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The 30 Best iPhone Games

Immerse yourself in a world of fun. From casual match-three games to trivia to intense first-person shooters, our 30 best games for Apple's iPhone span a range of genres.

Jordan Minor
 & Jordan Minor Principal Writer, Software

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    Contents

    Games can challenge us, sparking our problem-solving skills into action, and they can relax us. They make us laugh, and let us connect with friends. They let us burn off steam when we're frustrated or angry, and sometimes we even learn something about ourselves through playing them. If you have an Apple iPhone you can use games for all these purposes, no matter where you are.

    The 30 best games for the iPhone that made this list span a range of genres, and that's intentional. Games can and should be something everyone can enjoy. If first-person shooters aren't your thing, rest assured you'll find plenty of games on this list that will still spark your interest. And if FPS is indeed the name of the game for you, well, we have a few of those to recommend as well.

    Since we last updated this list, some of the best iPhone games of all time have been released. It's a great time to be an iOS gamer, thanks to a wealth of great titles across multiple genres. The platform has matured to a point where the premium games, the games that respect your time and provide quality experiences without asking for cash every hour, have arrived, too. You just have to look for them, and be willing to spend a few dollars up front. There are plenty of great, non-exploitative, free-to-play games, too. Seeing the strong state of iOS gaming also gives us hope for the nascent Apple Watch gaming scene.

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    If you're a video game fan who has played all the games on this list, we highly recommend 22 Games for Smart People, a list compiled by some of the video game industry's most influential figures, including id Software founder John Romero and Harvey Smith, who earned his chops designing Deus Ex.

    Note that the games on this list are not ranked in order of excellence but instead appear in alphabetical order. Without further ado, here are the 30 best iPhone games. You can either navigate the story via the slideshow or in a multipage layout. We'll be updating this list from time to time, so be sure to tell us about your favorite iPhone games in the comments section.

    For iOS app coverage, check out the 100 Best iPhone Apps and the 50 Best Free iPhone Apps.

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    About Our Expert

    Jordan Minor

    Jordan Minor

    Principal Writer, Software

    My PCMag career began in 2013 as an intern. Now, I'm a senior writer, using the skills I acquired at Northwestern University to write about dating apps, meal kits, programming software, website builders, video streaming services, and video games. I was previously a senior editor at Geek.com and have written for The A.V. Club, Kotaku, and Paste Magazine. I'm the author of the gaming history book Video Game of the Year: A Year-by-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977, and the reason everything you know about Street Sharks is a lie.

    The Technology I Use

    I use the newest Android and iOS smartphones for testing, but I currently use an iPhone 14 as my personal phone. I just hate that we gave up headphone jacks.

    I've always favored gaming laptops over desktops. On that note, I have a 16-inch HP Envy with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. No matter what machine I’m working on, an alarming amount of my personal and professional life revolves around cloud-synced Google Drive files.

    For food subscriptions, my household sticks with CookUnity and HelloFresh for meals. Video streaming is a bit more complicated. While there are too many services to list, we're subscribed to most of the major ones. These days, I find myself drawn to HBO Max's movies and shows, as well as Peacock's reality trash.

    I've been a lifelong Nintendo fan, and I sincerely believe the Nintendo Switch will go down as one of the best gaming consoles of all time. It has an unbelievable library of new and old games from Nintendo and third-party companies. The handheld/console hybrid approach makes playing games so much more flexible, a legacy that continues with the Nintendo Switch 2 and Valve’s Steam Deck.

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