Weird Minecraft mobile bug turns water and glass into creepy black color
Minecraft Mobile, often still referred to as Pocket Edition, may currently run off the Bedrock Edition engine, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have problems unique to it. Look no further than a recent mobile version bug that results in water and glass blocks turning into a creepy, oily black color. The bug that sprang up has been named MCPE-185038 on Mojang's internal feedback site.
According to the bug reports, this particular mobile Minecraft bug appeared in Preview 1.21.40.22 and has appeared in most previews and hotfixes since. Moreover, the problem seems to extend to other transparent blocks beyond glass and water. However, based on the bug reports to Mojang from players, the issue only appears on certain mobile devices, which may narrow down the cause.
Specifically, Samsung Galaxy devices equipped with the Samsung Xclipse GPU seem to be the ones that are rendering black water and transparent blocks, particularly the following devices:
- Galaxy S22 with Exynos 2200 (SM-S901B) - Xclipse 920
- Galaxy S22 Plus with Exynos 2200 (SM-S906B) - Xclipse 920
- Galaxy S22 Ultra with Exynos 2200 (SM-S908B) - Xclipse 920
- Galaxy S23 FE with Exynos 2200 (SM-S711B, SM-S711E, SM-S711N) - Xclipse 920
- Galaxy S24 with Exynos 2400 (SM-S921B, SM-S921E, SM-S921N) - Xclipse 940
- Galaxy S24 Plus with Exynos 2400 (SM-S926B, SM-S926E, SM-S926N) - Xclipse 940
- Galaxy A55 5G with Exynos 1480 (All Models) - Xclipse 530
Since the Minecraft bug seems to be tied to hardware, player experiences with the glitch on mobile devices have been varied. That said, there has been enough talk regarding the bug for it to make its way to Mojang's feedback and bug reporting page.
When will the black transparency bug for Minecraft Mobile be fixed?
As of August 24, 2024, there hasn't yet been a fix for this particular Minecraft bug on mobile devices. Since this issue seems to stem from a small collection of Samsung Galaxy devices, there likely isn't much that players can do aside from playing on a different device that doesn't utilize the Xclipse GPU. Otherwise, the only option would be to wait for Mojang to implement a solution.
However, due to the different bugs, crashes, and other issues present on the Mojang feedback site, it might take some time for this one to be fixed. Still, the fact that the bug is creating nearly pitch-black water and transparent blocks, the visual problems may be considered grievous enough for Mojang to implement a hotfix as quickly as it can. For now, players will simply have to wait and see.