1.8.9^[1] is an update to Minecraft (Java Edition) that was released on December 9, 2015. 1.8.9 is compatible with servers running 1.8 – 1.8.8.

Additions

General

Realms

• Added a Realms Notifications toggle to the Options menu, toggleable to ON and OFF.

Changes

Blocks

Trapped Chest

• Will now change their texture when the computer time is set to the 24th to 26th of December to suit Christmas.

General

Realms

• Better Realms integration.
• New buttons to configure/leave realms without having to select them first.

Fixes

13 issues fixed

From released versions before 1.8

• MC-2324 – Player trapped/cannot get out of flowing water
• MC-17595 – Villages still spawn when "village" is not in the preset
• MC-31577 – Some arrows shot into a block never despawn
• MC-33265 – Words are divided in chat.
• MC-36260 – Nonstandard parts of nonstandard character skin still show with invisibility potion.
• MC-42150 – Christmas trapped chests do not have texture of presents
• MC-47726 – Block breaking animation may occasionally change to a weird color

From the 1.8 development versions

• MC-57016 – Water and lava glitches and shows blocks as if air
• MC-72469 – Fence gate smooth lighting inconsistent

From the current version, hotfixed

• MC-94199 – Realms crash when using arrow keys on advertisement page.
• MC-94467 – When closing a world on Realms, the world remains on closing and players could not switch to the same world or another world.
• MC-94651 – Ampersand will trim realm name and description.
• MC-94820 – Realms: an error occurred (401): invalid session id.

Video

Video made by slicedlime:

Trivia

• Despite this version having fewer features and being unsupported (like Java Edition 1.7.10), it is still popular among minigame players and plugin servers, due to a common dislike of 1.9 features such as the Combat Update's changes to PvP, and also the instability on newer versions.
• This was the last release to be compatible with a previous server version, until 1.16.5.
• This version was released on the same day as 15w50a.
• 1.8.9 was the last version to be released during the snapshot process of the next major update until 1.16.5.
• This is the last version to have the Twitch integration services.
  • This is also the last version to have the Super Secret Settings option.
• 1.8.9 has the longest wait for a minor update to Java Edition, with 134 days having elapsed since the release of 1.8.8 on July 28, 2015.

References