I just bought the Java edition, my friends sent me a link to his realm and when I click on realms a get a page asking me to buy realms or start a trail. The play button is greyed out. I was under the assumption I could play free because I don't own the realm. Am I missing something?
This report is probably a duplicate of REALMS-2288. Are you sure that your friend correctly invited you to the realm? According to this comment on REALMS-2288, the pop-up appears when you neither are invited to a realm nor own a realm.