Summary
- The App Store offers a wide variety of mobile games for iPhone users, covering different genres and price points.
- Pricing and genre are important factors to consider when choosing a new mobile game to play.
- Despite the limiting form factor, iPhone games of all genres, including racing, platforming, puzzle, and action adventure, can be incredibly fun.
The Apple App store has many amazing mobile games available for playing on the iPhone, covering nearly every gaming genre there is. From the action of Mario Kart Tour to the puzzles of Candy Crush, there is something for everyone to enjoy right there on the phone. The industry of video games has come a long way in the past couple of decades, making boredom-busting games much more accessible.
Games on the iPhone are sometimes free, sometimes have a one-time cost, often have microtransactions, and sometimes require a subscription, such as with the Apple Arcade game subscription program. When picking a new mobile game to play, it is good to consider pricing as well as the type of genre that sounds appealing. Below are 15 of the best iPhone games covering multiple genres and price points to consider trying out right now or downloading for the next long wait.
15 Clash Royale (Real-Time Card Battle Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Clash Royale is a real-time strategy multiplayer game that uses the characters of another beloved mobile game, Clash of Clans. In Clash Royale, the goal is to defeat opponents by knocking their King and Princesses off of towers using collectible card game mechanics. While playing, cards featuring troops, spells, defenses, and even Baby Dragons are collected and upgraded to then play in battle.
14 Shop Titans (RPG Shopkeeper Simulation Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Sure, adventuring can be fun, but it can be just as fun to decorate, stock, and run a shop in a fantasy city. In Shop Titans, players get to start with just a little shop and work to build it into a thriving store that could even attract the king of the land. Collect resources, send heroes out on quests for loot and materials, upgrade displays, decorate, and more. Player guilds can be a fun way to connect with others and help support a village as well, where everyone can work together to upgrade the town and help each other out.
13 Secret Cat Forest (Collecting Idle Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Secret Cat Forest is an idle game where players gain resources like wood and fish and then craft furniture for a house. As more furniture is created, cats will appear and unlock profiles for each of them to give more information on their personalities. It is a calming and relaxing idle game where many things happen in the background, requiring less time commitment.
12 Candy Crush Soda Saga (Match-3 Puzzle Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
The name Candy Crush is one of the most well-known in the mobile gaming market and offers a fun and highly addictive match-three puzzle game experience. Candy Crush Soda Saga is one of the most popular versions in the franchise, giving new challenges and features from the original to keep things fresh. For those dedicated enough to have multiple match-three games on their iPhone, Candy Crush Soda Saga is designed to be played alongside Candy Crush Saga, although that is not necessary.
11 Hearthstone (Collectible Card Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Hearthstone
- Franchise
- Warcraft
- Platform(s)
- Mobile, PC
- Released
- March 11, 2014
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, Digital Card Game
- ESRB
- T
Developed by Blizzard Entertainment, Hearthstone is a virtual collectible card game set in the universe of World of Warcraft. It is a turn-based card game with quick rounds that let players collect cards and make decks with a Hero card that has a unique power at its center. It is simple to learn, but difficult to master with many different types of strategies that can be employed.
10 Oddmar (Platforming Action-Adventure Game)
$4.99 On The App Store
Oddmar won the Apple Design Award for 2018 and is a beautifully hand-crafted platforming adventure with 24 levels that have physics-based puzzles. The game does not have any microtransactions and is a one-time purchase of $4.99 on the App Store to download and play. It takes players along on a journey as Oddmar the Viking must prove himself to his fellow Vikings and earn his place in Valhalla.
9 Monument Valley (Puzzle Game)
$3.99 With Optional $1.99 DLC Purchase
Monument Valley is a beautifully crafted puzzle experience that is available on the Apple App Store for $3.99 with optional DLC that provides eight more chapters for another $1.99. Winner of the Apple Game Of The Year in 2014, Monument Valley sees a silent princess work through a puzzling world of impossible architecture, secrets, and optical illusions.
8 Among Us! (Social Deduction Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Among Us
- Platform(s)
- PC, Mobile, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
- Released
- June 15, 2018
- Developer(s)
- InnerSloth
- Genre(s)
- Social Deduction, party
- ESRB
- 10+
Among Us is a game about Impostors, backstabbing, and social deduction as groups of anywhere from four to 15 players work on a spaceship, some of whom are Impostors there for sabotage and murder. Whether a simple Crewmate or a cunning Impostor, the game focuses more on social interactions and deception than on any game mechanics.
7 Genshin Impact (Open-World ARPG)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Genshin Impact
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4, iOS, PC, Android, PlayStation 5
- Released
- September 28, 2020
- Developer(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
- Genre(s)
- Action, RPG, Open-World
- ESRB
- T
Genshin Impact is an action RPG game with a massive open-world experience full of quests, monsters, and intriguing stories. It can be played with friends across many different platforms and offers an action-based battle system with elemental magic and four interchangeable characters in a player party.
Genshin Impact is online-only, so an internet connection is required to play.
6 Warcraft Rumble (Action Strategy Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Warcraft Rumble
- Franchise
- Warcraft
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS
- Released
- November 3, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Action, Free-to-Play, Strategy
- ESRB
- E
Another Blizzard game set in the universe of World of Warcraft, Warcraft Rumble is an action strategy game where cute and cartoony minis come to life to battle in short skirmishes. The game has multiple modes, including PvP battles against friends or a single player campaign experience. Collect minis to add to the army and upgrade troops to help win the battles.
5 Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Simulation Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Nintendo’s Animal Crossing franchise comes to the iPhone with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. This calming and simple game takes all the joys of Animal Crossing by talking to animal friends, decorating, fishing, and more and puts it in a fun mobile version. Pocket Camp lets players run their own campsite where NPC friends can come visit and hang out.
4 Marvel Snap (Collectible Card Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Marvel SNAP
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Platform(s)
- iOS, Android, PC
- Released
- October 18, 2022
- Developer(s)
- Second Dinner
- Publisher(s)
- Nuverse
- Genre(s)
- Digital Card Game
- ESRB
- E
Marvel Snap is another virtual card game experience with cross-platform play and short, 3-minute long games. Players put together decks of 12 cards of Marvel characters and strategically outwit their opponents. There are hundreds of character cards to collect, and the game offers many cosmetics, events, season challenges, and more to keep players coming back.
3 Pokémon GO (Augmented Reality Collecting Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Pokémon GO
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS
- Released
- July 6, 2016
- Developer(s)
- The Pokemon Company, Nintendo, Niantic
- Publisher(s)
- Niantic, Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- Augmented Reality, RPG
- ESRB
- E
Pokémon GO is an augmented reality mobile game that takes advantage of an iPhone’s location tracking and mapping technology to create an appearance of having Pokémon characters appear in real locations nearby. It is designed to encourage players to get outside and go for walks, even offering weekly and monthly events and challenges.
2 Hello Kitty Island Adventure (Life Simulation Game)
Requires Subscription To Apple Arcade
Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Franchise
- Hello Kitty
- Platform(s)
- iOS
- Released
- July 28, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Sunblink
- Publisher(s)
- Sanrio, Sunblink
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Simulation
- ESRB
- E
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a relaxing experience of restoring an abandoned island with the help of Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. There is a large island to explore in addition to underwater areas and all of it has puzzles, challenges, and mysterious treasures to find. Players build friendships with characters in the game through doing small quests for them to then gain additional story and resources. It is currently only available on the Apple Arcade subscription service.
1 Mario Kart Tour (Kart Racing Game)
Free Download With Optional Microtransactions
Mario Kart comes to the iPhone with Mario Kart Tour, exclusive for mobile devices. Featuring the familiar Nintendo characters and tracks, alongside new tracks inspired by real-world locations, the kart racing game is optimized for an iPhone experience. Unfortunately, the optional microtransactions can feel necessary if the game is played often, but the fun of having Mario Kart so easily accessible and the multiplayer experience it gives makes this game one of the best on the iPhone today.
Sources: App Store (1, 2), Apple Arcade
