the current supported stack. When PaperMC and the broader ecosystem catch up to the 26.x version line, SNT will roll out the update, as always, fully managed, with no work required from you. Watch this space for the announcement the moment Drop 4 is officially stable and the toolchain is ready.