There are four ways to play Minecraft together.
1. A public server
You both add the same IP and join. The world is always online and there are other players around. SMP, vanilla and voice-chat servers suit co-op best; anarchy is hard for a pair. See our list of servers to play with friends. Use /tpa name to teleport to each other and add your friend to your claim.
2. Open to LAN
On the same Wi‑Fi: one player opens a single-player world to LAN from the pause menu, the other finds it in Multiplayer. The world is online only while the host plays.
3. Realms
Mojang's paid private server for up to 10 players, always online, premium accounts only.
4. Your own hosted server
Free hosts such as Aternos give you a server with your own mods and rules; it sleeps when nobody is online. See the guide on starting a server.
Mixed setups
- One premium, one cracked: pick a cracked server.
- PC + phone: you need a Java + Bedrock server.