iPadOS - Minecraft refused to host on LAN until after full restore

Minecraft wouldn't host a world on LAN until I fully restored it. In case you don't know what "restore" means, it's the term used for completely erasing all data from an iOS/iPadOS device. The only way that I could resolve this bug was by completely wiping my device. Obviously I made a backup, but iTunes didn't save it properly, so it's corrupted. Fun.

 

The steps are below, if this bug affects you. Before following them, please check Settings > Minecraft, and if "Allow Tracking" is an option, don't follow the first set of steps. Instead, skip to the second set, and start from Step 3. If that doesn't work, then forget I said that and start from the first set of steps.

1. Open a world on the faulty device
2. On another device, open the Friends tab
3. It's not there

What I expected to happen:

• The world was visible to other devices

What actually happened:

• The world was not visible to other devices

 

1. Back up everything, through iTunes AND by copying your local files onto another device and/or an online file service
2. Completely restore the device (Not from the backup just yet)
3. Go into the Settings app, find Minecraft, and turn "Allow Tracking" ON (if the option isn't there, you probably skipped Step 2)
4. Open a world on the faulty device
5. Turn "Allow Tracking" back OFF
6. Open a world on the faulty device
7. On another device, open the Friends tab
8. After 1-3 tries, it should be there

I have no idea if it would continue to work properly if you were able to successfully restore the iTunes backup. Considering the fact that it appears to have something to do with an option that only appeared AFTER I restored the device, it would probably cease to work again after restoring the backup.

What I expected to happen:

• The world, to my dismay, was still not visible to other devices

What actually happened:

• The world was now visible to other devices

The issue seems to have something to do with the tracking option, if I had to take an educated guess. When this bug is present, while the world will sometimes appear even if tracking is enabled (unless the option doesn't even appear in settings, in which it absolutely won't), it will typically fail to show up. If tracking is disabled, it has a much higher chance of actually working.

The tracking option did not appear in Settings before I restored the device.

Note: I am logged into XBL.

"Local Network" has always been enabled, and multiplayer settings are set up correctly for each world tested.