Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.90.26 beta preview adds Vibrant Visuals improvements, longer Beacon render distance, and more

A new 1.21.90.26 Beta and Preview update for Minecraft just dropped for Bedrock Edition. This new update adds a few interesting features for you to check out, including the panorama view for the second game drop of 2025, some Vibrant Visuals improvements, and many more. 

The patch notes for the latest preview can be a bit long. This is because they also contain a few bug fixes for mobs and sound effects in the game. With that said, you can now download the beta update if you want to see what’s new in the game. 

To make things easier to digest, here is a quick rundown of the most notable additions and changes in Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.90.26 beta and preview.

Here are the most interesting features that you can check out in the Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.90.26 beta preview update:

Vibrant Visuals is arguably one of the most beloved additions to Minecraft this year so far. Mojang is keen on proving it — this includes customized atmospherics, color grading, fog, and lighting for the variety of biomes and dimensions in Vibrant Visuals. 

Emissive textures have been recalibrated for a more immersive glow. Meanwhile, volumetric fog has been fine-tuned to reduce ghosting effects and prevent sudden brightness shifts near light sources. Night Vision now offers more consistent brightness across settings. Additionally, sunrise and sunset clouds have been corrected to eliminate unnatural tints. 

These visual enhancements are complemented by platform-specific performance optimizations, particularly for Xbox consoles. This ensures smoother gameplay without sacrificing the new aesthetic depth.

One of the best ways to not get lost while exploring your Minecraft world is to build a giant pyramid with a powered-up beacon. The beam will act as your marker so you can spot your base if you are far away. 

However, it does disappear once you are too far from the area where it was placed. To compensate for that, the recent Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.90.26 beta preview update increased the render distance for Beacons. This means you can see the beam of light from a greater distance as long as the chunk where you place it is loaded. 

Various mobs, including new ones, have also received a few changes. The Happy Ghast's visual size has been slightly reduced to prevent "z-fighting," a graphical issue where overlapping textures flicker or glitch, especially near water and other blocks. Its tentacles no longer cast unnatural shadows, and ropes and leashes now render correctly when it's harnessed or tethered to entities, fixing odd visual bugs like cows showing four leashes at once. 

Ghastlings also benefit from these fixes, now appearing properly aligned when riding boats. In addition, mobs and players now sit more naturally when mounted, eliminating floating and clipping issues. Spiders in cold biomes and the Nether can once again spawn with Stray or Wither Skeleton riders, and horses, donkeys. Additionally, mules can now be fed carrots to heal or improve their temper.

Several quality-of-life updates have improved the user interface and controls for smoother gameplay. Player dots on the Locator Bar now move more fluidly across large distances, with better scaling to reflect how far away other players are. 

The animated arrows indicating vertical position have also been repositioned for clearer visibility. When closing an Anvil or Enchanting Table, the XP bar now returns for five seconds instead of instantly switching to the Locator Bar, making it easier to track experience levels. 

Touch controls have been refined as well. Players using joystick-based movement schemes will now see a consistently visible joystick for better control. Additional fixes include resolving UI layering issues where on-screen buttons could unintentionally trigger world interactions, and addressing quirks like keyboard hints appearing on the death screen or unscrollable storage settings.

Realm owners now have more control over player participation with a new setting that requires members to opt into the Timeline feature before they can join and play on the Realm. This option can be toggled on or off at any time under Realms Stories > Settings by enabling “Require opt in to Timeline.” 

Members who haven’t opted in will remain listed as part of the Realm but won’t be able to play until they agree to participate. If someone opts out after joining, they’ll be locked out again until they opt back in. Realm owners themselves are exempt from this restriction and can continue playing regardless of their Timeline status.

Those are just a few of the most notable changes introduced in the Minecraft Bedrock 1.21.90.26 beta and preview update. If you want to check out the full patch notes, you can do it on the official Minecraft website. 

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