Minecraft Locator Bar Gamerule: locator_bar vs locatorBar

The Locator Bar gamerule was renamed twice. The exact name for every version — useLocatorBar, locatorBar, locator_bar, Bedrock playerWaypoints.

最近更新: 2026-07-23

If you are looking for the Minecraft Locator Bar gamerule and the command is being rejected, the reason is almost certainly that you have the wrong name for your version. Mojang has renamed this rule twice in a year, and Java Edition game rule arguments are case-sensitive, so an old name does not merely warn — it fails.

Here is the whole naming history in one place, followed by what the rule actually does.

The correct gamerule name for your version

Java Edition 1.21.11 and later — the rule is locator_bar (fully qualified, minecraft:locator_bar):

/gamerule locator_bar false
/gamerule locator_bar true

Java Edition 1.21.6 through 1.21.10 — the rule is locatorBar:

/gamerule locatorBar false

Java Edition snapshot 25w15a only — during the experimental phase the rule was useLocatorBar. It was renamed to locatorBar in 25w17a, and Mojang warned at the time that the rename "may break minor command related features in worlds created in the previous snapshot."

Bedrock Edition 26.30 and later — there is no locator_bar rule at all; use playerWaypoints with the values off or everyone:

/gamerule playerwaypoints off
/gamerule playerwaypoints everyone

Bedrock Edition 1.21.90 through 26.2x — the rule was the boolean locatorbar, removed in 26.30. Details of the Bedrock side are on the Minecraft Locator Bar Bedrock page.

Why the Java name changed to snake case

This is not a Locator Bar quirk — it caught every game rule in the game at once.

In snapshot 25w44a, which shipped in Java Edition 1.21.11 (released 9 December 2025), Mojang moved game rules into a registry. In the official words of that changelog: "Game rules have been moved into a registry. With that, all game rules have been renamed from their previous camel case names to resource locations in snake case."

A handful of rules got a further, more descriptive rename on top of that in the same snapshot — announceAdvancements became minecraft:show_advancement_messages, doDaylightCycle became minecraft:advance_time, doInsomnia became minecraft:spawn_phantoms. The Locator Bar rule was not in that special list, so it took the plain mechanical conversion: locatorBar became locator_bar.

Two consequences worth remembering:

Java game rule arguments are case-sensitive. locatorBar on a 1.21.11+ server is not "close enough"; it is an unknown rule. (Bedrock is the opposite — its game rule arguments are shown lowercase for autocompletion but are case-insensitive when typed.)
Rules are now namespaced. The changelog writes them as minecraft:locator_bar. The wiki lists the short form locator_bar in its rule table and uses unprefixed snake case in its /gamerule examples, which is what you will normally type.

If you are unsure, type /gamerule in chat and let tab-completion list the rules your build actually accepts. That is faster than guessing, and it is version-proof.

What the rule does

Type: boolean in Java Edition; a string enum in Bedrock Edition.
Default: true in Java; everyone in Bedrock.
Description, verbatim from the wiki: "Whether the player's locator bar is enabled, indicating the location of players or entities."
Permission: /gamerule requires permission level 2 in Java Edition and the Game Directors level in Bedrock Edition. Bedrock's /gamerule does not require cheats.

The most important behaviour is what happens when you switch it off. From the official 25w17a changelog: "Changing to false will remove all existing Waypoints from all players." This is not a display toggle. Turning the rule off destroys the waypoint connections rather than hiding them, so turning it back on rebuilds them from scratch. On a busy server that is harmless but not free, and it means any waypoint color you set on a non-transmitting entity with /waypoint modify may not survive the round trip.

Setting it from the menus instead of the command

In Java Edition you do not have to use the command. Game rules can be toggled in the "Edit Game Rules" menu built into the Create World and World Options screens, where they are split into categories. Java Edition 26.1 improved this: the game rules screen became reachable in-game through a new World Options screen in the pause menu, and a search bar was added to the top of the game rules screen in both the in-game and world-creation versions. A later 26.1 snapshot made that search match on description and category as well as the namespaced ID and name — so typing "locator" will find it even if you cannot remember whether it is locatorBar or locator_bar.

In Bedrock the equivalent control sits in the Multiplayer section of the world menus, and can be changed without cheats. In 26.30 the "Locator Bar" toggle there was replaced by a "Player Waypoints" setting with Off and Everyone options.

What the gamerule cannot do

The Locator Bar gamerule is an all-or-nothing, whole-world switch. It cannot:

Turn the bar off for one player. Use /attribute @s minecraft:waypoint_receive_range base set 0 instead — that stops one player receiving waypoints without touching anyone else. See the Minecraft Locator Bar range page.
Hide one player from everyone else. Use /attribute <target> minecraft:waypoint_transmit_range base set 0.
Limit the bar to a radius. Again, that is the two range attributes, not the gamerule.
Change any color. Colors are the /waypoint command and team colors; see how to change locator bar color.
Be set in server.properties. Game rules are per-world data, not server configuration. Set them with the command, from the menus, or in the world's level data.

That last point trips up a lot of server owners. There is no locator-bar=false line to add to server.properties. Run the command once from the console, or from a function that executes on world load, and it sticks with the world.

Turning the Locator Bar off for a server: which approach to use

Nobody should see anyone, ever. Use the gamerule: /gamerule locator_bar false. Simplest, and the waypoint system stops doing work entirely.
Players should only see nearby players. Keep the gamerule on and set both range attributes, for example 150 blocks each way.
One team should be invisible to the others. Set waypoint_transmit_range to 0 for that group.
Players should be able to hide themselves. They already can — sneaking, wearing any mob head or a carved pumpkin in the head slot, and Invisibility all zero out transmission through attribute modifiers.
Only the bar's appearance should change. That is a resource pack waypoint_style, applied per entity with /waypoint modify.

Full timeline of the rule

Snapshot 25w15a — useLocatorBar added, enabled by default for servers running the Locator Bar experiment. Toggling it off already removed all existing waypoints from all players.
Snapshot 25w17a — renamed to locatorBar, and available without the experiment.
Java Edition 1.21.6, released 17 June 2025 — ships as locatorBar, default true.
Snapshot 25w44a — all game rules move into a registry and are renamed from camel case to snake-case resource locations; locatorBar becomes locator_bar.
Java Edition 1.21.11, released 9 December 2025 — first full release carrying the locator_bar name.
Java Edition 26.1, released 24 March 2026 — the game rules screen becomes reachable in-game from a new World Options screen in the pause menu, and gains a search bar.
Bedrock Preview 1.21.80.25 — Bedrock adds its own locatorBar rule.
Bedrock 1.21.90, released 17 June 2025 — the rule ships without experiments.
Bedrock Preview 26.30.20 / Bedrock 26.30, released 16 June 2026 — locatorbar removed and replaced by playerWaypoints with off and everyone, with automatic world migration.

Troubleshooting

"Unknown game rule" or the command will not autocomplete. Wrong name for your version. On 1.21.11 and later use locator_bar; before that use locatorBar; on Bedrock 26.30+ use playerwaypoints.

The command runs but nothing changes. Check you are actually in a multiplayer context. With no other players in the world there is nothing for the bar to draw, so the Experience Bar shows as normal either way.

The bar came back after a restart. Game rules are stored with the world. If the value reverts, something is setting it again — a datapack function running on load, a plugin, or a server management panel writing world settings on boot.

Everyone lost their waypoints and I only wanted to hide one player. That is the documented behaviour of setting the rule to false. Use the per-player range attributes instead.

It works in single player but not on my server. Permission level 2 is required in Java. Run it from the server console if your account is not opped.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Locator Bar gamerule in Minecraft? locator_bar in Java Edition 1.21.11 and later, locatorBar in 1.21.6 through 1.21.10, and playerWaypoints in Bedrock Edition 26.30 and later.

Is the Locator Bar gamerule on by default? Yes. Java defaults to true; Bedrock defaults to everyone.

Does turning the gamerule off disable the Experience Bar too? No. The Locator Bar replaces the Experience Bar's screen space when other players are present; turning the Locator Bar off simply leaves the Experience Bar showing as normal.

Can players turn off their own Locator Bar without operator help? Not through the gamerule. On Java an operator can set their waypoint_receive_range to 0. There is no vanilla client-side option.

Does the gamerule affect mobs that transmit waypoints? Yes. The rule governs the whole waypoint system, and setting it to false removes all existing waypoints from all players regardless of what is transmitting them.

Where is the gamerule stored? In the world's data, not in server.properties. It travels with the world when you copy or upload it.

Do I need a datapack to use it? No. It was behind an experimental data pack in snapshot 25w15a only; from 25w17a onwards it is a standard game rule.