With Minecraft getting an official date of release (being in November I believe), it is time to get read for it and luckily for us Android users, there are some apps to help you out in various ways depending on what you actually do when playing Minecraft. Everything from admin tools to builders are available. Here’s a list for you to check over.
Beginners and Reference Apps
Minebuilder
Minebuilder is a game/app that will let you get the hang of Minecraft without actually playing Minecraft. This is great for anyone who is considering getting into the game but might be a bit intimidated with jumping right into it. This app lets you do all the basic functions of Minecraft on your Android phone such as place blocks to build things or destroy blocks to gain items in your inventory.
Features:
- Generate worlds
- Save/Load
- Place blocks
- Destroy blocks
- Explore infinite worlds
Planned for version 1.1:
- Water
- Improved Controls
- Better world generator
- Better collision detection
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Currently this is a work in progress so consider it a late beta if anything but it will give all of you contemplating jumping into Minecraft a bit of a head start instead of just jumping into the game and not having a clue at all what to do. You can pick this up off the Android Market for $1.44.
Developer Website: Bram Buurlage (Twitter)
Market Link: MineBuilder
MineDroid
MineDroid, as the developer describes it, is a “A viewer / concept design for Minecraft that supports using your own 1.3 beta levels. So far, MineDroid includes a few features such as tool usage and movement are already implemented into the app. You can also destroy blocks and other things you normally can do in the actual Minecraft game with more features on the way including “sensor steering, crouch jump, ghost mode / fly mode, many blocks and more”.
The developer has stated though that this will not end up as a full Minecraft game unless, for whatever reason, Mojang decided to not continue with their plans to bring it to Android. The source code is available so if you want to contribute to MineDroid, feel free to jump right in. Install instructions can be found here. MineDroid is available for download only from the developer’s website as well.
Developer Website: MineDroid
Minecraft Canary
Minecraft Canary is your one-stop quick reference app for all things Minecraft to help you along your way. Think of it as a wiki for Mincecraft on your Android phone and it covers a variety of subjects.
Features:
- Gives you quick access to every recipe.
- Useful info: Tips, Food, Circuits, Traps, Mobs, The Nether, Block IDs, Server Commands.. and much more!
- Dawn/Dusk Timer. You’ll never wonder what time is it outside again!
- Quick useful links list, from Notch’s Blog to the Minecraft subreddit.
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Minecraft Canary comes in two flavors, a free ad-supported version and a paid version that will remove the ads. Both, however, are full versions. You can grab the ad-free version of Minecraft Canary for $1.44 as well of the Android Market.
Developer Website: Ninja Coders
Market Link: Mincecraft Canary (ad-free)
Minecraft Companion
Yet another companion to Minecraft for your Androi device. If Minecraft Canary doesn’t float your boat you can always test this one out as well. It features just about everything Minecraft Canary does.
Features:
- Block list
- Item list
- Crafting recipes
- Information about Mobs
- Redstone guide
- Version history of Minecraft
- Support Eng/Fr languages
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Unlilke Minecraft Canary, this app only comes in one flavor, free. So you won’t be losing out on anything giving this app a shot as well. The feedback on the Android Market has been pretty solid in favor of Minecraft Companion.
Developer Website: Devmob (french)
Market Link: Minecraft Companion
Mine Tablet
Mine Tablet is yet another companion app for your Android device but this particular application is optimized for Android tablets giving you much more space to check out everything. There is no real feature list for this application but it follows along the same lines as the other two we mentioned. Official description:
This useful application gives you the tools to survive in Minecraft! Go from the crafting recipe of mushroom stew to the block ID of a wooden sword in mere seconds.
Optimized for tablet use so it makes use of your entire screen with no space to waste!
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You can snag this application off the Android Market for your tablet for only $0.99.
Developer Website: Boxxymays
Market Link: Mine Tablet
Minecraft Item ID Application
This app is just a simple reference of every item ID there is in Minecraft. This is more geared to Minecraft players who have been playing for awhile or at least know the basics of the game and are starting to get into it in a more in-depth manner. This app is fairly new and is available for free on the Android Market.
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Developer Website: N/A
Market Link: Minecraft Item ID
MineMapi Minecraft Map
This is another relatively new map that has just landed on the Android Market. Basically it gives you the entire map on there semi-public (lol?) Micecraft server. If you play on this server, this will be great for you. So why are we posting about this since it is dedicated to one specific server? We are hoping that the developer (or a developer out there) will expand on this to include users own maps in a future update or another version.
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This is available on the Android Market for free as well.
Developer Website: Mortal Powers
Market Link: MineMapi Minecraft Map
Administrative Apps
Minecraft Admin Give Commands
A simple app for server admins to reference /give commands in Minecraft. If you’re an admin, this will be pretty handy to have as a reference point if you do a lot of /give commands. An example of a give command is: /give username datavalue 64.
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This little reference app is available for free on the Android Market.
Developer Website: Speedy0339
Market Link: Minecraft Admin Give Commands
Mineserve
Mineserve is a full Minecraft server admin client for you to be able to do what needs to be done on your Minecraft server even if you aren’t at your PC. It does require a separate server-side application to be side which is available at mineserver.net. As with most Minecraft applications for Android, this one is also available for free.
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Developer Website: Mineserve
Market Link: Mineserve
Minecraft Mobile Admin
This is another full admin client for use on your Android phone should you need to deal with anything pertaining to your Minecraft server. IMPORTANT: this application requires you to run your own Minecraft server using Bukkit or hMod (or variants like Canary). There is a free version of this available but the paid version will also let you chat with players currently on your server which will be handy for server notices, addressing player concerns or anything else you may need to do. There is also a plug-in you’ll need to install on your server for full functionality.
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This Minecraft Mobile Admin will set you back $2.99 if you want to extra features like chat.
Developer Website: Kaltner
Market Link: Minecraft Mobile Admin
Widgets
Minecraft Widget
Just a fun little widget that displays some of the mobs from the game Minecraft. No other real functionality but it’s kind of entertaining.
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Developer Website: Neolotus
Market Link: Minecraft Widget
Minecraft Clock and MineClock
Two different clock apps are available regarding Minecraft. One is just a clock widget in the Minecraft ‘style’ that just displays your local time. The other is an app called MineClock which will actually help you know what time it is in the Minecraft world. Great if you are holed up in a cave for safety waiting for daytime but not wanting to risk any bad creatures sneaking in a window and attacking you. MineClock is available for free while Minecraft Clock widget is available for $1.44.
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Mineclock
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Minecraft Clock
Developer Websites: Haptic Apps (MineClock) | Jonathan O. (Minecraft Clock Widget)
Market Links: Mineclock | Minecraft Clock Widget
Minecraft Redstone Torch
Just a neat little widget featuring the Redstone Touch both unlit and lit. More for just fun if you are a big Minecraft fan.
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Developer Website: Jonathan O
Market Link: Redstone Torch
While this certainly isn’t all the utilities available for Android phones on the Android Market, these are ones we found that so far seem to be the best of them all. Don’t forget that Minecraft, the actual game, is heading to Android soon too! If you know of a good Minecraft app we missed out, let us know and we will add it to the list.
