If you get the itch to build, explore and survive from your pocket, Minecraft in its iPhone and Android version is your gateway to infinite worlds where every block matters and every choice counts. The mobile edition (known as Minecraft Pocket Edition) is paid and is downloaded from the official stores, but in return it offers the full portable experience, with achievements, local worlds and everything you need to start mining without complications. Ready to create your first shelter before night falls and the monsters come out for a stroll?
Install the game and create your first world
To install it, go to App Store or Google Play, search for “Minecraft” and download it; avoid any supposed “free” versions outside the official stores, because the full version is not free. When you open the game, tap Play and go to the Worlds tab to create a new world, give it a recognizable name and choose the game mode: Survival for the classic experience of gathering, crafting and nightly dangers, or Creative if you want unlimited resources, flight and invulnerability (note: signing in with your Microsoft account to enable achievements will not make them count in Creative).
Before entering, adjust the difficulty (from Peaceful to Hard) and, if needed, keep options like field of view or controls at hand from the Pause menu. Touch controls are straightforward: use the virtual pad to move, drag to orient the camera, tap and hold to interact with blocks, jump with the dedicated button and, if required, sneak by double-tapping the central control.
First steps: resources, inventory and crafting
Your priority when you appear in the world is to get wood. Approach a tree and press on the trunk until the block breaks, pick it up by walking over it and repeat to gather several pieces; with them you can turn logs into planks and later into a crafting table. Open the inventory (icono ⋯) to see your items, move them to the quick bar at the bottom and craft simple recipes with the basic 2×2 grid, like planks or sticks.
The crafting table is the heart of progress, as it unlocks more complex recipes. Craft it with planks, place it on the ground and use it to create your first tools: a wooden pickaxe to mine stone and ores, and a wooden sword to defend yourself or obtain wool from sheep. If you get used to carrying the right tools, you will save time: the pickaxe for rock and ores, the axe for wood and the shovel for dirt or sand.
Manage your inventory wisely; think of it like a small package manager such as Homebrew: you only install (equip) what you are going to use, and return to storage what you don’t need at the moment. From the Pause menu you can adjust options at any time or exit saving with Save & Quit if you need to pause the game for a while.
Survive the first night like a pro
When the sun starts to go down, time is against you: at night zombies, skeletons and spiders will appear, and in dark areas even during the day. Your goal is to improvise a simple, well-lit shelter. Gather a good handful of dirt to raise walls and choose a practical spot: relatively high, defensible, close to your spawn point and with resources nearby. With walls of about 6×6 and two blocks high you already protect yourself from the basics; a roof is not strictly necessary, but make sure to close any gaps before sleeping.
Light is your best ally. Craft torches by combining sticks and coal; coal usually appears in dark veins in stone and is mined with a pickaxe. Light the interior and the perimeter of your shelter to reduce unwanted encounters. While you gather coal, also mine some stone: with it you can soon upgrade to stone tools, which are much more durable and effective than wooden ones.
To get through the night in a flash and set your spawn point, build a bed with three wool and three planks. Wool is obtained from sheep, and placing the bed requires at least two blocks of space. Sleeping will skip the night and, if you die later, you will respawn next to your shelter instead of at the world’s initial spawn point. If the game prevents you from sleeping, there are probably enemies too close, so light up better and secure the entrances.
And after the first night? With the base covered, it’s time to explore more calmly, gather food, expand your house and advance your gear. Caves are great sources of materials, but always enter with torches and attentive ears, because each creature has a characteristic sound that betrays its presence. One last useful reminder: stick to the official stores; if you see an app promising “Minecraft free”, be suspicious and avoid downloads that are not the authentic version.
