Minecraft PE is fun and easy to pick up.
Its freedom of movement and its world are a large part of the appeal, but the game was still evolving and received frequent updates.
Updates added new features and fixed bugs.
However, an update could also introduce a bug of its own.
Version 1.2.9, which had recently been released when I wrote this article, contained a particularly serious one.
It prevented me from moving a whole stack of items at once.
Even when moving blocks from a chest into my inventory, I had to tap repeatedly.
Preparing materials for a building project took far too long.
So this time, I am recording the temporary workaround I used.
Update on February 26, 2018: the bug still appeared to be present in v1.2.10.
Update on March 20, 2018: it finally appeared to be fixed in v1.2.11.
Minecraft PE v1.2.9 Had a Serious Bug
Minecraft PE was updated to v1.2.9 on January 16, 2018.
Each version seemed to have some kind of bug, so entering my world after an update always made me a little nervous.
This time, I found a serious problem almost as soon as I started moving around.
### Switching the UI Profile to Classic as a Workaround
After entering the world, I opened a chest to take out the items I needed before heading out.
That was when something felt wrong.
Before the update, holding down on a stack of blocks would move the whole stack.
That no longer worked.
Whether I was moving items from a chest to my inventory or the other way around, holding down should have displayed a progress bar and transferred the stack.
Without that function, inventory management became extremely inconvenient.
I tried restarting the game, but the bug showed no sign of going away.
Not being able to move stacks was so inconvenient that it took away my desire to keep playing.
Then I thought of changing the UI profile.
The default setting was "Pocket."
I changed the UI profile to "Classic."
Opening the chest after switching to Classic changed the screen to the layout shown above.
With this layout, I could move an entire stack by tapping the block I wanted to move and then tapping an empty slot in the destination inventory.
I no longer needed to hold it down.
Moving only one item from a stack was slightly more troublesome.
I could separate items one by one by tapping the stack and then dragging across empty inventory slots.
That was my emergency workaround for this bug.
Changing the controls made the game harder to use at first, but after getting used to the Classic profile, I found it surprisingly convenient.
Still, having the bug fixed quickly would have been the best solution.
Update on February 26, 2018: I checked again after v1.2.10 was released, but the bug still appeared to be present.
Update on March 20, 2018: I confirmed that it was finally fixed in v1.2.11.
Although the problem was fixed in v1.2.11, I had already grown used to the Classic UI profile, so I continued using it.
I later wrote more about why the Classic UI profile felt more convenient than Pocket.