Minecraft: Here’s How To Open the F3 Menu on a Mac

The F3 menu is likely one of the most valuable pieces of in-game menus that a Minecraft player could want. It can make a world of difference if you can utilize its power to the fullest extent. Java Edition users enjoy it more than other players, though Mac users have it differently than Windows users. So, how do you open the F3 menu on a Mac?
Cheating or not: The F3 menu
Cheating is defined as gaining an unfair advantage in a game over other players. You likely wouldn’t want anyone to know that you are cheating if you are, and cheating has been prevalent in games, not just online video games, either.
Perhaps if you ever played a poker game, you wanted to cheat your way into winning, or perhaps, you saw the opportunity to cheat in a game of bridge or rummy. Online games, especially FPS shooters, are filled with hackers and people using hacks to win games and rank up faster than they should.
Cheating in an esport at an official event also happened numerous times, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone if cheating were part of Minecraft, but there’s a difference.
Minecraft is a game that lets you choose your own conditions for playing the game. The only time something would be considered cheating is if you’re playing on a multiplayer server and are using hacks like Kill Aura to be the last man standing if, for example, you’re playing a PvP mini-game.
The F3 menu is available to anyone, so it’s not cheating if you know how to use the information it provides to its fullest extent. Anyone can learn this and, in the end, use it, so why don’t they
It’s far easier to cheat in Minecraft since modding is so easy and popular, but I don’t think it is cheating if we’re talking about the F3 menu specifically.
Bedrock Edition and the F3 menu
Of course, not everyone would agree that the F3 menu is not cheating. Let’s look at Bedrock Edition Minecraft, whose players might be more motivated to think it is cheating.
Why would they, though? Well, it’s because the F3 menu is not available to Bedrock Edition users. Although the debug screen does, in fact, exist in developer mode, the average player just can’t access it.
If you were to play Minecraft as a Java Edition user with someone who’s a Bedrock Edition user, then yes, it would be cheating, but how can you blame someone when the debug screen has been a programmed feature of Minecraft ever since it first came out?
Whatever your opinion on Minecraft’s debug screen, let’s look at what the debug screen can help you with.
What the F3 menu can help you with
the F3 menu won’t just help you with your gameplay. It can also help you gain valuable insight into the state of the game in terms of FPS and how much RAM the game uses. You can easily allocate more or less to the game and polish up your settings to make the game run smoother. Let’s look at what a beginner using the F3 menu can do with it.
Coordinates – this is likely the biggest reason anyone uses the F3 menu. Getting lost in Minecraft is easy, and writing out the coordinates and knowing how to use them to navigate the vast world of Minecraft can help you a ton in the beginning stages of the game and later on.
FPS – You don’t need to download a special FPS counter when the game already provides you with one. The numbers show the current and the average framerate while in-game.
Client Light – If you ever tried to spawn proof an area only to be surprised by a group of mobs attacking where you expected to have been safe, it’s time to use the f3 menu to inspect your client light. It’ll show the current client light on the block you’re standing on.
RAM Allocation – If you’re slightly more tech-savvy than the average Joe, you can look at the right side of the F3 menu and check out how much RAM is allocated to Minecraft and how much it is effectively used to change it up if you need to.
Targeted Block – Although it’s pretty obvious what type of block you’re looking at most, for beginners, it might not be so clear all the time. You can also use the targeted block section to discover if diamonds are hidden under lava.
Alternatives to opening the F3 menu on a Mac
As most games do, Minecraft also gives you the option to change up your controls if you need or want to. To do so, enter the ‘Settings’ menu while in-game by pressing ESC and heading to ‘Controls. ‘ You should look for the debug screen; this is also how you can check how you can open the debug screen on your device.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!