Mojang added the Locator Bar in Minecraft 1.21.6 (the Chase the Skies update). It shows nearby players as directional waypoints above the hotbar, which is great for casual co-op but instantly breaks PvP, manhunt, hide-and-seek, and faction servers. Owners of those server types tend to want it off the moment they update.
The good news: it's a normal gamerule, so you can toggle it without restarting, set it differently per world, and players can also hide themselves individually without you having to disable it server-wide.
Quick Answer
Run this in the server console or in-game as an operator:
/gamerule locatorBar false
Pay attention to the capitals: it's locatorBar (camelCase), not locatorbar or locator_bar. The wrong case silently fails.
To turn it back on:
/gamerule locatorBar true
To check the current value without changing it:
/gamerule locatorBar
What the Locator Bar Actually Does
The Locator Bar is a HUD strip above the hotbar that shows other players as colored markers, pointing in the direction they are from you. Marker shape and size change with distance, so you get a rough sense of how far away each player is. It works across the same dimension by default.
For survival or co-op servers this is a nice quality-of-life feature. For anything competitive it kills the gameplay loop, because there's nowhere left to hide.
Disabling From the DoomHosting Panel
If you'd rather not type the command in-game:
- Open your server in the panel.
- Click the Console tab.
- Type
/gamerule locatorBar falseand press Enter. - The console will print a confirmation with the new value.
The change applies instantly to every player on the world. No restart, no reconnect.
Per-World Setup (PvP Off, Lobby On)
Because locatorBar is a per-world gamerule, you can run different rules in different worlds. A common pattern:
- Lobby or social world: locator bar on, so friends can find each other.
- PvP, manhunt, or survival world: locator bar off.
If you're running a multi-world plugin like Multiverse, switch worlds first and then run the command:
/mv tp pvpworld
/gamerule locatorBar false
Repeat per world.
Hide Yourself Without Disabling It For Everyone
If you only want to vanish from the locator bar yourself (or you're a player on a server that won't disable it), there are three vanilla ways to disappear from other players' bars:
- Sneak. While crouched (default: Shift), you don't appear on anyone else's locator bar.
- Wear a mob head or carved pumpkin. Putting a mob head or carved pumpkin in your helmet slot removes your waypoint.
- Invisibility potion or beacon effect. Any source of the Invisibility status effect hides you from the bar for its duration.
These work alongside the server gamerule, so even with the bar enabled, sneaking past a base still works the way you'd expect.
Older Versions (1.21.5 and Earlier)
If you're still on Minecraft 1.21.5 or earlier, you don't need to do anything. The Locator Bar simply doesn't exist on those versions, and there's nothing in server.properties or any older gamerule to toggle.
The first time you update to 1.21.6+, the bar will appear and the gamerule will default to true. That's when you'll want to run the disable command.
Bedrock Edition
Bedrock Edition got the Locator Bar in version 1.21.90. The gamerule exists there too, but it's lowercase:
/gamerule locatorbar false
Bedrock only tracks players in multiplayer (not other entities), but the disable command behaves the same way.
Common Questions
Does this stop the compass or recovery compass too?
No. The gamerule only controls the new Locator Bar HUD. Compasses, recovery compasses, lodestones, and maps all work normally.
Can players turn it off client-side in their settings?
No. There's no accessibility toggle to hide the bar in the vanilla client. To make it disappear for yourself you either need to use the sneak / mob head / invisibility tricks above, or convince the server owner to disable the gamerule.
Does the gamerule reset after a restart?
No. Gamerules are saved with the world. Once you set locatorBar false, it stays off across restarts unless someone runs the command again.
What about plugins or mods?
Paper, Spigot, Fabric, and Forge all respect the vanilla gamerule. There are also third-party plugins and mods (search "LocatorBarRemover" on SpigotMC or "No Waypoints" on Modrinth) for older servers or extra control, but you don't need them if you can just run the gamerule.
Will it affect PvP combat or damage?
No. The Locator Bar only controls visibility. To control combat itself, see our separate guide on how to turn PvP on or off.
Need Help?
If /gamerule locatorBar false doesn't return a confirmation, check that you're on Minecraft 1.21.6 or newer (Java) or 1.21.90 or newer (Bedrock), and that you have operator (OP) status. If you don't have OP yet, see our guide on how to OP yourself on your Minecraft server.
Still stuck? Our support team is available 24/7 from your panel.