[jbm]

Another point for Geyser and Floodgate.

I have Minecraft on iOS, as well as two Java licenses. You can have both mixed on the same server if you are using Paper with Floodgate and Geyser. It's great; my younger child can use iOS, while my elder kids can use the java licenses on their computers.

[__jonas]

Interesting, does that mean the different editions have feature parity now? I remember it used to be that the Java Edition was ahead of Bedrock with some game features and the phone version had way less content – is that no longer the case or are these server plugins disabling some game features?

[atomicnumber3]

I think they have some drift in between versions (java lands first), but aside from that, they're extremely similar and only differ in what essentially amounts to quirks rather than actual gameplay differences. So no, you're not typically going to really notice the differences.

[tehbeard]

Bedrock still lacks in capability for the offhand slot due to having to support tablet UI, only a select few items can be used in it.

Bedrock also has a different combat model that lacks the indicators java has.

A comprehensive list is here: https://minecraft.wiki/w/Minecraft_Wiki:Parity_issue_list

[siegecraft]

Constantly updating geyser to keep it up to date with the most recent bedrock versions is quite a pain. Maybe paper has tools to automate these updates (I use fabric) but it seems unlikely.

[Badbird5907]

Geyser/any third-party plugin isn't by the paper team, so they wouldn't have tools to auto update. (they also generally discourage auto-updating any software/plugins). There are plugins available to update geyser automatically though, here's one: https://www.spigotmc.org/resources/geyserupdater.88555/