The first update to Minecraft Earth since the closed beta was announced has been released today. Users who have been lucky enough to have access to the closed beta can download this update from testflight.

This update brings the Minecraft Earth IPA size down from 351mb to 293mb – A dramatic size difference. From initial inspection this was removing old and unnecessary files from the app – since it is based on Minecraft PE there can be a lot of leftover code. This is the first step in readying the app for release.

Additionally, to this, we have seen the addition of a few new things inside this release of the app. This includes tweaks to the mobs like the muddy pig with adding more animations to this mob.

Tweaks to the UI appear to be happening soon with the addition of icons for the Challenges, Crafting and Smelting UI – These are additions that were not in the app previously and points to these features being available soon if not now.

We see the addition of texts related to Smelting and Crafting – You may need to progress in your skill tree to access these. This feature appears to be limited and you may only be able to craft or smelt a set amount of items at a time. Rather than building crafting tables or furnaces, these are restricted and it will take time to craft/smelt items.

To speed up crafting or smelting you will be required to spend rubies – the in-game currency.

Along with many other tweaks and tidy ups to the app we can see this as a big push towards release. Making the app smaller and tidying up all the excess data inside the app is a good indicator that they are readying the app for release. We hope this is a sign that we are getting the app sooner rather than later.