With the power of the best iPhone in your hands, you now have access to games on the same level as the best PS5 games and best Xbox Series X games. Sure, the iPhone may not be marketed as a gaming phone specifically, but it is still powerful enough to play console-level games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the Resident Evil 4 remake. Sadly, the app store is still full of cheap cash-grab games that are a complete waste of time. While you could go digging through the store yourself, we went through the trouble for you by playtesing hundreds of games to create this curated list of the best iPhone games for 2025. Most of our picks here are also the best Android games, though that platform does have plenty of other options to check out.
Most, if not all, of the titles we are recommending will work on any iPhone that has iOS 17 on it, which goes as far back as the iPhone XS. If you’re still on iOS 15 or 16, then you should also be fine with these titles.
There are more free games than paid games on iPhone, so we spent a lot of time weeding through them all to come up with the top 10 free iPhone games.
All of these games can be played for free, but expect them all to include microtransactions or gate off certain content behind paywalls.
A lot of iPhone games are targeted at children, but we adults can find some more mature and complex games to sink our teeth into as well.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
If you know you will be somewhere without service or on a flight, you will want to make sure you have a few offline iPhone games you can play even without service.
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Putting aside when the game came out and how much it costs, and solely focusing on how good the games are, we have ranked the best iPhone games of all time. These are the games we keep installed at all times and are confident you will too once you give them a shot.
If any of those game titles piqued your interest but you want to know a bit more about why we think so highly of them, here is every game mentioned above and why we love it.
If you like your survival horror games played from the first-person perspective, the latest entry in the franchise has also come to iPhone. Resident Evil Village is a direct sequel to Biohazard and introduces a new cast of chilling villains that are sure to leave a lasting impression on you. This is one of the more action-heavy games in the series, which is a blast to play multiple times to unlock new weapons and extras.
Metroidvanias are a perfect fit for mobile devices, so it only makes sense to play the game that invented the genre. Symphony of the Night stars Alucard as he explores the deadly and unpredictable castle. The pixel art looks amazing on an Android screen, and the controls are simple enough to be usable with the touchscreen if you don’t have a controller handy. If you haven’t played this iconic and legendary game, there’s no excuse now that you can play it anywhere.
One of the best mobile ports out there, Rocket League Sideswipe is also one of the most satisfying 2D games that we’ve played in the past few years. This fantastic free game captures all the charm of the original, which means you still have to furiously ram cars against a giant ball to taste sweet, sweet victory in this car-fueled soccer frenzy. The floating movement physics in the game will really test your maneuver timing and dodging skills, the neon-filled visuals are eye candy, and the soundtrack is worth enjoying on its own. The controls are joyfully responsive, and whether you’re engaged in a 1v1 or 2vs2 duel, you won’t find yourself bored at any point in the game. Rocket League Sideswipe is an absolute blast, and if you have a controller lying around, then it’s even better.
Spaceteam is a bit like Among Us, but more focused on chaotic co-operation rather than sussing out a traitor. You and your friends all have control panels on a spaceship to manage, but you all get instructions for the other players instead of yourself. This leads to everyone trying to talk over one another to set dials, turn cranks, and press buttons before your ship crashes.
Pokémon Unite is a 5-on-5 team battle where you team up with friends and other players from around the world to see who can score the most points. Working together to beat the other team is key, and you can communicate with your team through quick chat messages, signals, and voice chat. Ensure your Pokémon are stylish and ready for battle in a variety of Holowear, then take on the other team in Unite Battles, where you can use Unite Moves, all-new Pokémon moves only available during these battles. As your skills improve, battle in ranked matches to top the leaderboard. Pokémon Unite is free to play and cross-platform, so you can play with friends on mobile or Switch.
Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient & Medieval History, which obviously makes him a shoo-in to write about technology for a living. He currently contributes to the Mobile section on Digital Trends, with a particular emphasis and expertise on exploring the weirder side of smartphones, from tiny rugged phones to massive gaming phones. You'll most often find him seeking out leaks and rumors on upcoming devices, and playing with a variety of new apps for both Android and iOS.
Christine Romero-Chan has been writing about technology, specifically Apple, for over a decade. She graduated from California State University Long Beach with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications, and her byline has appeared on sites like iMore, MakeUseOf, AppAdvice, Lifehacker, MacLife, and more. While her speciality has been all things Apple, especially the iPhone, she loves technology in general. Before the iPhone, she enjoyed seeing the latest innovations in the mobile space, from BlackBerry to the Palm Pre. Though she's been using an iPhone for the past 14 years, she is open to dabbling with Android and other mobile platforms, which is why she's here at Digital Trends.
Christine's other interests include mechanical keyboards (the superior typing experience), mobile photography, lots of coffee, food, Star Wars, a lot of animated series, and gaming. She's also based in Southern California, so she takes advantage of this by being a Disneyland passholder. If she isn't writing, chances are high that you'll find her at Disneyland with her husband and daughter.
You can find Christine on Mastodon.
Jesse Lennox covers all things gaming but has a specific interest in all things PlayStation, JRPGs, and experimental indies. Jesse has been writing about games for over 10 years, starting off as a volunteer and eventually finding his way into doing it full-time. He is constantly striving to push his boundaries in what he covers and finds thought-provoking and important angles to highlight within the games industry.
Originally double-majoring in English and Education, Jesse came into games media as a profession by accident. After an unfortunate layoff, he took his passion for writing about games seriously and was lucky enough to find Digital Trends and other outlets such as Pocket-Lint, Classic Nerd, and Gamepur to write for. He has held numerous writing positions, as well as several editing roles, and is always on the hunt for new opportunities to grow his skillset.
Based in Colorado, Jesse spends at least two hours every morning training in the gym to set his mind straight before a full day of writing and gaming.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.