Starting on November 22, 2013[1], Mojang began to publicly release testing versions of full updates to Android users who opt into the beta program, in order to get major feedback, especially for bug reporting. This enabled the official updates to be considerably more stable.
To download the beta builds, you must apply for entry into the Minecraft PE Test Community on Google Plus. One of the Pocket Edition developers will then let you access these updates. Development updates appear as normal updates in the Play Store. As SMP only works with devices of the same version, using the pre-release means that you can only enter servers who have the same development build. If you decide to opt-out of the testing, you can do so on the Google Play beta opt-out page, and the official release of Minecraft Pocket Edition can be installed to your device again.
0.8.0[]
Version
Release date
Summary of changes
0.8.0 alpha build 8
December 6, 2013
Tweaks
Improved Signs and Chests synchronization lag in multiplayer
Sand and Gravel now spawn resources when falling on torches, etc
Fixed Bugs
Fixed clients placing the wrong block type in multiplayer
Fixed double chests becoming unpaired
Added back hurt and fire color overlay for mobs
Fixed minecarts not being able to go all the way from bedrock to sea level (stopping at level 32)
The chest inventory now refreshes when two players change the content at the same time
0.8.0 alpha build 7
December 5, 2013
Tweaks
Moved Grey Wool in the right inventory slot
Ice is not transparent anymore in the toolbar
Wooden tools can now burn
Added UI message when boarding minecarts
Removed useless D-pad arrows when in minecarts
Powered Rails are powered in hand and in the inventory
AI performance improvements
Fixed Bugs
Fixed text input on Android
Fixed spruce and birch leaves being swapped
Fixed furnace side texture
Fixed sandstone slab side texture
Fixed red hurt overlay skeletons and chickens
Fixed an artifact over the flame in the Furnace Screen
Tnt doesn’t send you into orbit anymore
Fixed Armor slots having no health bar
Fixed autojumping while in minecarts
Fixed falling into the ground exiting a minecart that’s on rails
Known Bugs
No UI information about how to get out of minecarts
Not removing disconnected player correctly (known since 0.7)
Hearts now don't show if joining while animal is already in love
Minecarts end up in walls in a very specific rail configuration
There is no item pick up animation
TNT doesn't destroy some kinds of blocks, in some worlds
0.8.0 alpha build 6
December 2, 2013
No official changelog
Tweaks
Added Cobweb to Creative
Fixed Bugs
Can write on Android 4.3 and custom keyboards
Known Bugs
Igniting TNT or Creeper cause player walk on the air
No UI information about how to get out of minecarts
Not removing disconnected player correctly (known since 0.7)
Hearts now don't show if joining while animal is already in love
Minecarts end up in walls in a very specific rail configuration
There is no item pick up animation
TNT doesn't destroy some kinds of blocks, in some worlds
0.8.0 alpha build 5
November 29, 2013
Tweaks
Grass tiles now spawns tallgrass when used with bonemeal
Pumpkin and melon stems only grow by one when fertilized
Flowers now spawn other flowers when Bone Meal is used
Flower position is now randomized
Bone Meal now grows sugar canes to max height
Minecart now ride smoother
Fixed Bugs
Falling into ground when jumping out of minecarts
Jungle leaves texture
White wool texture
TNT making chests and signs black
Player having multiple legs in minecarts (when wearing armor)
Flint and steel had durability in Creative
Eating spawning the wrong food particles
Upside down wood slabs dropped the wrong wood slab
Clients gets the correct items while spawning in creative
Suffocation is now correctly rendered
Mobs not spawning in survival
Axe and hoe are no longer upside down in third person
Eating animation
Entities received sky light while indoor
Blocks were highlighted while in menus
Sheep had black artifacts on legs
Lava replaced stillwater without creating stone
Falling sand made entities black
Clouds were not changing color fast enough
In the furnace, the item being cooked was not greyed out
The breaking blocks cracks where to bright
Creepers were too small
Stairs and Slabs were placed upside down when placed on top snow
Carpets was not removed by water
Signs on walls were casting shadows
Some additional memory issues
Fixed GUI issues
Known Bugs
No UI information about how to get out of minecarts
Not removing disconnected player correctly (known since 0.7)
Hearts now don't show if joining while animal is already in love
No text input on Android 4.3
TNT doesn't destroy some kinds of blocks, in some worlds
Animals in water can cause heavy lag
0.8.0 alpha build 4
November 27, 2013
Tweaks
Lava and fire now trigger TNT much more aggressively
Added a version watermark to help us tell the build from screenshots
Faster switching from background on Android
Potatoes and carrots aren't dropped anymore by tilling grass
In Creative, players stop being on fire as soon as they exit fire/lava
Added red carpets to Survival crafting menu
Fixed Bugs
Fixed torch and glowstone making the Armor screen dark
Fixed player being hurt making the Armor screen dark
Fixed the armor screen and furnace screen showing random textures and crashing
Fixed a crash in the Manage Realms section
Added baked potato description
Added charcoal description
Fixed typo in iron bars description
Added carpet description
Fixed arrow smoke being very fast when the arrow is stuck
Fixed top cactus texture
Fixed bed and death screen showing garbage
Fixed chest screen showing garbage on the background
Fixed underwater and under lava fog
Pigs now breed with beets, carrots and potatoes
Chickens now breed with any seed
Fixed crash when picking up an arrow on fire
Fixed minecarts jittering when going up/down slopes
Mostly fixed minecart synchronization in multiplayer
Hopefully fixed the infamous garbage graphics bug
Removed one bone meal from the Creative inventory
Known Bugs
GUI Bugs (Known until build 2)
Graphic error sometimes
Version Tag shown always
Duplicate of Bone Meal in Creative Inventory
0.8.0 alpha build 3
November 26, 2013
Tweaks
Added Shears to creative
Added Dyes to creative
Added Bedrock to creative
Spiders are way slower
Potatoes, beet seeds and carrots now pop from grass with a 1/15 chance each
Remade Painting rendering which was completely forgotten
Thrown eggs now spawn small chicken
Rails are now dropped when the tile they rest on is destroyed
Changed the flow of Inventory -> Armor / Crafting screens so that back goes back to Inventory
Fixed Bugs
Fixed whole world turning dark on non-fancy when hitting a mob
Fixed entities turning dark when a Painting was in view
Fixed time not passing in Survival in 0.7 worlds
Fixed worlds not loading anymore if they contained a riding mob
Fixed minecarts crashing the game when destroyed
Fixed bad graphical glitches in the Armor screen
Fixed an issue with the reloading system
Hopefully fixed the huge random garbage in the world
Fixed disappearing snowballs
Fixed disappearing minecarts
Fixed disappearing eggs
Fixed menu disappearing after losing focus of the app
Fixed sheep not being dyable
The gold shovel has now the correct icon
Leather armor has the correct icon set
Fixed minecart having wrong/no lighting
Fixed invisible signs
Fixed sideway logs having wrong texture direction
Fixed sideway logs popping a “sideway log item”
Fixed jittering on crafting screen
Fixed sword & other items missing a row of pixels
Fixed bedrock having randomly rotated texture
Fixed particles catching fire and spawning other particles thus crashing the game
Paintings have no shadows anymore
Fixed flint and steel having durability in creative
Fixed redstone dust color
Fixed sandstone slab textures
Fixed clouds drawing behind the world when over them
Fixed water not rendering in front of clouds
Known Bugs
Minecarts jittering on clients
No UI information about how to get out of minecarts
Not removing disconnected player correctly (known since 0.7)
Hearts now don't show if joining while animal is already in love
No text input on Android 4.3
Minecarts end up in walls in a very specific rail configuration
Arrows on fire have a very strange effect
When non fancy, items in the menu can have a black background
Minecarts jitter a lot when going up and down slopes
Double chest inventory has graphical glitches
TNT is not ignited by fire and lava
When in a cart that's destroyed, the player is placed in the ground
There is now underwater fog
There is no item pick up animation
TNT doesn't destroy some kinds of blocks, in some worlds
Animals in water can cause heavy lag
The tile overlay for when your head is inside a block is glitched
0.8.0 alpha build 2
November 22, 2013
Separated far and near chunks in two queues for performance reasons
Fog only on far chunks
Transparency only on near chunks
Alpha-test-only layers are hidden in far chunks
Made the torch an opaque block
Mipmaps (iOS only)
3D clouds with new tessellation algorithm
New texture atlas and texture generator script
Refactored OpenGL usage to avoid costly state leaks (eg. animals aren’t alpha tested anymore)
Far rendering distance
New defaults and changed options
Added far (256) and farthest (400) rendering distances
Removed smooth lighting (now always on)
Fancy is now default on
Default rendering distance is now far
Refactored most of the rendering to use indexed VBOs
Remade arrow model
Inventory is now rendered using cached VBOs
New sky rendering using a triangle fan
New colors and textures
Brought all textures from pc (eg. gravel)
New grass color
New sky color
New water color in the distance
Water fades to non-transparent in the distance (iOS)