2022-12-11
Minecraft 1.16.4 now offers the ability to mut individual players as part of the new social interactions screen. This is the first pre-release version. Vanilla Java Edition was not able to mut specific players, but now the social interactions screen will make it possible to "hide chat from someone who is being a bit rotten potato".
To see a complete list of players on the server, tap P by default. To hide chat messages, you can tap the button right next to any player's names. As Mojang's Mikael "slicedlime" Hedberg explained on Reddit, the mute is client-side. It will reset when you log out. He says that the team has many ideas and is open to receiving feedback from players and guardians of younger players.
The remainder of the update consists mainly of technical changes. This includes a new network protocol scheme which will be virtually invisible to anyone who isn't building their own Minecraft servers.
The video below gives a brief overview of all the new features. The snapshot can be downloaded directly from the Minecraft launcher.
You can find more information on Caves and Cliffs before the 1.17 release date. Producer Adrian Ostergard stated last week that 1.16.4 would be available soon.