Minecraft Locator Bar Color Checker
Since Java Edition 1.21.6 the locator bar shows every nearby player as a colored dot, and the color comes from the player's UUID. Enter a username or UUID to see the exact color the game uses (the same formula as the client, checked against the game code), the nearest named color and dye, and the /waypoint commands to change it.
Java Edition accounts. Try , , . Paste a UUID (dashed or not) to skip the name lookup.
Compare players
Paste your whole server (up to 12 names or UUIDs) to see every dot side by side and catch colors that are too close to tell apart.
How Minecraft picks your locator bar color
The server does not choose the color. When a player's waypoint has no color set, the client works one out from the player's UUID, and every client gets the same answer because the steps are fixed:
- Take the account UUID (the same one in
usercache.jsonandwhitelist.json). - Compute Java's
UUID.hashCode(): XOR the two 64-bit halves, then XOR the two 32-bit halves of that. - Keep the low 24 bits of the hash as a red, green, blue triple. This is the raw color the tool shows.
- Run
ARGB.setBrightness(color, 0.9F): convert to HSV, keep the hue and saturation, set the value to 0.9 and convert back, rounding each channel. Greys and black come out as#E6E6E6.
// net.minecraft.client.gui.contextualbar.LocatorBar (1.21.6 to 26.2)
int color = icon.color.orElseGet(() ->
ARGB.setBrightness(ARGB.color(255, uuid.hashCode()), 0.9F));The brightness step is why every dot has the same brightness and why a color can never be the raw hash value. Team colors and /waypoint colors skip the step entirely and are drawn as given, except that a team named black is drawn as #303030 so it stays visible.
How to change a player's color
All of these need permission level 2, so run them as an operator or with cheats enabled. <player> is a username, a UUID or a selector such as @s.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /waypoint modify <player> color hex <RRGGBB> | Any color. Six hex digits, or three (F80 means FF8800). No # sign. |
| /waypoint modify <player> color <name> | One of the 16 named colors below, lowercase with underscores. |
| /waypoint modify <player> color reset | Back to the team color, or the UUID color if the player has no team. |
| /waypoint modify <player> style set bowtie | Swap the dot for the hidden bowtie sprite. style reset restores the default. |
| /team modify <team> color <name> | Recolors every player on the team. Teams win over the UUID color. |
| /waypoint list | Lists every tracked player in the current dimension. |
Changes apply immediately to everyone who can see the bar and are saved with the player. Changing a color server-wide from a plugin or mod uses the same waypoint icon data, so the commands above are all a plain server needs.
The 16 named colors
These are the values color <name> and team colors produce. The checker shows which one is closest to a player's default color.
black #000000 dark_blue #0000AA dark_green #00AA00 dark_aqua #00AAAA dark_red #AA0000 dark_purple #AA00AA gold #FFAA00 gray #AAAAAA dark_gray #555555 blue #5555FF green #55FF55 aqua #55FFFF red #FF5555 light_purple #FF55FF yellow #FFFF55 white #FFFFFF Turning the locator bar off, or hiding one player
/gamerule locator_bar falsehides the bar for everyone in the world (1.21.11 and later). On 1.21.6 to 1.21.10 the rule is spelled/gamerule locatorBar false. It is on by default./attribute <player> minecraft:waypoint_transmit_range base set 0stops one player from being shown on anyone's bar. Set it back to60000000to show them again.waypoint_receive_rangedoes the opposite: set it to 0 on a player and their bar goes empty.- Without commands: sneaking, wearing a mob head or a carved pumpkin, and the Invisibility effect all hide a player's dot. Spectators are only visible to other spectators.
How the locator bar works
The bar takes the place of the experience bar and shows every tracked player in the same dimension as a dot whose position matches the direction you would have to turn, up to 60 degrees left or right of where you are looking. A small arrow above or below the dot means the player is higher or lower than you, and the dot gets smaller the further away they are. The bar is hidden for five seconds whenever you gain or lose experience or open an anvil or enchanting table. Players, mobs and armor stands can transmit a waypoint, but out of the box only players do.
Bedrock Edition
Bedrock has had the locator bar since 1.21.90, controlled by the Player waypoints world setting (Everyone or Off). Bedrock does not derive colors from the account: each player gets a random color per session, and there is no /waypoint command, so nothing on this page applies to Bedrock beyond the general behaviour. For Bedrock players joining a Java server through Geyser the Java rules apply, with the color coming from their Floodgate UUID.
FAQ
Why is my locator bar dot this color?
Minecraft Java Edition works the default color out from your account UUID: it takes the Java hashCode of the UUID, uses its low 24 bits as an RGB color, then sets the brightness to 90% so no dot is too dark to see. Your UUID never changes, so the color is the same on every server and every world, unless a team color or a /waypoint command overrides it.
Can I change my locator bar color?
Yes. An operator (or anyone with cheats on) runs /waypoint modify <player> color hex <RRGGBB> for any color, or /waypoint modify <player> color <name> for one of the 16 named colors, and /waypoint modify <player> color reset to go back to the default. Putting players on a team with /team modify <team> color <name> also recolors their dots. Regular players cannot change their own color without one of those.
Why do two players have the same locator bar color?
Usually because they are on the same team, since a team color replaces the UUID color for everyone on it. Without teams the colors only need to look alike: the brightness step puts every dot at the same 90% value, so two players with a similar hue end up with dots that are hard to tell apart on a 9 pixel sprite. Use the compare box above to spot those pairs and give one of them a new color.
How do I hide myself from the locator bar?
Sneak, wear a mob head or a carved pumpkin, or be under the Invisibility effect and your dot disappears for other players. Spectators are only shown to other spectators. An operator can hide one player for good with /attribute <player> minecraft:waypoint_transmit_range base set 0, or turn the bar off for the whole world with /gamerule locator_bar false (locatorBar on 1.21.6 to 1.21.10).
Does Bedrock Edition have a locator bar?
Yes, Bedrock got it in 1.21.90, with a Player waypoints world setting (Everyone or Off). Bedrock colors are picked at random each session instead of coming from the account ID, so there is nothing to calculate: this checker is for Java Edition.
Does the color change when I change my username?
No. The color comes from the UUID, which stays with the account forever, so renaming does nothing. That also means you cannot pick a new color by renaming.
Why does the tool show a raw color and a final color?
The raw color is the low 24 bits of the UUID hash. The game never draws that directly: it converts it to HSV, forces the value to 0.9 and converts it back with rounding, which is the final color the bar shows. Very dark raw colors get brightened a lot, bright ones get dimmed a little, and greys (including pure black) all become #E6E6E6.
Which versions have the locator bar?
Java Edition 1.21.6 (June 2025) and everything after it, including the 26.x releases. The game rule was spelled locatorBar until 1.21.10 and became locator_bar in 1.21.11 when every game rule moved to snake_case. The color formula has not changed since 1.21.6.