Stardew Valley is finally receiving a new update on Android and iOS. The update brings many new features to the game, including new farm types, the new "Desert Festival," additional crops, new Easter eggs, some new items in the shop, and much more. The complete changelog for Stardew Valley v1.6.9 is available on the official website.
Interestingly, it turns out that the new update also brings multiplayer mode to Stardew Valley on Android and iOS. The feature may have gone unnoticed during the rollout, as it is hidden feature. Notably, multiplayer mode is already available on the desktop and console versions of the game.
With the new update, Stardew Valley players on Android and iOS can join a new multiplayer session to farm with their friends, and work together. The addition was detailed in an official blog. The company has given a couple of reasons why the multiplayer mode is hidden in the game. It notes:
It is hidden for a couple of reasons:
1. It’s an experimental feature, so it might still have some bugs or issues.
2. The nature of the mobile platform could make a multiplayer session frustrating, under certain scenarios.
The multiplayer mode on the mobile version of the game works a bit differently though. Firstly, it works over IP, meaning you need to manually enter the IP address for the game you wish to join. So, it is best suited for local networks. But that also means that it can work across devices and platforms.
Mobile multiplayer works pretty much the same as on other platforms, except there is no farm “discovery” capability. You can only connect via IP. You can, however, join a PC-hosted farm from a mobile device via IP.
The ideal “mobile multiplayer” scenario would be to connect to a PC-hosted farm from a high-end mobile device on a local network (using wi-fi, unless you have some way to connect your mobile device to ethernet). This would be the best-case scenario.
Since the multiplayer mode is a hidden feature, it won"t be available on the landing screen of the game. It needs to manually enable. If you wish to access multiplayer mode, then you need to launch the Stardew Valley game on your phone, and input a secret code in the title screen, using the leaves around the "Stardew Valley" logo.
Players need to press each leaf in a particular order, i.e., up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right and finally press the "?" button on the bottom right corner. Check out the image for a better understanding.
After this the "Co-op" button will appear similar to other platforms. You get two options: Host (for hosting a multiplayer session), and Join (to join an already created multiplayer session). You can enter the IP address to join the game.
On the first time on iOS, players will get "a prompt asking for permission to find and connect to other devices on the network," for which you need to press the "Allow" button and then connect to the IP address.