Minecraft unable yo add friends because of how Microsoft account is set up

LincolnLepage · Apr 2, 2021

Good evening,

I have been trying various things to enable my son to connect with his friends but to no avail. All the previous asked questions have been hidden. Surely you get lots of people asking this and I have not found the page to be very helpful at all. I am paying for membership that he is not able to use at all. He is very disappointed and it is causing me rather a lot of stress. I have a condition that has an affect on my thought processes and having to search for answers on numerous Web pages really dies not help. I do not use any Xbox, Nintendo or any other devices and find this to be very time consuming and still not able to find a resolution. A step by step idiot guide would be very helpful for those like me who can't spend long hours trying to get a device working and simple help guide, not where answers are hidden.

Look forward to hearing from you with any solution. Much appreciated. Alina

:)

Elizabeth Bromwich · Jul 29, 2021

Hi, we're had the same problem. We kept getting the message "you cannot add friends because of how your Microsoft account is set up".
So we made sure he was entered as child on my account (he was) and then set under XBox Settings/Privacy & Online Safety, where there are 3 headings like this

In the Privacy tab, we:-
Set everything to FRIENDS, apart from
and

THEN we set the XBox One/Windows 10 Online Safety to :-

Finally, In the XBox 360 Online Safety we set up the following:_

He's up and running, playing with his friends now, so I hope this helps someone - I know how frustrated we were yesterday!

pasqualeeno

Hi!

You can find Microsoft account privacy settings here (included the "Add friends" option):

https://account.xbox.com/settings

This guide explain how to set a Microsoft account in order to play Minecraft:

I'm trying to set up an Xbox Live or Microsoft Account (including Realms access for Child Accounts!)

I hope it helps

Regards

randomname00

These are children enrolled/managed by my parent account. Their tablets are setup to use their Microsoft account in Minecraft but are unable to add friends.

XBF Crystal P

Hi there MaryMom1,

Thanks for reaching out! I'm sorry to hear about the issue with adding friends on Minecraft PE.

The Minecraft sign in may use the Microsoft account credentials for the account. Sounds like this account may be in a family. Please take a look at the troubleshooting article:

Change your child’s Xbox privacy and online safety settings.

Friends can join friends realms locally
(this works if the friend is in the same area):

click settings
local server multiplayer
- set setting : on

How to add a friend on Minecraft PE:

On the home page
click sign in [bottom left]
sign in with Microsoft account
click on play
click menu
select friend
invite to game
send invite

Take a look at this article:
How to add new Xbox friends. If you need more assistance with Minecraft PE try taking a look at their

support forums.

Hope this helps. Let us know the results!

TomWoods5

Message that appears states this:

You cannot add friends because of how your Microsoft account is set up. This can be changed in your privacy & online safety settings at aka.ms/accountsettings.

This makes me think it's not a PS4 issue/setting, but a MS setting.

XBF Diego M

Hi Ayuwoki3794,

Thanks for reaching out! I'm sorry to hear about the issue with adding friends on Minecraft PE.

The Minecraft sign in may use the Microsoft account credentials for the account. Sounds like this account may be in a family. Please take a look at the troubleshooting article: Change
your child’s Xbox privacy and online safety settings.

Friends can join friends realms locally (this works if the friend is in the same area):

click settings
local server multiplayer
- set setting : on

How to add a friend on Minecraft PE:

On the home page
click sign in [bottom left]
sign in with Microsoft account
click on play
click menu
select friend
invite to game
send invite

Take a look at this article: How to add new Xbox friends. If you need more assistance with Minecraft PE to try taking a look at their support
forums.

Hope this helps. Let us know the results!

Minecraft unable yo add friends because of how Microsoft account is set up