Can me and my boyfriend play cross-platform?

So me and my boyfriend(long distance) wanted to play Minecraft together but it doesn't let us. I have a Mac and he has a Windows 10, I dont think that has to do with anything. Anyways we have tried everything to the point where I had to download a vpn, watched videos, whole bunch of things and we still cant play together. He said it was on my side that it was the firewall but its off.Help me please!!

We both have Java edition

Solution 1:

On Minecraft Java edition, the version that works on MacOS, Windows, and Linux, the best way to play together is with a server: This one by my friend Darthvader1925 or this one by my friend SuperPowers04 & the MinecraftHopper team. These do require Port forwarding or a tunneling service like playit.gg or Ngrok, to allow the other person to connect. If you cannot do these things for yourself, or just want a simpler solution, you can also use aternos or Minehut, who will do the hard part of hosting the server and leave you to just join and play! If he is on Bedrock, then you must use Geyser, but that is beyond the scope of this Stack.

Happy crafting!