best safari games on ipad

Best iPad games in 2024

These are the best iPad games that take advantage of your tablet's larger display

• Best iPad games: Action games • Best iPad games: Adventure games • Best iPad games: Arcade games • Best iPad games: Card games • Best iPad games: Puzzle games • Best iPad games: Racing games • Best iPad games: Role-playing games • Best iPad games: Sports games • Best iPad games: Strategy games

To find the best iPad games, you've first got to determine what sort of games you're in the mood to play. Regardless of the genre or gameplay features that speak to you, you're pretty much guaranteed to find a perfect pick on Apple's vast App Store. 

Looking for colorful visuals? You'll find them down below. Craving something that will stimulate and challenge? The App offer is full of games that fit the bill. And while many of these games can be played on an iPhone, the larger displays on the best iPads , make them play at their very best on Apple's best-selling tablets. 

To track down the best iPad games, we've searched across a wide variety of genres — from card-playing games to endless runners — to find titles that look great on everything from an iPad mini to an iPad Pro . That means richer graphics, more details and better touch controls than you’d get on other devices.

Don’t get us wrong — gaming’s fun on any iOS device. (Check out our picks for best iOS games to see just how fun.) And many of the best iPad games selections play just as well on Apple’s phones. In case you’ve got both devices on hand, we’ve even designated the games that play just as well on the iPhone as they do on the iPad.

But the focus here is on iPad games and the ones that make the most of your tablet. If you’re looking for fun, no matter the genre, these best iPad games are the ones to download.

Best iPad games: Action games

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A lot of different types of games qualify for the action game genre. From platform games to shooters to side-scrollers, so long as the pace never flags and the on-screen action keeps coming at you, you’ve got a great action title on your hands. And these are the action games for the iPad that have caught our eye.

Mushroom 11

In a world that’s seen better days, a new form of life has emerged: a kind of intelligent goop. You are that goop in Mushroom 11, an oddball mix of platform game, puzzler and post-apocalyptic exploration. 

Although Mushroom 11 originated on PC, it feels tailor-made for the iPad’s touchscreen as you prod your tablet’s display to urge your goop on, occasionally splitting it apart to complete puzzles that require you to be in two places at once. It’s creative and offers great value – although you’d pay way more than $4.99 to ensure our own world doesn’t end up like this!

Download Mushroom 11 for iPad

Giant Dancing Plushies

In Giant Dancing Plushies, a $3.99 rhythm action game, terrifying aliens have invaded and are determined to stomp our world to pieces. No, hang on: cute and cuddly (but still terrifying) alien dancing plushies have invaded – and mostly seem keen on obliterating army types dead set on ending their groovy moves.

You play the plushies, moving to the beat, occasionally using Street Fighter-style special moves to unleash stuffed-toy furry fury on your angry aggressors. It’s absurd stuff and lots of fun – and you can even have the giant toys dance along to your own music collection.

Download Giant Dancing Plushies for iPad  

You’re in space. There are lots of spaceships. So of course everyone’s trying to blast each other to pieces. In this $5.99 shoot ’em up, you pilot a spaceship and get to make NEEEOOOWWWW and DAGGADAGGADAGGA noises as you swoop between asteroids and annihilate opponents.

Although Interloper provides a backstory and missions, Interloper is more exhilarating arcade fare than lengthy campaign. For mobile, this works – it’s great to dip in and out of. Neatly, it reorients itself for landscape or portrait play too.

Download Interloper for iPad  

Super Fowlst 2

Demons have broken through into our reality in Super Fowlst 2, and only you can stop them! Also, you happen to be a chicken. On the plus side, you’re a determined chicken, who arcs left or right with a tap of the screen in this free four-way scrolling arcade game.

It’s familiar stuff. Bonk enemies on the head and they vanish. Grab keys to unlock doors. Collect coins. Don’t die. But algorithmically generated level layouts keep things fresh, permanent power-ups help you get further into the game during each attempt, and bizarre boss battles keep your feathered fingers nimble.

Download Super Fowlst 2 for iPad

With its abbreviated takes on App Store classics like top-down racers, one-thumb platformers and games where a hole gulps down the landscape, Fancade almost comes across like the App Store in microcosm. For a freebie, it’s generous indeed.

Then you realize that it’s built on a construction kit and recognize the other side of the App Store – making games – is within your grasp, too. You can kick things off with pre-canned kits or a blank canvas. Want to thank the dev? Pay $0.99 for an ad-free month.

Fancade is also a great game for the iPhone.

Download Fancade for iPad

Steredenn is fairly simple, in that this $3.99 blaster merely requires you to shoot all of the things on your iPad screen. The game’s DNA has roots in classic scrolling fare like R-Type, and finds you fending off waves of baddies, before confronting huge bosses that are armed to the teeth.

The twist is that every game of Steredenn is different. Environments are semi-randomly generated. Upgrades are acquired at level’s end to complement your existing two-weapon set-up. Added to that is a layer of madcap oddness, with foes that have giant chainsaws strapped to their ships, and upgrade weapons ranging from massive stabby swords to pyrotechnic madness.

Download Steredenn for iPad

Super Cat Tales 2

Console-style platform games are a tricky proposition on mobile devices, where’s there’s no physical controls — only a slippy touchscreen. The free Super Cat Tales 2 clevely subverts the genre by reimagining it for your iPad.

There are echoes of classic console fare: chunky pixel art; secrets to find; coins to collect. But the controls simply have you press left or right, your cat automatically jumping on reaching a platform’s edge or leaping between walls like a furry ninja. You’ll fight this at first, but it’ll soon become second nature – and you’ll wonder why all mobile games aren’t made this way.

If the ads in Super Cat Tales 2 become too much, just pay $4.99 to go ad-free.

Super Cat Tales 2 is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Super Cat Tales 2 for iPad

Best iPad games: Adventure games

Sometimes you want a game that puts as much emphasis on story and atmosphere as it does toward on-screen action. The best adventure games for the iPad include chilling scenes and puzzling mysteries. You’ll find them to be satisfying additions to your tablet.

If ever there was a game made for iPad, it’s this wonderful $3.99 thriller from Simogo. After an exciting movie-like intro, you find yourself stranded on a remote island, with no idea how you got there. Your aim: escape.

Device 6’s presentation of the world is unique, upending and blending the conventions of games and books. The paths you travel comprise the story’s narrative, within which you’ll find embedded puzzles and an increasingly meta side to the tale. It’s smart, stylish and unique – and wouldn’t work on traditional game systems.

Download Device 6 for iPad  

Initially, unmemory looks like an illustrated mystery novel, if you set your reading app to display a chapter as one long scrolling pane. You awake with blood on your hands and, well, no memory.

Everything changes a few minutes into the game, when you hear a phone ringing and remember there was one depicted further up the page. At that point, it becomes clear each chapter of the $5.99 unmemory is a network of interlinked puzzles cleverly woven into the larger narrative. Top stuff – and a superior experience on the iPad’s larger display.

Download unmemory for iPad

Best iPad games: Arcade games

Instead of riding your bike down to local arcade like you did back in the old days, your iPad becomes an arcade with these old-school offerings. Best of all, you don’t have save up your quarters to give these best iPad games a try.

Drop Wizard

Like Super Cat Tales 2 abovet, Drop Wizard evokes gaming of old but remakes it for the touchscreen. This time, there are shades of classic single-screen platformers Snow Bros. and Bubble Bobble.

Unlike the games that inspired it, this $2.99 effort is an auto-runner, with your wizard blasting magic at enemies upon landing. Those that are dazed can be booted into the air, at which point they tumble around and eventually turn into fruit, because that’s what happened in video games. It’s glorious – like a vintage arcade cabinet has been squeezed onto your iPad.

Drop Wizard is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Drop Wizard for iPad

Osmos for iPad

Arcade games tend to be fast-paced, but this $4.99 effort is ambient in nature. Osmos has you control a mote, which moves by ejecting pieces of itself. This makes the mote shrink, but it can grow by absorbing smaller motes it collides with.

This mechanic plays out across a range of arenas. Some resemble primordial soup and demand patience as you slowly conquer what surrounds you. Others find you careening around central “Attractors,” like planets orbiting a sun. The iPad’s larger screen affords you the precision you’ll need in this beguiling game.

Download Osmos for iPad

Edge is a $2.99 App Store classic that tasks you with guiding a cube around blocky isometric levels, collecting objects and trying to not fall into the deadly void. With its minimalist vibe and superb soundtrack, this iPad game offers plenty of atmosphere as you map out each level in your mind.

And you’ll need to do so if you want to gain the highest grades. They’re only dished out for people who complete levels quickly enough in Edge – no mean feat when platforms shift and move, and collectables are sneakily hidden within the landscape.

Edge is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Edge for iPad

Imagine Pac-Man. Now imagine it compressed into a three-by-three grid, and instead of ghosts chasing you, massive chunks of scenery fly around, constantly threatening to smash you to pieces. And all of that on fast-forward.

That’s the basic premise of Jumpgrid, a high-octane, pulse-pounding $2.99 twitch arcade effort. All you need to do is eat eight dots and leap into a portal. But even though each level takes mere seconds in theory, many will have you maniacally wide-eyed, desperately trying to win when your fingers fail you for the umpteenth time.

Jumpgrid is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Jumpgrid for iPad

Best iPad games: Card games

Collectible card games have gone digital, moving from the tabletop to our digital devices. And while the iPad’s big screen may seem like overkill for this genre, this entry on the best iPad games list makes the most of the expanded screen space.

Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale

There are loads of App Store titles that mash a deck-building card game and turn-based strategy together and pack the combination into a diminutive playfield – but the $6.99 Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale is the best. 

Its twist is a clever risk-vs.-reward mechanic. Cards are bought or discarded for extra cash. Every turn, you’ll have to weigh up whether to add to your inventory or risk facing an enemy when you’re decidedly lacking in kit. It takes a while to master, but there’s lashings of depth here if you make the time.

Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale for iPad  

Best iPad games: Puzzle games

From solving riddles to unscrambling words, puzzle games are a great way to keep your mind sharp. But the best iPad games do more than just transplant puzzlers to a tablet. Point-and-click adventures become easier to control, while game makers take advantages of big screens and gameplay physics to redefine the genre on the iPad.

Love You To Bits

Old-school point-and-click mechanics benefit from a larger display, but Love You To Bits further deserves a place on your iPad due to its gorgeous, vibrant visuals.

The storyline finds the protagonist rookie space explorer’s robot friend Nova scattered across the galaxy. He has to search for her many parts and put her back together.

This $3.99 adventure is relentlessly creative, with regular pop-culture references to movies and games. Its charm and imagination will propel you through the odd logic snafu right to its heart-warming conclusion.

Download Love You To Bits for iPad

Euclidean Skies

Like Euclidean Lands , Euclidean skies finds you manipulating landscapes and buildings that impossibly float in the sky. Turrets and floors must be shifted and spun to help the hero reach her goals in this $4.99 puzzler.

Euclidean Skies is a visual treat, which combined with its tactile nature makes the game ideal fare for the iPad’s larger display. More space for fingers and eyes gives you a better chance at everything from constructing new bridges out of nowhere to defeating huge bosses by crushing them within warped chunks of levitating structures.

Download Euclidean Skies for iPad

Little Alchemy 2

Little Alchemy 2 marries science and whimsy, tasking you with creating new elements by mixing objects from your inventory. You begin with basics like air, earth, fire and water – along with the knowledge there are nearly 600 more items to discover.

Having space to experiment makes this free puzzler ideal for iPad. And although there’s a temptation to drag every new discovery on to every existing one, there is logic at the game’s core. It might not be scientifically accurate, but where else would you get a plane by merging metal with a bird?

Download Little Alchemy 2 for iPad

Baba Is You

This innovative $6.99 single-screen puzzler invites you to tear up the rule-book – or, more accurately, make your own. And we mean that in a broadly literal manner, because rules that govern object and win conditions are written out using on-screen tiles in Baba Is You.

By shoving said tiles around, you can upend everything — changing every wall into a key, for example — and determine whether objects can be pushed or are even solid. This one starts simple, but before long merrily smashes out your brains. Baba Is Brilliant, then.

Baba Is You is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Baba Is You for iPad

The Gardens Between

Time travel forms the core of this gorgeous $4.99 puzzler. Two friends unwisely touch a glowing orb and find themselves on fanciful islands constructed from their memories. The aim: to reach the top of each miniature mountain.

The path in The Gardens Between is linear, but often blocked. You must manipulate objects and time — running time backward or freezing the children while moving the scene — to progress. The visuals need an iPad’s large display to be appreciated, while the game’s tactile nature feels at home on the touchscreen rather than under the lifeless click of a PC cursor.

Download The Gardens Between for iPad

7 Billion Humans

Like its predecessor, the equally impressive Human Resource Machine , the $4.99 7 Billion Humans is simultaneously a tricky puzzler, a lightweight programming primer and a wry commentary on the future of employment.

The premise of the game is that robots do all the work, making humans feel worthless. The robots therefore have humans fill their days with mundane box-sorting challenges, directed by programming steps that you define. 

On a phone, 7 Billion Humans is fiddly. On an iPad, it’s great – funny, brain-bending and with the potential to teach you a thing or two, in more ways than you might first imagine.

Download 7 Billion Humans for iPad

Day Repeat Day

There are two sides to this intriguing $4.99 match-three effort. The puzzles in Day Repeat Day are much like Bejeweled or Candy Crush, having you make a set number of matches within a limited number of moves. But there’s a messaging center as well.

Within that, a story plays out that finds you chatting with colleagues, friends and family, attempting to navigate a work/life balance in a world that doesn’t care much for life. Take your time with this one and breathe in its details — it’s a brilliantly pitched dark satire masquerading as a casual game.

Download Day Repeat Day for iPad

Best iPad games: Racing games

Get behind the wheel — virtually, of course — as your iPad transforms in a powerful race car or a challenging course. Even better, the best racing games on the iPad make the most of the tablet’s touch interface to satisfy your need for speed.

Need for Speed Most Wanted

Too often, racing games go all-in on realism. Need for Speed Most Wanted has a different approach, echoing arcade racer OutRun 2 in having you blast along at manic speeds and drift for miles around long, sweeping bends.

The world of this $4.99 racer is much grimmer and grayer than Sega’s classic, but it’s exhilarating as you become the best street racer around, beating rivals and outrunning cops. The touchscreen controls are pitch-perfect, and the game wisely avoids the loot crate nonsense and absurdly brief races that afflict its successors.

Download Need for Speed Most Wanted for iPad  

Rush Rally Origins

Later entries in the Rush Rally series are reminiscent of console fare, with tense races and behind-the-wheel viewpoints. But this $4.99 racer for the iPad harks back to the origin of the series, playing things out from above across a range of time trials, championships and multi-car clashes. 

The vaguely retro feel (albeit with modern-era graphics) continues through to the controls, which make it a cinch to drift around corners, giving you a fighting chance against unforgiving physics and tough computer opponents.

Rush Rally Origins is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Rush Rally Origins for iPad  

Best iPad games: Role-playing games

Take on a new persona and immerse yourself in a compelling story by trying out great role-playing games — or RPGs — on the iPad. Our favorite games make the most of the iPad’s screen so that the only thing you have to contemplate is your next move.

Marvel Future Revolution

Marvel 's first open-world action RPG for mobile is right at home on your iPad, as Marvel Future Revolution puts you right in the shoes and spandex of your favorite superheroes (or as your own unique hero if that's what you prefer). Endless storylines and campaigns mean you'll keep coming back for more in this game that blends brawling with open-world exploration.

You'll appreciate how the realistic 3D graphics look on your iPad's display, and you'll enjoy the multiplayer aspect of this game. Even better, frequent updates include new playable characters and costumes tied to the MCU. The game is free to play with in-app purchases allowing you to add to your costumes and characters.

Marvel Future Revolution is also available for the iPhone.

Download Marvel Future Revolution for iPad

Book of Demons

There’s a distinctly retro vibe to Book of Demons, a $9.99 dungeon crawler, which borrows from classic titles like Diablo. But in reworking the genre for the touchscreen, this game concocts something that’s simultaneously suitable and unique. 

Pathways are limited and responses to attacks are automatic. But you can optionally direct your firepower and unleash spells, which can be upgraded over time.

With an oddball aesthetic reminiscent of papercraft, Book of Demons might not be what you’d expect – it’s more RTS than hack-and-slash – but it’s ideal iPad fodder.

Download Book of Demons for iPad  

Crying Suns

You might think you’ve had a bad morning, but the protagonist of this $8.99 strategy game has just been woken, told his empire is likely gone, and informed that he died and is in fact a clone. It must be a Monday.

In Crying Suns, you figure out what’s going on, by bossing around your crew, taking in exposition, sending commandos on missions, and blowing up enemy ships. With a more defined structure than similar games, there’s a strong narrative here; and there’s replay value in chipping away at the story in subsequent attempts — and blowing up more bad guys, obviously .

Download Crying Suns for iPad

FTL: Faster Than Light

In FTL: Faster Than Light, you’re trying to save the galaxy. Unfortunately, you’re being chased by folks dead set on your destruction. As a result, you’re constantly on guard and making life-or-death decisions in this $9.99 strategy title.

You can jump to new sectors of space, but this can land you in fraught battles. When in a scrap, you must prioritize your crew’s actions, ensuring your collective survival.

Fortunately, you can pause FTL to have a think. And during battles, the interface is ideally suited to iPad, even if you might not think that when your ship’s ablaze and you’ve no idea where your enemies are hiding.

Download FTL: Faster Than Light for iPad

Best iPad games: Sports games

Sports are better on big-screen TVs. So it stands to reason that sports games thrive on the iPad, too — especially when the games have figured out creative ways to employ touchscreen controls.

Touchgrind Skate 2

Skateboard games on consoles give you a gamepad for controlling an on-screen avatar. In contrast, Touchgrind Skate 2 (free, with in-app purchases for unlocking new locations) gets you up close and personal with your board by having you use two fingers to guide it across the iPad screen..

In effect, your digits stand in for legs, with you gently tilting them to steer and using a range of gestures in a timely manner to perform show-off stunts. It’s clever and more freeform than pseudo sequels Touchgrind BMX and Touchgrind Scooter – although they are fun, too.

Touchgrind Skate 2 is also a great game for the iPhone

Download Touchgrind Skate 2 for iPad

With modern console soccer games demanding you grab a gamepad and memorize a dizzying number of button combinations to kick a ball about, Retro Goal is a breath of fresh air. It rethinks the beautiful game for iPad, streamlining it to the important bits.

On the management side, you use your meager funds to upgrade your team. On the pitch, you control goal attempts, using gestures to perform silky smooth moves that’d leave a World Cup winner breathless. You get 10 games for free and then it’s just $0.99 to unlock the full game.

Download Retro Goal for iPad  

Best iPad Games: Strategy games

A proper plan is more than half the battle when it comes to strategy games. And these best iPad games reward you for coming up with the right plan for victory, whether in a turn-based game or conquering your opponent.

The Battle of Polytopia

You can buy full-fat Civilization for your iPad or iPhone, but it’s expensive and time consuming. If you’re lacking in funds or hours, The Battle of Polytopia gives you similar turn-based bouts of Machiavellian maneuvering in stripped-back form.

The free game limits the size of worlds and how many tribes you can battle. Buy extra tribes and things open up – but even then, technology cuts out before guns and planes arrive, keeping things manageable. Still, there remains plenty of scope for building strategies and improving your game, not least in the turn-limited score-attack mode.

The Battle of Polytopia is also a great game for the iPhone

Download The Battle of Polytopia for iPad  

Bad North: Jotunn Edition

Vikings, eh? Always wanting to be stabby and pillage-y, as you’ve discovered now they’ve found your island kingdom. Your only hope: to bravely defend your islands by commanding limited groups of soldiers.

In Bad North: Jotunn Edition, battles are automatic and rely on you using cunning strategy. Place archers up high; have pikemen take on invaders whose weapons have less range. Over time, the situation evolves, for better (new weapons) or worse (dead commanders are gone for good). 

With each island being procedurally generated, every campaign is unique, making Bad North great value at $3.99.

Download Bad North: Jotunn Edition for iPad

Far: Lone Sails

There’s a surprising serenity about the dystopian world in Far: Lone Sails, a $3.99 iPad download. It’s just you and your colossal vehicle, struggling onward across a seabed dotted with the remains of what appears to be a lost civilization.

Whether that’s the case, you won’t know for sure. Far: Lone Sails begins by telling you nothing. You must figure out yourself how to fuel, move and upgrade your vehicle. Despite the constant micro-management, it’s meditative stuff — and the iPad lets you glimpse moments of beauty in the bleak landscape that passes you by.

Far: Lone Sails is also a great download for the iPhone.

Download Far: Lone Sails for iPad

If you’ve ever got grumpy at a complex intersection and thought you could do a better job of designing one, Freeways offers your chance to prove it. This superb $2.99 ‘interchange design simulator’ gives you entry/exit points and lets you get on with it.

Arrows denote traffic flow and density and early levels merely task you with connecting the dots. Eventually, you’re mired in multi-level spaghetti junctions from hell, causing miles-long tailbacks. With the iPad’s screen acreage, you’ve at least room to draw (and re-draw) and a fighting chance of success.

Download Freeways for iPad  

Genre mash-ups have a tendency to create something compelling — not least when two gameplay types that shouldn’t meld fashion something brilliant. That’s the case with freebie Salvagette, which combines bullet-hell shoot ’em ups with turn-based strategy.

Your aim in the single-screen arena is to ram your ship into enemies, which signal their intention to fire by way of blue halos. You have endless time to plot your pathways, and yet the game becomes surprisingly tense as the screen fills with projectiles.

Download Salvagette for iPad

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Craig Grannell has been writing about tech for longer than he cares to remember, and spends his days surrounded by black rectangles, cables, and countless devices going DING when a notification comes in. He’s written for a bunch of magazines and websites including Tom's Guide, TechRadar, Wired, Stuff and many others, and specializes in Apple, apps, games, design and retro. At some point, he’s hoping someone will pay him a full-time wage to write about Robotron: 2084 and Bubble Bobble all day.

• Rory Mellon Entertainment Editor (UK)

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Today's NYT Connections Hints and Solution (Monday, June 17, 2024)

Once you finish the nyt's games, visit this puzzle site next, i used the same dall-e prompts a year apart: here's what happened.

Are you hamstrung by a limited data plan? Does your commute take you underground? Either way, you have your reasons for being offline sometimes, but that doesn't mean you have to be bored while stuck without the internet.

Your iPhone and/or iPad are powerful gaming devices, and you don't even need access to the internet to enjoy using them. This is thanks to the iOS games you can play offline, and these are the best offline games for iOS.

1. Alto's Adventure

Alto's Adventure is the infinite runner that'll help you get your skiing fix. Take control of Alto and ski down the slopes of the Andes, picking up coins and avoiding obstacles in the process.

Use touch controls to make Alto jump or grind and rack up points by performing tricks. The entire game plays offline, so enjoy your Andean adventure from your subway car. The game never finishes, so whenever you're waiting without Wi-Fi, this game can keep you entertained.

Download: Alto’s Adventure ($4.99)

2. Alto's Odyssey

The sequel to Alto's Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey, keeps everything you liked about the original and adds a little more. New characters, new locations, new music, and a few new mechanics make this game feel more like an expansion than a true sequel.

Still, if you love Adventure, you’ll love Odyssey too, which focuses more on extreme sports than Adventure focuses on collection.

Download: Alto’s Odyssey ($4.99)

3. Monument Valley

Have you ever seen one of those impossible paintings by M. C. Escher and wanted to explore them? That’s the entire premise of Monument Valley, an indie puzzle game that is made with the Unity engine. You play as Ro, a little girl wandering through colorful buildings and solving intricate puzzles. Your primary tool is your ability to change the perspective of the screen, which unlocks new paths.

The beautiful visuals and mysterious setting make this game one of the most thrilling and immersive experiences you can have on your phone, and you can play it entirely offline. You might never need to use the internet again.

Download: Monument Valley ($3.99, in-app purchases available)

4. Monument Valley 2

In the sequel to Monument Valley, you play as Ro's daughter, navigating the world on a quest to find her. The concept is essentially the same, but the visuals are much more striking, the puzzle-solving much more subtle and nuanced. The beauty of the graphics really shines on a bigger screen, which makes these installments two of the best offline iPad games.

This game has four more chapters than its predecessor and builds upon the first game's features. In some worlds, the game replaces the isometric geometry art style from the first game with more 2D scenes.

Download: Monument Valley 2 ($3.99)

You’re a gooey black ball that just wants to not die. BADLAND is a challenging puzzle game that sends your character through a world of dangerous traps and hazards. Use touch controls to keep your ball afloat, while you watch out for the spinning blades, pointy spikes, and other dangers that will shred it to bits. Various pickups in the world can turn you bigger, smaller, multiply you, and more.

The challenging gameplay will suck you in. The creepy music and beautiful gothic visuals will keep you coming back. There is a local multiplayer component, but all gameplay can be experienced offline.

Download: BADLAND ($0.99)

6. BADLAND 2

BADLAND 2 adds some new mechanics, in particular the ability to move your character both left and right, which takes off some of the pressure. The essence of the game remains, however.

There is a light online multiplayer mode, but like its predecessor, this game really shines offline, on your iPhone, alone with headphones, and immersed in the experience.

Download: BADLAND 2 ($0.99)

7. SevenBloks

This inventive puzzle game is like a mix of Tetris and Sudoku. The rules are simple. You have a 7x6 grid, filled with blocks that have numbers on them, one through seven. Whenever a numbered block is in a column or a row with the same number of block as it features, it clears. If it clears next to a white block, the white block cracks, then breaks to reveal a numbered block.

The goal, like Tetris, is to not lose by having the blocks go over the top and to rack up points while doing it. It’s simple, but endlessly challenging fun. You can experience everything but the leaderboards offline, making it a great game to play while waiting for an appointment, or riding a train through an area with no Wi-Fi.

Download: SevenBloks (Free, in-app purchases available)

8. Mini Metro

Another puzzle game with a beautiful interface, Mini Metro lets you build your own mass transit system. Using maps of real-world cities, you can draw your own lines connecting different stations. You have a limited amount of lines and trains and an ever-increasing number of stations, so you have to place things wisely. If people end up waiting too long at any one station, you lose.

The maps and the layout are simple and beautiful, with an aesthetic that is similar to the minimalist transit maps found in major cities.

Download: Mini Metro ($3.99)

9. Civilization VI

Civilization VI is the latest installment of the longtime franchise where you, as the leader of your people, try to rule the world throughout history. Using real-world leaders, place names, and historical monuments, Civ is a turn-based game that takes hours but is easy to play in quick chunks of time. This makes it perfect for iOS.

Although you can engage in local and online multiplayer, an offline AI campaign is more than enough fun for a long subway or plane ride. If Civilization VI doesn't appeal, there are other ways to play Civilization on your phone .

Download: Civilization VI (Free, in-app purchases available)

10. Stardew Valley

Another port from PC to iOS, Stardew Valley lets you get away from it all and run your own farm in a small town. You can use iPhone and iPad gaming options like Steam Link and Apple Arcade to make the experience easier by using a controller.

Beautiful 8-bit graphics, simple, non-competitive gameplay, and strangely compelling dungeon-crawling make this game one of the best ways to spend a long subway ride. When city life is getting you down, escape to Pelican Town, where all you have to do is harvest the pumpkins on time.

Download: Stardew Valley ($4.99)

11. New York Times Crossword

The New York Times Crossword, edited by Will Shortz, is the gold standard of daily puzzles. Get access to the latest one every day, as well as the entire archive of past crosswords with the New York Times Crossword app. In addition to the puzzles themselves, the app has a number of other features. Keep track of your streaks on the Stats page, go through the Archive to do puzzles from the past, or buy packs of special crosswords.

You can either subscribe to the New York Times Digital Subscription or get a Crossword subscription separately. If you don’t subscribe, you’ll only have access to the daily Mini crossword, which is a treat in and of itself but nowhere near as fun as a full puzzle.

While you need internet access to download new crosswords, you can keep an unlimited number of them offline for playing later. When you do use the internet to download new crosswords, using tips to reduce mobile data usage and save money on the data spend will come in handy.

Download: New York Times Crossword (Free, in-app purchases available)

12. Ticket to Ride

The award-winning board game now fits in your pocket. Ticket to Ride makes you and your friends railroad barons, competing to be the first ones to link up the country by train. The graphics stay true to the original board game, down to the virtual train cards you draw and put in your hand.

You can play in Pass-And-Play mode, which lets you take your turn and pass it to your friends in front of you, but it is also the perfect game to play in solo mode. Each game takes 15 to 20 minutes, perfect for passing the time on a real-life train trip.

Download: Ticket to Ride ($8.99, in-app purchases available)

13. Minecraft

The global phenomenon that is Minecraft is available on all platforms, including your iPhone or iPad. A building and exploration sandbox that makes the jump to iOS controls smoothly is perfect if you want something online or offline.

While you can play with other friends and work on the same worlds together, you can play it without any data or Wi-Fi necessary after purchasing it. Whether it's your first time playing or you're returning after years of absence, you're bound to kill hours of time creating a world right from your phone.

Download: Minecraft ($6.99)

14. Plague Inc.

Ever wanted to relieve the pandemic from the pandemic's point of view? No? Well Plague Inc. is available anyway, an iOS and iPad game where you attempt to infect the world as various types of diseases. A perfect game to play while sitting around waiting, and runs like a dream no matter your phone specs.

There is a steep learning curve to Plague Inc., depending on the difficulty you play on, giving you a challenging experience that you can return to again and again to try different strategies.

Download: Plague Inc ($0.99)

15. Jetpack Joyride

A highly-paced, side-scrolling game that you can play anywhere, anytime. Jetpack Joyride has fun mechanics, a great art style, and high replayability that is perfect for fans of endless runner games.

In Jetpack Joyride, you fly through the maps, attempting to collect as many coins as you can while avoiding rockets and laser beams by flying over or under them. Over time your character will speed up, increasing the difficulty of the game.

Download: Jetpack Joyride (Free, in-app purchases available)

What Are Your Favorite Offline iPhone Games?

We've covered some of the best games you can enjoy offline on iOS, so that you're not relying on having data when looking for a way to pass the time.

If you want to game offline on your iPhone but still have fun with your friends, iPhone party games suited for groups meeting in person are the best thing you can use.

• Mobile Gaming

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Best iPad games for 2021

If you're not playing these games on your iPad yet, you're seriously missing out.

• She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville's communication department.

You can play Elder Scrolls: Blades on iPad for free. 

I'm a fan of a larger screen when gaming, so when I'm not on a console or PC, I like to play games on my iPad . More mobile games are taking on console-like qualities, especially with new hardware updates like Apple's A14 Bionic chip , which majorly improves graphics speed. The latest model, the iPad Pro , sports Apple's M1 chip , which is also used in MacBooks and the new iMac, allowing for smoother game performance. 

Don't fear for your wallet just yet. While newer iPad models can have a hefty price tag, there are multiple models that will still meet your gaming needs. If you're bargain hunting, check out CNET's back-to-school sales lists .

Whether you just got a new iPad or you've had one for years, we've got a list of some of the best games for you to check out on your tablet. Regardless of whether you're looking for an educational game, a card game, an adventure game, or something else, there's an iPad game out there for you. Some, but not all, iPad games are available as part of Apple's gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade. Others are available to download free or for a price to your iOS device in the App Store. We update this list periodically. 

Gone Home will suck you in from the very start. You play as Katie Greenbriar, home from a year long trip in Europe. When you arrive home (in the middle of a thunderstorm no less), your family has seemingly vanished. Explore all the nooks and crannies of the sprawling house. Collect clues and unravel what happened to your family while you were gone. 

The tension created in the game through sheer mystery is almost more frightening than if there were jump scares. As a diehard mystery game fan, I found Gone Home immersive, engrossing and emotional. While playing, I found myself turning on all the lights to stave off the unnerving feeling of being in this deserted house. I felt sadness and frustration as I opened doors and found no one behind them, but the emotional payoff was so bittersweet and satisfying. 

It's a bit cumbersome sometimes to play it on iPad and could benefit from adding controller support in the future. Definitely still worth a play though.

Price: Free

Online multiplayer game Among Us went viral during the pandemic and reported nearly half a billion users towards the end of 2020. It's even inspired a few knock-offs, like Goose Goose Duck.

In Among Us, you can play online with strangers or friends, in groups of four to 10 people. In the game, you and other players spawn as crew members on a spaceship. You must keep the ship in operation as you return to Earth, but one of the players is a shape-shifting alien attempting to kill off the crew before you reach home. The twist? The alien, or the imposter , looks just like everyone else.

If you're the imposter, your goal is to be sneaky -- sabotage the ship, frame others and kill the crew. If you're a regular crew member, you're trying to fix the ship and figure out who the imposter is with the rest of your teammates. Crew members can vote on who they think the imposter is and that person can be eliminated -- even if they're not the true imposter.

The Pathless

Price: apple arcade subscription ($5 a month).

When The Pathless hit Apple Arcade, I couldn't put it down. In the game, you play as the last Hunter, a veiled young woman with archery skills tasked with traveling to a mysterious, cursed island inhabited by corrupt spirits. Alongside an eagle companion (yes, you can pet the eagle) you must defeat the evil to bring back the light. This task is just as big as it sounds.

You can go from boss fight to boss fight for a speed run, but taking the time to explore each world, gather collectibles and find secrets will experience the full breadth of the game's narrative.

There's a nice consistency to the game without crossing the line into tedious repetition. The controls take a bit of time to get used to, but finding a rhythm is key to seamlessly running, jumping and firing arrows. Also, if the touch controls aren't your thing, The Pathless supports a controller.

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a pretty well-known mobile game. In the country-life RPG. In the game, you inherit your grandfather's farm and are tasked with running the place -- fix up your house, plant seeds, and clear out weeds. Explore Pelican Town and meet new friends. Townspeople will sometimes have items to share, like a fishing pole, or side quests to go on. There's a handy menu system that helps you keep track of your inventory, funds, skills, relationships, and how your farm is doing. 

It's a cute game that mixes the nostalgia of early Nintendo games with the comfort gameplay people sought from Animal Crossings during the pandemic.

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is a gorgeous open-world action fantasy RPG similar to Zelda or Kingdom Hearts. Oceanhorn 2 tells the story of a young knight on a quest with his friends, Trin, the granddaughter of Arcadia's leader Archimedes, and Gen, a robot armed with a Samurai weapon. All three are controllable as you journey across Gaia to defend Arcadia against Warlock Mesmeroth's Dark Army. 

Oceanhorn 2 is packed with collectibles, puzzles, boss fights, as well as a stunning world to just explore. The game is a prequel to Monster of the Uncharted Sea, but playing the original isn't a must. You can also check out Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon on Apple Arcade as well. 

When Oceanhorn 2 arrived on Apple Arcade, it felt the most like a console game out of the subscription service's lineup. The game supports a controller as well, if you don't want to navigate the touch controls. 

It's been over a year since I first played Oxenfree and I still find myself thinking about it. A group of friends hanging out on a beach take a turn for the worse when the teens accidentally open a ghostly rift. Soon the group is fighting for survival, struggling through time loops, and doubting if everyone is truly who they say they are. 

I can't speak highly enough of this choice-based game. Oxenfree calls itself a "supernatural teen thriller," but deftly avoids tropes and cliches, providing characters with depth and a fascinating, eerie plot. It's a quick game you could play in one sitting, but there's multiple endings so you can always go back.

Plus, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is coming in 2022, so now is a perfect time to play (or replay!) the original game. 

Gris is a beautiful game about dealing with traumatic experiences in life. It's a stunning platformer with remarkable color and hand-drawn detail. It tells the story of a young woman struggling after a painful experience to find redemption, understanding and forgiveness. 

Gris' landscapes and gameplay bring to mind the Alto series (Snowman) and Monument Valley (UsTwo). Developers at Nomada Studios use color, music, light, even the woman's clothing, to convey emotion and further the story -- which is intentionally left ambiguous. As you progress in the game, the woman picks up new abilities to help her along the journey through forests, underwater caverns, deserts and towering buildings.

Gris uses stunning visuals to talk about resilience, strength, recovery and hope. You don't "die" in the game -- it's more about trying again, which speaks to the larger theme. This was one of the first games I tried when I bought an iPad. It's a must-play.

Eloh is somehow addicting, relaxing and educational at the same time. It's a visually stunning musical puzzle game that teases your brain without stressing you out. Eloh is perfect for adults, or for teaching your kids without them knowing they're being taught. 

Each level features island spirits that you can move. Once you get them into the right spot, tap the red speaker and music will start. The goal is to bounce the "sound waves" off the spirits and hit the spiral icon -- kind of like banking a shot in billiards. It's also ultra satisfying when you get the pattern right and the new song plays.

Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2

Price: $4, $5.

The Monument Valley series is absolutely lovely. In the game, you must help Princess Ida on a mission through Monument Valley -- a world of mazes, crow people and strange, impossible structures. The environment is interactive, requiring you to twist, drag and turn the buildings to find paths for Ida. 

Monument Valley 2 has all the stuff you loved about the first game, but stands on its own as an original story and takes a step forward as a more sophisticated narrative and style. In this game, you must guide Ro and her child through Monument Valley. Both games are simultaneously challenging and relaxing. 

You can buy Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2 in the App Store, or you can check out Monument Valley Plus on Apple Arcade . Monument Valley Plus provides a fully unlocked version of the original game with an extra level.

Ustwo is probably one of my favorite game developers. From the Monument Valley games to Assemble With Care on Apple Arcade, its stuff is always a home run. 

Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey

Alto's Adventure is to endless runners what Monument Valley is to puzzle games. The game puts a new twist on sports adventure as you -- as Alto -- snowboard across scenic hills, down gorgeous mountainsides, and through villages with day-to-night transitions. It's all set to a lovely soundtrack as well. 

If you liked Alto's Adventure, Snowman put out a follow-up standalone game. This time, Alto and his friends embark on a sandboarding adventure in the desert. Everything you loved about the first game is still there, just in a different environment.

Collect coins, avoid obstacles, and time and land your jumps to gain speed boosts. The more tricks you land, the longer your scarf grows.

You can purchase Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey separately in the App Store, or you can check out Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City , a fully unlocked version of the game with a bonus level, on Apple Arcade.

What Remains of Edith Finch

What Remains of Edith Finch is a dark, emotional journey through the seemingly cursed Finch family tree. Edith Finch, the last living member of her family, travels back home to explore her family's massive home. The house seems to go on forever and is packed with rooms and secret passages to explore. 

The game plays out like a series of short stories, giving the player a snapshot of Edith's ancestors. As you progress, Edith maps out her family tree in a notebook. What Remains of Edith Finch is a walking simulator, mystery puzzle game and it's engrossing enough to play in one sitting. 

Without giving too much away, the game is dark -- it contains themes of human and animal death, suicide, mental illness, and more. It's a good game, but if you're triggered by any of these topics (or topics that could be related), I might think twice about playing this one. 

Solitaire Stories

I've always loved Solitaire, whether it was the built-in PC game or an actual deck of cards. When Solitaire Stories landed on Apple Arcade, I was excited to play digital Solitaire without ads, as well as see Red Games' fresh take on the classic. 

Solitaire Stories weaves a narrative into the card game. There are eight stories to unlock with different deck themes and points to earn. The more you play, the more difficult the stories and hands become. You can also opt for the quick play option if you've already played the story through, or just want a round of Solitaire. My favorite story to play was the Maestro story, which dealt with a musician's journey and presented a gorgeous purple aesthetic. 

In addition, Solitaire Stories says every hand is beatable, which keeps me trying the same deal over and over until I beat it. Stories are added monthly as well, so you can always experience something new.

Simon's Cat: Story Time

The Simon's Cat franchise -- which began as short animations about a man and his ever-hungry feline friend -- has blossomed since it's 2008 origins. You can find a number of Simon's Cat games in the App Store, but my favorite is Simon's Cat: Story Time on Apple Arcade.

Simon's Cat: Story Time keeps with the well-loved match-three gameplay that lets players unlock chapters of a story. In Story Time, a building site project threatens to shatter the tranquility of Simon and Cat's neighborhood. Simon, Cat, and their friends -- some four-legged -- begin restoring a wasteland of historic parks nearby to protect the community. 

Story Time provides a fun narrative and soothing tasks of cleaning up and designing a garden (without breaking a sweat or getting dirty) alongside casual, easy-to-pick-up Candy Crush-style gameplay. 

Elder Scrolls: Blades

I'd never picked up any of the Elder Scrolls video games, despite their popularity. When Elder Scrolls: Blades arrived on mobile for free , it felt like the perfect opportunity to try out the series risk free. 

Blades is a (mostly) open-world RPG full of adventuring, spells, collecting, crafting and sword fighting. The graphics -- even for mobile -- are just as stunning now as they were in 2018. In the game, you return to your home village and find it all but demolished. Your task is to rebuild the town and defeat the enemies that caused the destruction. Quests are rewarded with gold and other items for crafting. 

Your character is customizable, weapons and spells can be upgraded, you can level up and unlock spells, perks and abilities in the skill tree, and the battle gameplay mechanics are simple enough for mobile. There are optional in-app purchases, but I think   As someone new to the series, Elder Scroll: Blades is fun to play on its own, but also made me interested in the console games.

Neo Cab is a choice-based survival game for the digital age embroiled in a mystery. You play as Lina, the last human taxi driver in a world overcome by Capra's corporate plans for a fully automated city. When you move to Los Ojos to reconnect with your best friend, Savy, things don't go as planned when she vanishes. 

With no other options, you must keep taking passengers and earn coin to keep your car running and have a place to sleep at night. Riders can also have information about Savy's disappearance. You can use the phone on your dashboard to pan around the in-game map, monitor your emotions and cash balance, driver rating and ride history, keep notes, and search for folks who need rides.

Be careful what you say (or don't say) and keep an eye on your Feelgrid bracelet to stay in tune with your emotions. The bracelet reports a spectrum of emotions by color and color intensity (i.e. angry is red, green is calm, dark red is furious, etc.) The longer you drive, the more difficult it becomes to please every passenger, get paid enough and land a good review. Too many bad reviews and you'll be out of a job. No pressure!

For more gaming news, check out our list of the best Nintendo Switch games to play this year and 24 incredible video games you can knock out in one night. 

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The best free iPad games 2023

The best free games for iPad, iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad mini

• Best new game and the best free iPad arcade games
• The best free endless runners for iPad
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Perhaps you've just bought an iPad, or just been given one for the first time. Or maybe you're thinking that your Apple tablet is old and boring and there's nothing fun left that it can do.

Well, friend, you're entirely wrong. Fortunately, the App Store offers loads of gaming greats for you, even if you've forked out your last bit of cash to buy the iPad itself.

- Arcade games - Endless runner games - Match games - Platform games - Puzzle games - Racing games - Shooting games - Sports games - Strategy games - Word games

Our lists cover the best free iPad puzzle games, racers, platform games, and more, split into categories (one on each page) for your perusing pleasure.

Plus, check back every month for our latest favorite free iPad game, which you'll find below.

If you've got some cash spare, you can also check our our full guide to the best iPad games , which include paid options, and those with in-app purchases. For cost-free PC options, here are the best free PC games .

• Shopping for an upgrade? Check out all the best iPad deals available

The best new free iPad game

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Linia Stripes

Linia Stripes is the epitome of the chill-out puzzler. It exists in a universe of endless geometric patterns, and tasks you with removing stripes in order from shortest to longest. 

In less expert hands, this would be a five-minute wonder – a throwaway game to which you’d never return. But the execution here makes the game captivating. Visually – and especially on the iPad’s larger display – each scene is like a slice of modern art. And the sound is great too, piano notes playing as you tap each piece and craft a personal ambient soundtrack.

If that still sounds slight, it is. But the game’s nature is such that it’s perfect to dip into for a relaxing session. And should you want more, one-off IAP payments let you remove the ads, unlock a speed-oriented Pro mode, and explore additional pattern packs.

Best free iPad arcade games

Our favorite iPad arcade games, including brawlers and fighting games, auto-runners, party games, pinball, and retro classics.

Mr. Traffic

Mr. Traffic finds a conductor directing vehicles at a terrifyingly dangerous crossroads – and presumably wishing someone would install traffic lights. Your job is to avoid the inevitable pile-up for as long as possible, by tapping cars when it’s safe for them to go – or when they need to brake.

Long-time iPad gamers might grumble this is nothing new. But Mr. Traffic adds character and flair rarely seen in this kind of game, from its gorgeous cartoon visuals to random incidents where you’ll see UFOs blaze across the screen or ghosts being pursued by a famous station wagon.

On iPad, it’s particularly good, with the squarish display affording you more warning regarding vehicles appearing from the side, and the larger screen area helping with accuracy when you’re dealing with a dozen impatient virtual drivers.

Super Fowlst 2

Super Fowlst 2 is the third entry in a series of free iPad games (following Fowlst and Super Fowlst ) that finds a heroic chicken saving the world from a demon invasion. You tap the sides of the screen to flap your principled poultry, whereupon they arc upwards until gravity makes itself known. Roaming enemies are defeated by bonking them on the head.

The game’s speed, odd control method, and level design - peppering the landscape with explosive crates full of bees, spike-filled corridors, and literal pinball table components - make for frenetic and chaotic play. Visually, the game’s a treat as well, with delicate pixel art and plenty of character.

There’s longevity, too, in being able to upgrade your chicken (so it can poop bombs and gain a downwards-smash move), and procedurally generated levels that ensure you never quite get the same game twice.

Astalo finds your tiny fighter atop a square hunk of land with sheer drops at every edge. It’s also packed full of monsters determined to tear you limb from limb. If you don’t want to die horribly, you might need to get a bit stabby…

To attack, you drag a finger in the direction you want your fighter to head, and let go to watch them scythe through skeletons and other foes. The pace is frenetic - not least in endless mode, which resembles arcade classic Robotron in its relentless, claustrophobic nature.

Similarly, Astalo typically leaves you staring at a game over screen in short order. But story and endless modes alike provide plenty of replay value, and the game works especially well on iPad due to your finger not covering up half the screen while you swipe for your very survival.

Fancade is a game construction kit that puts its money where its mouth is, since all of the mini-games within were made using the app itself.

This is quite an achievement, given what you get. There are over 50 game styles, which echo fare found elsewhere on iPad, such as auto-runners, puzzlers, racing games, and an architectural path-finding title that resembles the creator’s own Mekorama .

If you so desire, you can use Fancade to create your own miniature masterpieces, either starting from scratch or by using one of the built-in kits. A gallery lets you delve into what others have made as well.

Even if you never make your own games, Fancade is a must-have, offering countless levels of bite-sized gaming bliss. And taken as a whole, it’s one of the most impressive and ambitious freebies the App Store is ever likely to see.

Oddman is a high-intensity brawler, set in a world of strange bouncy protagonists, floating islands, and instant death. Like a deranged take on sumo, you fling your character at your opponents, trying to knock them to their doom.

Although you’re hardly equipped with a wide range of moves – nor any real semblance of subtlety – Oddman attempts to add variety to your life. Over time, you encounter new types of foe – including massive bosses – and different environments that shake up how you approach bouts. It’s immediate and very silly – although mastery takes a while, and you’re never more than an errant swipe from disaster.

Neatly, this free iPad game moves beyond solo play, too. You can pit your swiping digit against a friend, on same-device two-player brawls that make good use of the iPad display’s relative acres.

The King of Fighters ALLSTAR

Free iPad game The King of Fighters ALLSTAR comes across like a restless take on Double Dragon or Final Fight. This means you mostly duff up all manner of bad guys along side-scrolling streets, prior to laying into a big bad.

Like other King of Fighters titles, you have a team, so you can tag in others from your trio during battles. The game includes arena-style modes as well, unlocked when you’ve worked through enough of the story.

On iPhone, this game’s button-mashing is fiddly, but it works well on the iPad’s larger display, which also lets the lovely visuals shine. Newbies are catered for with ‘auto’ movement, but veterans can opt for ‘manual’, which echoes console fighting games, and provides far more nuance than the comparatively canned fare found in the Marvel and Transformers mobile brawlers.

Snake Rivals

Snake Rivals comes across like classic mobile title Snake got smashed into Fortnite . Dozens of reptiles are dumped into an arena, and the last snake standing – er, slithering – wins.

There are three modes to pit your tubular terror against: Classic allows endless respawns so you can learn the ropes and build tactics; Gold Rush is all about obliterating other snakes to turn them into gold to grab; and Battle Royale has you take out the opposition while the arena gradually shrinks to a tiny island surrounded by lava.

Although a simple arcade game, Snake Rivals works particularly well with an iPad flat on a table, giving you the space to spot rivals, without your fingers obscuring the display. Its freemium aspects aren’t too venomous either – largely being limited to optional snake customization.

Knight Brawl

Knight Brawl is to 2D fighters what Anchorman is to journalism. That is, Knight Brawl is absurd, silly, and entertaining, but it’s very knowingly not trying to be realistic – and it’s all the better for it.

Side-on battles have knights attempt to relieve opponents of their armor before delivering the final blow. Only the controls and physics – like in Colin Lane’s other games – make for an anarchic experience where characters bounce around like they’re on trampolines.

If that was all you got, this would have been fun – a medieval take on Rowdy Wrestling , with pointy weapons. But along with multiple battle modes, there are also missions where you raid castles and steal bling. This isn’t just a throwaway gag, then, but a game for the long-term – a serious slice of iPad comedy. 

Williams Pinball

Williams Pinball brings a selection of classic pinball tables to your iPad, and then adds animated remastering – at least, if you’re prepared to work for it.

Initially, you just get to unlock one table for unlimited play. (Pick a good one – Attack from Mars, The Getaway, or Medieval Madness – because you’ll be playing it a lot.) Through daily challenges, you’ll then slowly acquire the parts to gradually unlock other tables – unless you fancy splashing out on IAP to buy them outright.

This probably sounds a bit awful, but the truth is you’re ‘grinding’ by playing pinball. Also, the challenges often give you unlimited balls, so you can learn the tables. Stay the course, and eventually you can boost these already top-notch recreations with tough pro-level physics and animated components.

Fly THIS! echoes early App Store hit Flight Control, having you draw paths for planes to follow. But whereas the older title was an endless test that relentlessly ramped up the panic, this newer game feels more strategic and bite-sized.

The planes are fewer in number, but the maps are more claustrophobic. Also, you’re not just making planes land – instead, you ferry passengers between airports. Further complications come in the form of weather, and massive mountains you really don’t want to fly planes into.

Because each level has a set points target, Fly THIS! is great for playing in short bursts as well. In all, it’s a smart reimagining of a long-lost iPad favorite, which in many ways is more appealing than the game that presumably inspired it.

Beat Street

Beat Street is a love letter to classic scrolling brawlers, where a single, determined hero pummels gangs of evil-doers and saves the day. In Beat Street, giant vermin are terrorizing Toko City, and will only stop when you’ve repeatedly punched them in the face.

On iPhone, Beat Street is a surprisingly successful one-thumb effort, but on iPad you’re better off playing in landscape. With your left thumb, you can dance about, and then use your right to hammer the screen (and the opposition).

The iPad’s large display shows off the great pixel art, but the fighty gameplay’s the real star – from you taking on far too many opponents at once to gleefully beating one about the head with a baseball bat. It turns out they do make ’em like they used to after all.

Up the Wall

Up the Wall is an auto-runner with an edge. Or rather, lots of edges. Because instead of being played on a single plane, Up the Wall regularly has you abruptly turn 90-degree corners, some of which find you zooming up vertical walls.

The speed and snap twists make for a disorienting experience, but the game’s design is extremely smart where, most notably, each challenge is finite and predefined. Up the Wall isn’t about randomness and luck, but mastering layouts, and aiming for that perfect run.

It nails everything else, too. The game sounds great, and has sharp, vibrant visuals, with imaginative environments. It’s not often you’re frantically directing a burger in an abstract fever dream of milkshakes and ketchup bottles, nor a skull in a world of flames, lava, and guitars.

Silly Walks

Silly Walks is a one-thumb arcade game, featuring wobbling foodstuffs braving the hell of nightmarish kitchens (and, later, gardens and gyms), in order to free fruity chums who’ve been cruelly caged.

The hero of the hour – initially a pineapple cocktail – rotates on one foot. Tapping the screen plants a foot, causing him to rotate on the other foot and changing the direction of rotation. Charitably, this could be called a step, and with practice, it’s possible to put together a reasonable dodder.

And you’ll need to. Although early levels only require you to not fall off of tables, pretty soon you’re dealing with meat pulverizers, hero-slicing knives, and psychotic kitchenware in hot pursuit.

It’s admittedly all a little one-level – Silly Walks reveals almost all in its initial levels – but smart design, superb visuals, and a unique control method make it well worth a download.

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Best Games To Play On iPad

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Since the introduction of the Apple iPad in 2010, the tablet has proven its place in the computing landscape, with its gorgeous display lending itself well to all types of digital content. And while other tablet manufacturers haven't found nearly as much success, the iPad continues to thrive with each new iteration.

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Some of that success is attributed to the quality of the apps available to download from the Apple Store. Because, unlike their Android counterparts, which more often than not were built for phones and stretched to fill the tablet form factor, the apps built for iPad take advantage of its extra real estate. The same goes for the games, the best of which offer immersive mobile experiences. Here are some of the very best available today.

Updated November 4, 2023, by Chris Sanfilippo: Our latest update adds three unique games that will play well on the iPad: Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, Get Over It+, and Samurai Shodown for iOS.

Cooking Mama: Cuisine!

The Cooking Mama series gained a Michelin star reputation over various delicious entries on the Nintendo DS, 3DS, and Wii consoles. These days, you can bake, fry, dredge, and more with your favorite home chef in the iOS game Cooking Mama: Cuisine!

This sequel sticks to the tried and true Cooking Mama formula. You'll cook dishes via minigames based on peeling potatoes, flipping burger patties, and other kitchen tasks. And while this gameplay may sound dull to some, it's a calming experience that fits the iPad perfectly !

Get Over It+

Mobile gaming often caters to a casual audience looking for relaxation rather than frustration. But in the Apple Arcade game Get Over It+ , the frustration is the fun. This poignant experience is inspired by a flash game called Sexy Hiking, in which you must use a hammer to fling yourself up a mountain. Sounds simple, right? Think again.

Get Over It+ reimagines Sexy Hiking's concept by trapping you in a pot from the waist down. Like Sexy Hiking, your only tool of mobility is a hammer. The graphics look much better than any flash game, a boon for the iPad. However, what sells the game is creator Bennett Foddy's narration, which curates Get Over It as an exploration of tenacity in the face of adverse challenges.

Night In The Woods

At first glance, Night in the Woods might look like a children's game with its cutesy, minimalistic visuals. But anyone who has taken the time to experience its coming-of-age tale would know that it targets a much older audience.

It is a story-driven adventure game that explores some very mature issues, like depression , through the lens of its memorable cast of anthropomorphic characters. Night In The Woods launched on PC and consoles in 2017, but the iOS version plays just as well on an iPad.

iPads are multi-functional devices. They can run various apps, from word processors to triple-A games. However, many utilize iPads as their primary reading devices. Reading engages our imaginations in ways video games never could. However, what if you're a reader looking for a more interactive experience?

Lifeline+ is an engaging text-adventure game for the 21st century. This sci-fi journey is about a student abandoned on a foreign planet after a horrible crash landing . Lifeline uses push notifications to create an immersive adventure outside of the app. It's one of the best iPad games for readers looking for a new tale!

Sky: Children Of The Light

Billed as an open-world social adventure game, Sky: Children of the Light is the latest game by thatgamecompany. However, unlike their previous releases, which were published by Sony and launched exclusively on the PS3, this one debuted on iOS devices .

The game lets you explore a beautiful fantasy world where you'll encounter other players and unlock special abilities from the world's seven realms. In addition, Sky heavily employs a flying mechanic that should feel right at home to players of Journey. It's the best iPad game when you wish to connect with others.

Zen Pinball Party

Going on epic adventures in far-off lands has its allure. But what if you'd instead enjoy an arcade-like experience? In that case, you'll love the Apple Arcade exclusive Zen Pinball Party ! This easy-to-pick-up pinball simulator lets you whack flippers and tilt the machine with taps and swipe s.

This game has plenty of unique pinball machines, including Williams Classics, Zen Originals, and licensed machines like the Star Wars Pinball series ! Various gameplay modes, live events, and tournaments keep gameplay fresh. If you're a certified Pinball Wizard, this is the best iPad game!

When Hitman Go was announced, the first question on everyone's lips was how exactly the new team at Square Enix Montreal would translate the main series's open-ended stealth game into a turn-based puzzle game. It turns out the two genres work together surprisingly well.

Hitman Go presents as a board game , with players controlling Agent 47 through grid-based levels populated by enemies, all represented by miniature figurines. The combo of simple gameplay and engaging art style makes it the best iPad game for long-time Hitman fans and those new to the series.

Long before it would take the world by storm with the brilliant Hades , indie developer Supergiant Games had thrown its hat into the game development ring with Bastion . Released in 2011, the action RPG laid the foundation for Supergiant's subsequent games, including Transistor and Pyre.

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The outstanding presentation, including fully-voiced narration and a beautiful hand-painted art style , makes Bastion unique. This stellar presentation is why it remains one of the best iPad games from a purely aesthetic standpoint.

Dead Cells+

iPad owners who want a hardcore gaming experience will love the roguelike Dead Cells+ . This dungeon-crawling action game places you in the role of The Beheaded, a warrior revived from the dead who can manipulate other dead cells . You'll collect more cells by killing enemies, which you can exchange for weapons and skills.

Dead Cells+ is a game that works best with a Bluetooth controller . However, if you use touchscreen controls, the Assist Mode includes various options to make gameplay feel less cumbersome . In short, Dead Cells+ is one of the best iPad games for roguelike fanatics and newcomers!

Samurai Shodown

Did you know your Netflix account provides access to more than film and television shows? The streaming platform also offers free mobile games. One such example is Samurai Shodown , a mobile port of SNK's 2019 reboot.

Samurai Shodown is a faithful mobile adaptation featuring all the stages, mechanics, and characters as its console forbearer (minus console DLC, like Baiken from Guilty Gear). Furthermore, the reboot's distinct art style stays intact. The game's touch controls are very straightforward, albeit a little wonky, making the absence of Bluetooth controls a setback. Still, SamSho for iOS is an excellent addition to any hardcore fighting game fan's mobile library.

Fantasian is an RPG produced and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame . The music was likewise composed by fellow Final Fantasy alum Nobuo Uematsu .

This title is arguably the best iPad game for RPG lovers. Fantasian's gorgeous environments are based on handcrafted dioramas photographed and transferred into the game. But the real sell is its gameplay, which combines classic JRPG elements with quality-of-life features that keep it accessible to mobile gamers.

Pokemon Unite

The Pokemon Company is not afraid to experiment with mobile releases since its immense success with Pokemon Go in 2016. And with Pokemon Unite , they've made the foray into MOBAs.

This free-to-play title lets you assemble a team of Pokemon and use them to battle other players in its battle arenas. MOBAs are traditionally a competitive game that's difficult for newcomers. But Unite keeps its mechanics simple, making it the best iPad game for Pokemon fans new to MOBAs .

Skate City proves that a skateboarding game does not have to be as complex as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to be fun and challenging. On the contrary, much like other 2D-skating games like OlliOlli, Skate City gives players challenges and trials to overcome while exploring skate parks worldwide.

This game's uncomplicated touch controls make it the best iPad game for X Games fans. However, with progressively higher goalposts and many tricks to learn , Skate City never feels stale or too simplistic.

Remember the childhood game 'The Floor Is Lava,' where you would pretend that your living room carpet is a pool of deadly molten rock? Hot Lava for iOS brings this pastime to life with gorgeous graphics and enhanced obstacles akin to an episode of Ninja Warrior !

Hot Lava is the best iPad game for those who want to get the most from its expanded screen. And you can make it through Hot Lava's courses adequately with touch controls. But competitive players looking for the fastest times will notice more immediate reactions and ease from a handheld Bluetooth controller .

NBA 2K23: Arcade Edition

2K Games is responsible for many of the best professional sports games for consoles, including PGA Tour 2K, WWE 2K, and the venerable NBA 2K series. But how does a realistic basketball game translate to mobile devices? The iOS-exclusive NBA 2K23: Arcade Edition proves these mechanics translate well.

NBA 2K23: AE shines due to its malleable controls . Players new to the series can use the game's three-button control scheme and AI Assist mechanic . Seasoned players can use manual controls to perform specialty shots and maneuvers with little hassle. It's, without a doubt, the best iPad game for basketball lovers!

Mario Kart Tour

There are many racing games for iOS. Some, like the Horizon Chase series, offer a detailed, technical experience. But for casual racers, Mario Kart Tour is the best iPad game. And while the game has been around for a few years, its removal of predatory gacha elements in October 2022 is worth trying this free-to-play game.

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Two standout features of Mario Kart Tour are its content and controls. Cups launch biweekly and feature classic courses from past Mario Kart games . Furthermore, its impressive control scheme replicates Mario Kart mechanics, like drifts, tricks, and items, with the flick of a finger !

The Room Two+

Escape room-themed games have become more common in the past decade, with titles like Zero Escape and Escape Academy as prominent examples. However, one indie breakout that has catapulted into success is The Room series. These titles lead you into puzzle rooms while unraveling eerie paranormal mysteries !

The Room Two+ makes its escape room experience accessible for mobile devices. For instance, its straightforward touch controls are perfect for the iPad. Furthermore, the game's various locations will look striking on the iPad's high-res screen ! It's easily the best iPad game for escape room lovers!

Mortal Kombat Mobile

Plenty of fighting game ports have been launched for iOS over the years, with various levels of success. Some titles, like SNK's The King Of Fighters-i 2012, offer console-level ports with a scaled-down virtual controller. That's great for smaller devices like an iPhone. However, performing button combinations on a tablet can get tricky.

Thankfully, Mortal Kombat Mobile offers a fun, dynamic, and strategic fighting game without complex controls. The title has all the bells and whistles MK fans will love, including high-res graphics , fan-favorite characters , and gore-tastic fatalities ! It's the best iPad game for fans of the series.

Mortal Kombat: Onslaught

Mortal Kombat's storyline shifted significantly with the introduction of Liu Kang's new timeline in Mortal Kombat 1 . However, you can experience a new story in MK11's dark and gritty universe in the new mobile RPG Mortal Kombat: Onslaught . Onslaught chronicles Shinnok's attempt to escape the Neatherrealm and become the conqueror of all realms and the MK heroes' efforts to stop him.

MK: Onslaught features the first mobile-exclusive cinematic story in MK history, making it a fantastic game to experience on the iPad's hi-res screen. Combat (or "kombat"?) is automatic and uses special moves you can activate at the push of a button. So, you don't need to be an MK veteran to enjoy Onslaught's tactical, gory fun!

Initially released in 2018, Among Us didn't hit the peak of its popularity until the COVID lockdowns of 2020, when casual gamers were stuck at home and in dire need of something else to play aside from Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

It's no surprise why Among Us took off during that time. This deep space romp combines collaborative gameplay with tools of deception , the perfect ingredients for a fun and raucous virtual game night. In short, Among Us is the best iPad game to play with family and friends!

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The best iPad games to play in 2022

Beyond a Steel Sky (Apple Arcade)

Oxenfree (free/$5), hyper light drifter ($5), civilization vi ($20), pubg mobile (free), genshin impact (free), league of legends: wild rift (free).

• Oceanhorn ($8)

Among Us! (free)

Asphalt 9: legends (free).

• Samorost 3 ($5)

Ministry of Broadcast (free/$7)

• If Found … ($5)
• Slayaway Camp ($3)

Inside (free)

Of course, the problem with having so many options is that you often don’t know where to begin. Luckily, we’ve rounded up the best iPad games you can download and play right now. You may also want to check out our favorite iPhone games , in case you fancy some smartphone action.

Revolution’s long-awaited follow-up to their 1994 dystopian point-and-click classic  Beneath a Steel Sky ,  Beyond a Steel Sky is a puzzle-based adventure that truly lives up to its pedigree. You play once again as Robert Foster, who, in the search for a kidnapped child, is led to Union City, an ostensible utopia where people are monitored by a supposedly benign artificial intelligence (A.I.) — sound familiar? Aside from this interesting premise, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, benefitting from art direction courtesy of Dave Gibbons, the artist responsible for the Watchmen graphic novel. Not only does it look great, but the gameplay is laudably complex and rewarding, with the gameworld responding to your actions and with its puzzles offering multiple solutions.

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Love Stranger Things ? Oxenfree  provides you with another way to get a Stranger Things -style kick. It’s a supernatural mystery thriller in which you play as teenager Alex, who, along with her friends, unwittingly opens a “ghostly gate” during a party on an abandoned military base. You then set about exploring the base, with in-game conversations and puzzles helping you along the way. It sounds fairly simple at first glance, but with multiple plot threads and a uniquely haunting graphical style, the game is pretty absorbing.

Offering a slash-em-up/RPG hybrid, Hyper Light Drifter is one of the best adventure games you’re likely to find on iPad. It features an enticing (if you’re of a certain age) 16-bit graphical style, through which you explore a forgotten land in a bid to cure yourself of a seemingly incurable illness. The game’s world is vast and beautiful, containing threatening enemies, strange technologies, hazards, and long-buried ruins. Beyond avoiding pitfalls and predators, you can also upgrade your weapons and skills and find new equipment. If that weren’t enough, the soundtrack is surprisingly affecting and powerful, and along with the fantastic visuals and gameplay, it will keep you coming back for more.

Yes, you may be aware that  Civilization VI is one of the best turn-based strategy games you can buy for the PC, but did you know that you can also download (and buy) it on iPad? Well, you do now, and not only is this simple fact enough on its own to make budding strategists rejoice, but we’re pleased to report that the iOS port of the game is remarkably faithful to the original PC game. This means you can build all manner of complex civilizations and guide them toward growth and success, while the tutorial system will help anyone new to the series get to grips with all of its nuances. It is fairly pricey for an iPad game, but you can play 60 turns for free to get a taste of whether it’s for you.

Read our full  Civilization VI  review

Sure, you could check out  Call of Duty: Mobile  or some other mega-franchise name, but we’re giving the attention here to  PUGB.  It’s arguably the most hi-octane massively multiplayer online shooting game, with the iOS version letting you take part in 100-player battle royales, four-versus-four death matches, and the surreal zombie mode, where you have to fight against hordes of the undead (or play as the undead). The iOS version also includes the full range of maps  PUGB  offers, with each area confronting the player with different environments to navigate and learn. Assuming you have a recent enough iPad, the game also looks highly impressive, with the Unreal 4 engine giving it the kind of sharp realism that Fortnite  lacks.

Here’s an open-world adventure game that proves you don’t have to own a Nintendo console to enjoy Zelda-esque gameplay. Set in the lush world of Teyvat, you’re tasked with exploring its heights and depths in search of the gods of the seven elements. You’re given an impressive amount of free reign to wander from one corner of the game world to another, and you can climb mountains, swim in water, and glide in the air. The game’s combat system is also satisfyingly deep, and you can cast a variety of spells from seven elements, bolstering your use of your faithful sword. As a bonus, you can also play with friends, or you can just sit back and bask in the game’s beauty.

You may have heard your friends talking about  League of Legends , and with good reason. Billed as a mobile online battle arena (MOBA) title, the game offers an addictive balance of strategy and action. It pits teams of players against each other as they vie to capture each other’s bases, with players capable of performing a variety of actions along the way in order to weaken their opponents. You can set traps, cast spells, or fight in hand-to-hand combat, with different characters possessing different strengths and weaknesses. It rewards tactical thinking and forward-planning, but you can also be pretty gung-ho as well if that’s more to your taste. Unlike certain other big iPad games,  League of Legends  is entirely free to play.

Oceanhorn ($8)

If you can’t get enough of action-adventure RPGs, then Oceanhorn is another great example of the genre to try. In true RPG fashion, it sets you off in search of something — in this case, your father — who hasn’t returned after journeying to find the mythical Oceanhorn. It’s fairly similar to the Zelda series in that the gameplay offers a balanced mix of puzzles and combat, while the sailing element recalls The Wind Waker . Most importantly of all, the world you inhabit is invitingly rich and colorful, meaning that exploring its nooks and crannies is always a joy. If you finish it and want more, you can also turn to the similarly excellent Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm.

Among Us!  is a unique online multiplayer that plays almost like a very good board game. Its premise is that you’re on-board a spaceship preparing for takeoff, yet one of your fellow players is actually an alien imposter that’s trying to sabotage your plans and ultimately kill you all. The game unfolds with players completing a variety of tasks in order to prep their ship while also taking steps to discover who the imposter may be and vote it off the spacecraft. At the same time, the imposter needs to disguise its own moves while also surreptitiously hindering progress. The formula is fairly straightforward, but that’s precisely why it’s such an engrossing game. For four to 10 players.

An iPad may not seem like the most natural home for an arcade-style racing game, yet  Asphalt 9: Legends  works exceedingly well on Apple’s tablet. It brings in a new TouchDrive control scheme that simplifies steering for you so that you can focus on the more exhilarating aspects of racing, while it also lets you customize on-screen buttons in case you want to drive the old-fashioned way. Beyond its accessible control system, the game offers over 80 tracks in real-world locations and a selection of some of the most desirable cars on the planet, from such manufacturers as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Bugatti. It can be played in a variety of multiplayer modes, or you can enjoy the single-player Career mode, which spans more than 800 races across 60 seasons.

Samorost 3 ($5)

Here’s a point-and-click game with a difference. You play as a space gnome who has, for some inexplicable reason, happened to chance upon a magic flute. You then set off on a journey across nine alien worlds in order to discover the origins of this instrument, while along the way, you encounter a variety of puzzles, challenges, and colorful creatures. The game has a very whimsical sense of humor that will appeal to many, and while the lack of hints can make some of the puzzles a little head-scratching, the game’s art, sound, and overall aesthetic make the whole experience more than rewarding.

We’re practically living in a dystopia these days, so what better game to commemorate our predicament than  Ministry of Broadcast ? It’s a puzzle-focused platformer in the mold of  Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus or Flashback , where you have to help your protagonist reunite with his family. What makes this more interesting than the average 2D platformer is that his quest takes place within the confines of a state-sponsored TV program, The Wall Show . If that sounds intriguing to you, you’d be right, and the game’s head-scratching puzzles lead to some interesting story twists.

If Found … ($5)

We’re living in a golden age for story-based titles that really transcend the conventions of the bog-standard “video game.”  If Found…  is one of these titles, with the game being an interactive visual novel in which you play out the diary of protagonist Kasio. The game is set in 1993, with Kasio returning home to Ireland from college and spending winter break with her not-always-supportive family. The twist is that a black hole is destroying the world, while your swiping of the screen irretrievably deletes passages from Kasio’s diary. It’s a very unique premise, complemented by some great artwork and a very touching storyline.

Slayaway Camp ($3)

Here’s a highly original iPad game that mixes puzzle and strategy elements while also paying tribute to B-rated horror films of yore. It features grid-based gameplay in which you play a serial killer who has to work his way around each level, killing people. (Note: This game is not for children!) Each level assumes the format of a different “videotape” that pays tribute to slasher and horror flicks in different ways. You have to plan your movement through each videotape carefully, avoiding land mines and other hazards while also avoiding the police. Yes, the game is a little perverse (in a kind of cutesy way), but it certainly isn’t shallow. It also features a suitably retro hair metal soundtrack, replete with moody synths and gut-wrenching guitar solos.

If you’re a big fan of indie games, you may have played the excellent 2010 title  Limbo.  Well, this is from the same development team (Playdead), and it provides yet another excellent example of how to marry puzzle-platforming with a deeply atmospheric art style. You play as a boy who is trying to navigate what seems like a post-apocalyptic world, which is full of strange — and dangerous — creatures, not to mention a large smattering of deadly dangers. There’s not much to say about it other than that since the game is minimalistic but in a very engaging and affecting way. Yes, it may be a little short, but it’s entirely gripping while it lasts.

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The only thing better than getting yourself one of the best tablets may be taking a tablet home with some impressive savings. If you’re looking for a good balance of capability and savings in a new tablet, there are a lot of tablet deals out there to shop right now. All of the most well known electronics brands seem to have some tablet deals taking place, and we’ve rounded up all of the details to make shopping the best tablet deals more convenient. So whether for work, play, or anything in between, read onward to save big on a new tablet. And if you prefer to shop more specifically you can check out the current Samsung tablet deals, Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, and iPad deals. There are even some good Amazon Fire Tablet deals and Kindle deals worth exploring right now as well. Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (64GB) -- $155, was $199

If you need an Android tablet for simple tasks like browsing the internet and watching streaming shows, the affordable Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite may be enough for you. Its 8.7-inch screen is decent with WXGA+ resolution, while maintaining portability so you can easily hold the tablet in one hand. Its internal storage is limited at 32GB, but you can expand it by up to 1TB using a microSD card. For the clumsy ones, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is perfect for you because it's protected by a sturdy metal frame.

Between some of the best wireless earbuds, the best smartwatches, the best laptops, and even the best tablets, Apple is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, and it's hard to argue with how popular it's become. Of course, being a premium brand with some of the best gear does mean that it's pretty expensive, and for those who love the Apple ecosystem, it can be hard to justify buying something within it, given the price. Luckily, there are a lot of excellent deals floating around from various online retailers, like Amazon or Best Buy, and that includes things like trade-in offers and special offers for Prime and My Best Buy members.

That's why we've gone out and searched through various big retailers to find you some of the best deals we can find. That includes everything from the MacBook deals, AirPods deals, Apple TV deals and Apple Watch deals to the AirTag, so hopefully, you can find the perfect deal that fits your needs and budget. Apple AirTag (4-Pack) -- $79, was $99

When it comes to tablets, the market is pretty much dominated by Apple’s iPad lineup. And one of the absolute best ones you can get is the iPad Pro, which is the top-of-the-line iPad that boasts plenty of power and performance for your most complex tasks.

The latest iPad Pro (2024) packs in the powerful new M4 chip, a gorgeous OLED display with the option of an anti-reflective coating on certain models, and support for new accessories like the Apple Pencil Pro. It’s also one of Apple’s thinnest products ever, so you’ll definitely want to protect it.

Best iPad games: supercharge your iPad gaming

28 games that deserve the big screen treatment

People often ask if Apple will ever made a games console. But in a way, it already has. You can play an incredible array of games on the iPad and Apple TV. Hook up a wireless controller and you are well on your way to video game bliss.

However, you often won't find the best stuff by simply looking at the App Store game charts, which are so often littered by free-to-play titles. These may be compulsive, addictive even, but today we're looking for the best iPad games, not just the ones that will end up sucking up the most hours of your life.

UPDATE: Our original 18-title list was nowhere near long enough to cover even a fraction of the highlights of iPad gaming, so we've added another 10. In this latest update we've covered some all-time classics a few of you may not even realise were on iPad, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Minecraft.

Returning to this topic is also a reminder of quite how many cracking console titles you can play on iPad, from the brilliant Divinity: Original Sin 2 to stone cold classics like Star Wars: KOTOR.

The iPad is generally the best place to play these console and PC mobile conversions too. Viewing a 10-inch display up close and hooking up your console controller much closer to the original full-sized experience.

With all that in mind, this is a completely different selection of games to our Best iPhone games list. These games either play significantly better or are exclusively available on iPad.

If you don't fancy paying out each time for some games, then head to our best Apple Arcade games list to see what you can get on subscription.

Additional reporting by John McCann

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Best iPad games

1 . FTL: Faster Than Light

Ever wanted to set off on your own spacefaring adventure? To actually be Han Solo? FTL: Faster Than Light offers that opportunity, but demands you take on all of the stuff that happens ‘off camera’ into the bargain. You’ll need to manage the power requirements and upgrade paths of your ship’s various systems, recruit new staff, put out deadly fires, and make tricky decisions on whether to explore a new region or warp on ahead of the pursuing armada. FTL is one of the most grippingly nuanced games on iOS, and it’s only playable on iPad, not iPhone.

2 . The Witness

In the mysterious island setting of The Witness, creator Jonathan Blow has created one of the most beguiling environments in modern gaming. You’ll steadily explore this stunningly colourful rock in first person, tackling its many mysteries by solving countless maze-running conundrums.

Those line-drawing puzzles, which are as challenging as they are creative, work better on iPad than on any other platform. It’s a fundamental mechanical point that makes this the ultimate version of one of the finest puzzle games in recent years.

3 . Dead Cells

Dead Cells is a fast-paced roguelike action-platformer built around a fluid, acrobatic combat system and a seemingly endless supply of destructive weapons. It started out life on PC and console before landing on iOS, perfectly formed.

That said, Dead Cells makes far more sense on iPad than it does on iPhone. It really benefits from being able to prop up the big screen and hook up a controller for the full console experience.

4 . Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

That someone has managed to squeeze the entire Civilization experience on to a tiny portable screen is one of the miracles of the modern age. OK, so perhaps that’s a little over the top. But fans of Sid Meier’s imperious strategy series tend to speak in such grand terms.

This is 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) strategy on an epic scale, a veritable empire-building simulator of unparalleled depth and scope. It’s a game to get lost in.

5 . GTA Vice City

“Tommy Vercetti...Huh! Shit. Didn't think they'd ever let him out.” They’ve not just let Tommy out, they’ve let him loose on iPad. Yes, the iconic 80s throwback entry of the GTA series transports you to a suspiciously Miami-esque Vice City full of neon buildings, questionable fashion and an awful lot of trouble. Two decades on and Vice City still holds up as a fantastic game, and playing on a train, plane, or in the back of a car is quite simply epic.

6 . Divinity: Original Sin 2

Divinity: Original Sin 2 isn’t your average RPG. Its sprawling world and deep interlocking systems mean you can approach its epic fantasy quest in your own way, not simply following a breadcrumb trail of prompts. Add in a highly detailed, decidedly zoomed-out graphics engine, and you can understand why developer Larian Studios (maker of Baldur’s Gate 3) made this an iPad-only affair. Hook up a controller, prop up your iPad, and dive into one of the richest game worlds it’s possible to access through the App Store.

7 . Football Manager 23 Mobile

There’s no game we’ve sunk more time into over the years than Football Manager. It’s the epitome of the ‘just one more’ mindset. The mobile version has been refined with every generation, and FM 23 Mobile provides a complete management experience on your iPad. With so much data at your fingertips, and a live match view, you’ll want the larger screen to play on. If you’re serious about your footy management sims, this is the ultimate offering.

8 . RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic

We’re a sucker for a theme park simulator, and sometimes the old ones are the best ones. While newer iterations in this genre tend to come loaded with wait times and in-app purchases, RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic brings the original PC game to the screen of your iPad. There are no pesky microtransactions, just pure ride-building joy. You can even build custom coasters, all with a retro aesthetic. Hours and hours and hours of fun.

9 . EA Sports FC Mobile 24

The mobile version of the popular EA Sports FC franchise (previously FIFA), allows you to indulge your Ultimate Team fixation on iPad. You can build your team, train players, set formations and play matches - you also get the 15,000 officially licensed players and over 650 licensed teams, allowing you to play as your favourite stars of the game. The on-screen controls do take a short while to get comfortable with, but you’ll soon be curling the ball into the top bin.

10 . Slay the Spire

One of the finest roguelike indie games of recent years comes to iOS after years wowing the PC and console crowd, and it feels good – at least if you own an iPad. It is possible to play Slay the Spire on iPhone, but it feels far too constricted. This is a card-based strategy game that needs a 10-inch or bigger screen to stretch its legs, as you put together a dazzling number of deck combinations and battle a succession of inventive baddies in a darkly playful fantasy land.

11 . Bad North: Jotunn Edition

This brilliant turn-based strategy game sees you fending off a succession of viking incursions across a string of tiny islets. While it’s not a native mobile experience, Bad North certainly feels at home on an iPad, with a finely streamlined take on the classic RTS blueprint married to a rinse-and-repeat roguelike structure. Rally your troops, set your defences and wage war on the encroaching hordes, all via an intuitive touchscreen UI. The game’s clean, concise isometric visuals help sell the whole thing as a tablet experience too.

12 . Roblox

Roblox might be the kind of freewheeling, massively social digital Lego set that befuddles anyone over 30 years of age, but one thing’s clear – it makes so much more sense on an iPad that it does on iPhone. For the uninitiated, there’s no real purpose to Roblox, other than to let your imagination run wild and build whatever form of distraction you care to indulge in – like Minecraft, but with even less of a gamey structure. Failing all that, you can simply dive into one of the millions of worlds made by your fellow players.

13 . Kingdom Rush Vengeance

The tower defence genre isn’t as popular on mobile as it once was, but the Kingdom Rush series has a truly timeless quality to it. Your task, as always, is to carefully place defensive towers along the twisting approach to your home base, with the aim of fending off waves of attacks from enemy forces.

This latest edition inverts the typical fantasy tropes, so you’re now an arch villain battling against do-gooder humans and meddlesome dwarves. But the core gameplay is the same perfectly balanced Kingdom Rush experience - thank goodness.

14 . Call of Duty Mobile

Call of Duty is a household name. It’s no surprise there’s an iPad game for you to get your FPS fix from the comfort of your tablet. The larger screen on your iPad gives you a better field of view and more space for the on-screen controls, so your fingers aren’t covering the all-important action. With new content every month there’s always something new to try, unlock or complete, which gives it great replayability.

15 . XCOM 2 Collection

XCOM 2 is a hardcore PC game through and through, but it works startlingly well as an iPad game. Less so as an iPhone game, where its visually rich, turn-based battlefields feel claustrophobic and indistinct. With a 10-inch display on your side, there’s a combination of clarity and tactile joy as you pan around each squad-based encounter, looking for angles and planning your attack on the alien invaders. As the name suggests, XCOM 2 Collection gathers together all of the extended DLC content surrounding this impeccable strategy game.

16 . Star Wars: KOTOR II

Sure, you could play one of the finest RPGs ever made on your smartphone, but it really deserves the expansive treatment an iPad can provide. That’s not due to the graphics, which rather look their age, what with this being a port of a 2004 console and PC game. Rather, Star Wars: KOTOR II (and indeed its predecessor , which is also on iOS) offers an impeccable widescreen sci-fi adventure, with deeply involving turn-based battles that really demand a larger screen to enjoy to the fullest.

17 . Sky: Children of the Light

A stunning third-person adventure game from the makers of Journey, Sky: Children of the Light borrows some of that prior game’s ethereal magic and seamlessly social mechanics. You’ll explore a mysterious fantasy world where many of the beings you encounter are other players. This is no twitchy competitive game though, with the onus on cooperation rather than combat. The game’s wondrous visuals really steal the show here, though, and they’re best experienced on the biggest screen possible.

18 . Cultist Simulator

Cultist Simulator really requires an iPad to do its strange concepts justice. It’s a deeply involved narrative card game that effectively lays out a complete deck of arcane cards before you, with multiple rows of occult symbols and tiny fonts calling for your attention. The devil really is in the detail here – quite literally, as it turns out – which means that the game becomes much more playable (though not necessarily any easier to grasp) on a larger canvas. If you like your games to provide moments of hard-earned revelation, this is the iPad game for you.

19 . Darkest Dungeon: Tablet Edition

Darkest Dungeon is a horrible, miserable game, and we mean that in the best way possible. It’s an iPad-only dungeon crawling roguelike RPG with one of the most downbeat dispositions in all of gaming. Developer Red Hook Studios Inc. clearly wants you to suffer, whether by throwing a near-impossible series of calamitous challenges at you, sending a member of your party insane (there’s literally a sanity meter), or simply revelling in a relentlessly grim Lovecraftian narrative. For all that, you’ll struggle to put it down.

20 . Hyper Light Drifter

Here’s one of several recent console and PC indie gems to have landed on iOS in nigh-on perfect condition. Hook up a wireless controller from your home console (which is a doddle to do) and you’ll enjoy a brutally exacting top-down action adventure.

Think of it as being a bit like old school Zelda, only with the focus on a kinetic and weighty combat system over puzzle solving. Oh, and it looks an absolute treat too, with a neon-soaked sci-fi-fantasy setting shot through with melancholy and mystery.

21 . Fallout Shelter

The mobile spin-off of the popular series, this iPad game allows you to scratch your Fallout itch when away from your PC or console. In Fallout Shelter you’re tasked with building an underground vault. There are myriad rooms and features available to keep inhabitants entertained, employed and safe (it’s not all plain sailing underground). As your vault expands, you’ll be thankful you’re playing on iPad, as you’ll get a great overview of your commune.

22 . Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

We’re big fans of Lego and Star Wars here at Shortlist, so it’s no surprise this is one of our favourite iPad games. Lego’s spin on the classic movie franchise bring a tongue-in-cheek play style that is not only fun, but also challenging enough to keep you engaged. You can play episodes one through six (the first one is free to play), and relive some of the biggest movie moments, only in brick form.

23 . Bloons TD 6

If you enjoy a tower defence game, look no further. Ninja Kiwi has been knocking this genre out of the park for generations, and its sixth iteration continues its excellent pedigree here. There are a huge number of towers, upgrades and special items for you to explore, unlock, upgrade and master. And with over 70 different maps, there’s an awful lot of life in this iPad game (which can be played offline), making it more than worth the price of admission.

24 . Minecraft

A game that transcends generations. Minecraft has something for everyone, and can be as complex as you want it to be. Your simple goal is to survive, so you better start harvesting materials and building a shelter before nightfall - however, once you’ve got the basics out the way Minecraft opens up to a seemingly limitless level of possibility, where your imagination is the only thing holding you back. Explore, craft, create, play - there is so much to do, you’ve just got to go find it.

25 . Hidden Folks

It’s not just extremely complex games and hardcore PC ports that suit the iPad better. Hidden Folks is a classic hidden object game that simply requires you to pour over its highly detailed black-and-white scenes, looking for key items and people. It’s Where’s Wally for the iPhone generation, and it’ll enthusiastically hoover up all the screen real estate you can spare. Don’t let the simple black-and-white art style fool you either – this one makes a massive visual impact.

26 . Hearthstone

Blizzard’s collectible card game Hearthstone was a massive hit on PC but, if anything, feels more at home on iPad. Take it in turns with your opponent - either AI or real life - to summon fantastical beasts and warriors onto the game board, damaging your opponent’s life bar while protecting your own.

The number of tactical permutations brought about by the game’s rich card ecosystem, each one with its own individual quirks, is frankly scary. This is the kind of game you can lose hundreds of hours to, so it’s a good job you can play it in bed.

27 . The Sims FreePlay

When it comes to building your virtual dream home, you’ll want a big screen to work on it. Plus, you get to play puppet master to over 30 sims as you build a community, create jobs and provide entertainment for those you oversee. Gameplay is a little slower than the PC version, with wait times and ads, but considering you can play for free without needing to dive into the microtraction offerings, there’s a lot to love here. Now we’ve got to get back to our sims, a couple of them could really do with a shower.

28 . The Room: Old Sins

We’ve selected the latest in The Room tetralogy here, but really you should aim to play through all four games. Each entry is delightfully packed with the most intricate locked-box puzzles on the App Store.

In The Room: Old Sins, as with the previous games, you’ll encounter a series of elaborate Victorian-era contraptions hiding clues to an overarching metaphysical mystery. Sliding, clicking, unlocking and deciphering your way through these elaborate 3D puzzles is one of the most rewardingly tactile experiences in gaming.

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9 best iPad games to play on your Apple tablet

• iPad gaming evolved from forgettable distractions to powerful portable gaming computers.
• The best iPad games optimize the hardware, focus on storytelling, and offer unique experiences.
• With a curated list of iPad games, you can avoid sifting through mediocre titles and enjoy top-quality gaming.

Before the iPhone introduced us to the App Store , mobile games were forgettable little distractions that you only resorted to playing if you had no other options. Fast forward to the release of the iPad, and suddenly we had a device that could run all the best mobile games on a bigger screen with better controls. Considering how far mobile games have come, and how powerful the newest iPads can be, you essentially have a portable gaming computer in your bag.

Best iPad: Expert reviewed and ranked

The only downside to gaming on the iPad is also its greatest strength: the number of games. Opening the App Store will overwhelm you with games claiming to be the best, but they can't all be worth your time and money. In fact, most of them aren't even worth considering. While you could spend hours, days, or even weeks sifting through the game section to find the greatest titles, why not let us curate a nice, tidy list of the best iPad games for you?

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2022)

It's always 20/20.

The best iPad games are those that leverage the actual hardware of your device, rather than attempting to cram a game made for a console into it. Hindsight is a perfect fit for your tablet, as it is heavily focused on narrative and relies on intuitive touch controls for gameplay.

The story centers on a woman named Mary, who is attempting to reconcile her feelings after an abusive parent passes away. You delve into her memories to try and untangle the complex relationship they shared, providing some closure so she can move forward with her life in a positive manner.

5 reasons why you should get an iPad and not a Fire tablet

Night in the woods, a cozy existential crisis, night in the woods.

If you've ever returned to your hometown after years away only to find it a mere shadow of its former self, Night in the Woods will stir up all those familiar emotions. This game is another adventure title with some light platforming, primarily focused on developing an entire town's worth of characters. Oh, and this town just happens to be populated by anthropomorphic animals. Just go with it.

After dropping out of college, Mae comes back home only to discover it's vastly different from how she remembered. She reunites with old friends, connects with the townspeople, and catches hints of something sinister lurking in the shadows. While there's a bit of mystery, Night in the Woods is more about the journey than the destination.

9 offline iPad and iPhone games to play when there's no Wi-Fi

Where will it take you.

Speaking of games that are all about the journey, I must highly recommend Journey. This highly artistic work is open to a wide range of interpretations. You could take it at face value or draw any number of parallels or metaphors from it. There are no spoken words or explicit directions given, yet you will always know what to do.

Aside from the visuals, score, and emotional highs this game reaches, it was also praised for its unique multiplayer feature. At any point while playing, as long as you're online, you may encounter another robed figure. This isn't an NPC but a randomly selected player who will accompany you for a short while. Only when the game is over can you see who, and how many, people helped you along the way.

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You only have a minute.

If you don't have a substantial amount of time to dedicate to playing a game on your iPad but still want something quick to pick up and play, Minit is designed for brief bursts of gameplay. It features a delightfully retro aesthetic and gameplay that echoes classic Zelda games, but with one major twist: your character is cursed to die after just 60 seconds.

This time pressure forces you to be efficient with your actions in each life before restarting at your checkpoint. It's cute, charming, humorous, and compact in a way that makes progression feel earned and rewarding. No pixel feels wasted here.

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Genshin impact.

Genshin Impact made a major splash when it launched in 2020 and has managed to sustain its incredible momentum since then. This stylish and massive RPG is built on its vast world, an endless number of quests and activities, and, most of all, its characters. If you have even a slight interest in collecting or anime characters in general, you'll be in heaven here.

While Genshin Impact is entirely free to play, there is an option to spend real money if you want to expedite progress. However, given the breadth and amount of content available, you might as well just play the game naturally and earn enough currency along the way.

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Something seems sus.

I'm calling an emergency meeting if you don't have Among Us installed on your iPad at all times. It's a game with a simple concept, yet it feels fresh and exciting every time you play. This event is as much social as it is a game where what you do and say in real life matters almost more.

If you somehow missed the Among Us craze when it started, you play as a team of crewmates in a contained facility, with a series of tasks to complete. The twist is that some of you are impostors, attempting to eliminate the others when no one else is watching. If a body is discovered, a meeting can be called to vote out whoever the majority suspects is the traitor. This leads to plenty of social deduction, misdirection, betrayals, and fun.

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Civilization vi, the world in the palm of your hand.

What could be better than building an entire civilization from scratch and conquering the world from the comfort of your iPad? I personally have already lost days of my life to this game on a PC alone, but being able to take it with me has made me addicted all over again.

The store page lists Civilization VI as free, but it isn't in the same way other free games are. You only get the first 60 turns before you need to pay, but it's more than worth it. You can also add plenty of expansions on top, plus it features full cross-platform support and cloud saves, so you can manage your empire on the go when you're away from your PC.

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Hearthstone, pick a card.

Card games are just such a natural fit for an iPad that I had to go with one of the best. Hearthstone stands out for being a simple game to understand and start playing, yet it's deep enough that you can fine-tune your deck for the most intense matches. The Blizzard coat of paint also doesn't hurt.

The simplicity of the systems is what makes this work so well on your iPad. You don't have to worry about mana or a multitude of cards with dozens of effects that you need to read or play at the right time. Matches tend to fall right into that ten to fifteen-minute sweet spot as well.

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Call of duty mobile, no scope on the go.

Trust me, I didn't think Call of Duty could work on an iPad until I tried it for myself. Yes, pairing a controller is the best way to play, but the touch controls on the bigger screen actually hold up well. If you haven't given it a try, you'll be shocked at how high-quality this mobile version is.

You have all the classic modes, dozens of maps, unlocks, perks, and all the Call of Duty goodness you expect from a full release. In fact, Mobile may even be better than its console counterparts now, considering it's totally free.

• Helldivers 2
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Wuthering Waves
• Genshin Impact
• Counter Strike 2
• Honkai Star Rail
• Lego Fortnite
• Stardew Valley
• NYT Strands
• NYT Connections
• Apple Watch
• Crunchyroll
• Prime Video
• Jujutsu Kaisen
• Demon Slayer
• Chainsaw Man
• Solo Leveling
• Beebom Gadgets

50+ Best iPad Games You Should Check Out

Best Multiplayer Games for iPad

1. stumble guys.

Check out: Stumble Guys

2. Call of Duty: Mobile

3. Among Us!

4. brawl stars.

Designed by Supercell, Brawl Stars allows you to gather your friends for some fun 3v3 multiplayer action. Your goal is to demolish the enemy team of players in various game modes. You also get access to dozens of brawlers, each with its own unique abilities and gadgets. Your ultimate goal is to collect 10 gems to win or die trying .

5. Spaceteam

6. minecraft.

Price: $6.99 Check out Minecraft

7. Sky: Children of Light

8. pokemon go.

This massively popular card game has been a mix of family fun and fighting at the same time. One of the best games on the iPad, Uno lets you team up with three other players and fight it out as you try to be the first one to run out of cards. Or maybe try the 2v2 mode and partner up with your friend to take down the other team.

10. NEW STATE Mobile

Best iPad MOBA Games

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games remain volatile battlegrounds for chaos. So if you are looking to battle it out with your friends or even randoms, check out these best MOBA games on the iPad.

11. League of Legends: Wild Rift

12. Vainglory

13. heroes of order and chaos.

Gameloft’s addition to the MOBA genre on iPad is this amazing game that has been revamped from the ground up. Heroes of Order and Chaos has Sinskaald Rift as the famed battlefield where immortal warriors fight it out for honor. with a choice of over 57+ heroes , it’s your turn to join the battle along with your friends on three different maps. Want to win? Scout the map and work with your teammates to stand a chance.

14. Arena of Valor

15. legend of ace.

Price: Free Check out Legend of Ace 

Best Action Games for iPad

16. dead trigger 2.

17. Interloper

Interloper is a beautiful space combat simulator that promises an experience of what the game calls “ full six degrees of freedom “. As the player, you are tasked with defending your people against the oppressive Commonwealth. You achieve that goal by taking part in various missions using your trusty fighter and shooting them all out of space. Equip your fighter with a host of options and harness different abilities to get the job done. And remember, if you die, you lose your current gear. Good luck.

18. Hitman Sniper

19. Dead Cells

Price: $8.99 Check out Dead Cells 

20. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

21. Black Paradox

22. max payne mobile.

Another loved classic, Max Payne Mobile, is the mobile port of the PC version. Play as Max Payne, a cop who finds his life destroyed when his wife and daughter are killed. Max must relentlessly pursue his family’s killers and find out who did it and clear his own name. Max Payne Mobile is one action game you should not miss.

23. Shadow Fight 3

Best puzzle/ strategy games for ipad, 24. clash royale.

Made by Supercell, the company behind Clash of Clans, Clash Royale is a real-time strategy game that’s an intriguing hybrid of multiplayer battle and card building. This 1v1 title gives players their own base, and both teams must defend theirs while attempting to destroy the enemy. Clash Royale gives players the ability to collect multiple cards containing the original Clash of Clans troops, attacks, spells, and more. If you are looking for a solid strategy battle game, check out Clash Royale.

25. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

26. hearthstone.

Price: Free Check out Hearthstone

27. The Room: Old Sins

28. hitman go.

29. Lara Croft Go

If you’re a fan Lara Croft franchise, you’ll be thrilled with what they created with this iPad game. Following the model of Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go took it one step further with added elevations. It’s like playing an actual Lara Croft game, with her climbing up mountains and navigating around valleys.

Best Story-Driven iPad Games

30. old man’s journey.

Price: $4.99 Check out Old Man’s Journey

31. Playdead’s Inside

32. life is strange.

33. The Wolf Among Us

Yet another game based around consequences, The Wolf Among Us, is a story game for iPad. It’s developed by Telltale Games , the studio behind The Walking Dead game series. This game is set in a dark and mysterious world where you play as Bigsby Wolf , the sheriff of Fabletown. When a murder occurs nearby, Bigsby discovers that things are about to get really messy. The Wolf Among Us is also a five-part episodic series that you must play.

34. OXENFREE

Best Racing Games for iPad

35. asphalt 9: legends.

The game that has come to define mobile racing, Asphalt 9 is an adrenaline-filled racing game that providers racers with a fulfilling experience while taking the hard work out of it. Packed with over 60 supercars, Asphalt 9 puts players across 80 different tracks as they battle various weather effects to get that #1 position and win it all.

36. Need for Speed No Limits

37. mario kart tour.

Price: Free Check out Mario Kart Tour

38. Real Racing 3

39. Grid AutoSport

Best horror games on ipad.

Diving into the spooky side and things that go bump in the night, the list below contains the best horror games that we advise playing.

40. Dead By Daylight Mobile

41. Into the Dead 2

42. Five Nights at Freddy’s

Horror game veterans will recognize this gem from the good old days. Five Nights at Freedy’s is a horror game that has been remastered from the original PC game and is scarier. You are a security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where kids come to have a good time. However, you have no such luck as you guard the night shift when the animatronics in charge of entertaining the kids come to life and are out to kill you. The entire game takes place at one location as you watch out for them and survive.

43. Layers of Fear

Price: Free Check out Granny 

The Best Apple Arcade Games for iPad

45. hot lava.

46. Speed Demons

Check out Speed Demons

47. Super Impossible Road

48. the pathless.

49. NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition

The brand new NBA 2K23 Arcade Edition takes the best basketball game on consoles and successfully reduces it to play on iOS. However, when you first see these images, you’ll never believe anything has been reduced to size. Even with “Arcade” in the name, it is still important to know details like proper defensive technique and shooting timing. The MyCareer mode also allows you to customize the player you play.

Best Role-Playing Games for iPad

50. genshin impact.

51. Wayward Souls

Wayward Souls is for players who want to experience RPG gameplay but want it quickly. The game’s idea is to offer users playthroughs that end quickly. The levels in the game are generated procedurally, so there’s plenty of variety. Moreover, you get access to six different characters, each with their playstyle, so you are free to adapt the game as you wish. While you won’t have next-gen graphics, Wayward Souls still proves to be a stunning game for iPad users.

52. Eternium

53. Final Fantasy IX

Price: $20.99 Check out Final Fantasy IX 

54. Bastion

Upanishad Sharma

Combining his love for Literature and Tech, Upanishad dived into the world of technology journalism with fire. Now he writes about anything and everything while keeping a keen eye on his first love of gaming. Often found chronically walking around the office.

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Top 20 best open world games for iPhone and iPad (iOS)

Looking for the best open world games for iPhone & iPad ? Look no further, because we've brought the best six of them together into this list for you. Read on to find out the best places to lose yourself on mobile.

How did the list of the best open world games for iOS come to be?

• Here's our list of the top 25, best RPGs on iPhone and iPad (iOS)

Arguably, though, the rise of open world games came within the last fifteen years, with series like Bioshock, Deus Ex, Dishonored and Hitman all promoting players thinking outside of the box, and giving people the tools to progress but little instruction. Meanwhile, other titles like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause, Legend of Zelda, and, of course, Minecraft, all gave people larger and larger worlds to explore - and as their popularity surged, we started to see more and more open world elements spreading into other games.

We've got everything here from horror-based survival games to some of the names we've mentioned above, so do make sure to click on through to find out what we believe are the best iOS open world games for iPhone and iPad. And, of course, if you think we've missed something then leave us a comment, because we do occasionally revisit our various lists to make sure that we've kept them completely up to date.

1 Off the Road

Exploring is sometimes more fun when you have vehicles to control along the way! Off the Road allows you to drive boats, trains, cars, helicopters, harvesters - basically anything that has wheels. You can drive wherever you want, switching your vehicles out and exploring. The game has realistic features like tire pressure, so knowing your vehicle may help.

2 Sky: Children of the Light

Sky: Children of the Light provides a beautiful, colourful world where you must restore the stars to the sky. Around you are the ghost-like shapes of other players running about and trying to solve their own little puzzles. You can only talk through gestures in Sky, but you will be chatting with others even if it is just using this, as the best part of the experience is the feeling of these others.

3 Don't Starve: Pocket Edition

I love Don’t Starve. This is a survival game where you are plopped onto a world full of horror, and as the night comes you will find more monsters, looking to steal your sanity. Your goal in Don’t Starve is simple - don’t starve to death or really die in any way. Instead, you can start gathering and finding resources, crafting, and building a way to survive.

4 Portal Knights

Portal Knights contains a big world where you can explore, fight, gather materials, level up and more. There are different classes that change your gameplay. There are lots of really cool structures and mobs in Portal Knights, as well as just a vast land to explore. It’s a really fun game if you’re into discovering your world.

5 Second Galaxy

Maybe space is more you thing, in which case, Second Galaxy is great for space explorations! You can travel across thousands of realistic star systems, battling other ships along the way. This game is quite massive in the amount of places you can explore and really does a great job of delivering a galaxy full of adventure!

Traveling through a wonderful, procedurally generated world in outer space, Morphite is a wonderful adventure and exploration game that takes some aspects from No Man’s Sky and brings it to a colorful and bright polygon-styled world. You can drive vehicles or ride creatures, all depending on the planet you land on and decide to explore, until you get bored and move on to the next.

7 Dragon Raja

Dragon Raja is an anime MMORPG with some beautiful graphics to really help you get into the game! There are tons to do in this beautiful world from fighting in battles to fulfilling quests to simply interacting with the different people you come across. You can work on your skills by slaying monsters you find or just explore around, hoping to discover a beautiful place.

We have some codes for Dragon Raja that you can use in case you decide to give it a go.

8 Goat Simulator

Goat Simulator is a strange open world game, where you can run into bugs, play as a goat, explore a big world and cause all sorts of chaos. You can headbut whatever, spend time wrecking random things, harass people and really do whatever you want as a goat. You don’t really live your life like a real goat, so just embrace it and cause chaos.

9 Minecraft - Pocket Edition

Minecraft is a game everyone has heard of - you are able to build up blocky structures, mine, fight mobs, grow food, discover temples and much, much more. The game itself has large worlds with tons to discover, but Minecraft doesn’t have a quest system, leaving you to your own devices when it comes to building the world of your dreams.

10 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

GTA is always mentioned when it comes to open world games, so we have included Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This game has a storyline, but you don’t have to follow it and can instead start exploring around the town, driving to new areas, and just seeing where the world takes you. It doesn’t have the best graphics, but GTA is nostalgic.

11 Junk Jack

Junk Jack is an interesting alternative to Terraria. This game is an open-world sandbox game with many items, crafting, and so on. Also, this game has a fantastic plot, which you can get to know during your incredible survival. In this game, you can study the underground and aboveground worlds and battle with many interesting bosses. Also, you can connect additional users to the game. You can play with up to three friends on the local network, and the Internet connection is available for two players.

12 Tower of Fantasy

Tower of Fantasy is another great open-world game. In the game, you will find many powerful characters and a lot of different weapons. Moreover, the game is constantly updated with new characters and weapons. The main advantage of the game is a dynamic combat system and a huge variety of enemies. Also, if you are an anime fan, you should definitely like the style of the game.

We have ranked all of the weapons and characters in the ToF tier list that you should definitely look at if you decide to play this one. It will make your gameplay much smoother.

13 ARK: Survival Evolved

ARK has a lot to offer in its seemingly never-ending sandbox game, where you are placed on an island full of dinosaurs, hoping to survive! You can find other players to play with, creating tribes and colonies to survive or just attempting to take it on your own. Either way, you will need to start building and crafting if you are going to make it through the night.

14 Nimian Legends: BrightRidge

With more of a focus on landscape, Nimian Legends: BrightRidge is a lovely game where you can explore around the world, discovering all there is to find and taking pictures along the way. You can play freely, just going wherever you are drawn too or can play a story mode that will guide you and lead you to fighting enemies in the world. Either way, it’s a lovely world.

15 Sunless Sea

Sunless Sea is another interesting open-world game where you have to explore a world full of adventures on your steamship. It has beautiful gloomy graphics and the fantastic dark atmosphere of Fallen London. You will have to fight in real-time battles against various enemies, trade, upgrade your steamship, and hire incredible officers. If you are looking for a game with a great story, Sunless Sea is one of the best options!

16 Black Desert Mobile

Black Desert Mobile is free and requires an internet connection. This fantasy game, with mechanics that match most of the features of the original PC version, has managed to raise over $1 billion since its inception in 2015.

One of the important features is an automatic movement, which will allow you to simplify the laborious process of moving around locations, especially on the small screens of your mobile devices. The character will move automatically until he gets to the place or is intercepted. You also get full-fledged 3D graphics with the ability to scroll the camera and 8 available spells that make the combat system in the game really variable.

17 Albion Online

Albion Online is a fantasy sandbox MMORPG featuring a player-driven economy, class-free combat, and constant PvP combat. Explore a huge open world full of dangers and opportunities. Strengthen your wealth, make alliances, and leave your mark on the world of Albion.

18 Terraria

One of the most striking analogs of the famous Minecraft is the 2D sandbox of the highest quality - Terraria. It is immediately clear that the game is not suitable for lovers of excellent graphics, but less sophisticated gamers will definitely like it.

In general, the game is interesting for many factors. With the growth of your opportunities, the excitement also increases. In the current version, there is a beautiful visualization of many effects, and the quality of the overall graphic component has increased. It's now possible to have mounts that have special abilities, while on horseback you can attack and dig.

19 Crashlands

It all starts with the fact that the main character Flux, who works as an interplanetary messenger, along with her robotic assistant Juice Box, flies in a spaceship over the planet Woanope. After some time, an alien monster Hewgodooko bursts into them. The villain destroys their ship and the protagonist lands on the planet.

The gameplay here is not very different from other RPG games: you are given a quest and you complete it. You also need to collect various equipment and upgrade your character while exploring the world.

20 Gangstar Vegas

Gangstar Vegas is somewhat similar in concept to Sleeping Dogs: compact city, not many cars. The character is made surprisingly well. The plot is classic: he was supposed to lose the fight, but inadvertently knocked out his opponent with a not-so-powerful hook. And after that adventures in the criminal world begin.

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macOS Sequoia takes productivity and intelligence on Mac to new heights

Wirelessly Use iPhone Right from Mac with iPhone Mirroring

Big Updates Come to Safari

Gaming Gets Even Better with Highly Anticipated Titles and More

• Highly anticipated titles : Developers are delivering an amazing host of new titles to Mac. Ubisoft will release Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and Capcom will offer even more exciting titles from the popular RESIDENT EVIL series, including RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard and RESIDENT EVIL 2. The next major expansion of World of Warcraft: The War Within is coming later this year. Also on the way are Frostpunk 2, Palworld, Sniper Elite 4, and RoboCop: Rogue City, all leveraging powerful software technologies like MetalFX Upscaling to accelerate performance and deliver high-quality visuals across the Mac lineup. And Control Ultimate Edition and Wuthering Waves are coming soon, taking advantage of the latest M3 family of chips to deliver breathtaking visuals with ray tracing.
• A more immersive gaming experience : Personalized Spatial Audio puts players in the middle of the action like never before, while significantly reduced audio latency with AirPods Pro (2nd generation) provides even better responsiveness. Improvements to Game Mode unlock smoother frame rates, and advanced power management features boost performance across the Mac lineup.
• Game Porting Toolkit 2 : Since the introduction of the Game Porting Toolkit, developers have been able to bring their games to Apple devices faster than ever, and gaming enthusiasts can experience more titles on the Mac. Game Porting Toolkit 2 takes this to the next level with some of the most-requested capabilities from game developers, making it even easier to bring advanced games to Mac, as well as iPhone and iPad.

Window Tiling Is Easier and Faster Than Ever

Video Conferencing Gets More Updates

The New Passwords App Keeps Credentials Secure and Organized

Apple Intelligence Ushers in the Next Chapter of AI on Mac

• Messages has big updates to the ways users express themselves and stay connected, including all-new text effects, emoji and sticker Tapbacks, and the ability to schedule a message to send later.
• Apple Maps is introducing even more ways to explore the world, including curated hikes and custom walking routes. Beginning this fall, users can browse thousands of hikes across all 63 national parks in the United States, filtered by length, elevation, and route type, and save them to use while offline.
• Photos now surfaces Collections, which automatically organizes a user’s library by helpful themes, and includes a big update to search, so users can get results quickly.
• Note taking in Notes is getting smarter, making it easier than ever to take detailed and well-written notes. New audio transcription and summarization features with Apple Intelligence enable a device to take notes for the user, letting them stay present in a situation where they need to capture details about what’s happening. And if they need to quickly crunch a number, they can just type in an equation to have it solved automatically in their note body.
• An updated Calculator app lets users see previous calculations with history, and gives them the ability to see their expressions as they type.
• Calendar shows events and tasks from Reminders , making it easy to see, edit, or complete tasks throughout the day. An updated Month View makes it easier to see events and reminders for an entire month at a glance.

Text of this article

June 10, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

The Mac experience gets better than ever with iPhone Mirroring, big updates to Safari, highly anticipated games, and Apple Intelligence to deliver all-new capabilities

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today previewed macOS Sequoia , the next version of the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, bringing entirely new ways of working and transformative intelligence features to Mac. macOS Sequoia is full of exciting new capabilities, including iPhone Mirroring, which expands Continuity by enabling full access to and control of iPhone directly from macOS. Safari gets another big update with the new Highlights feature for effortless information discovery on webpages while browsing. The new Passwords app makes it even easier to access passwords and organize credentials all in one place. Gaming advances with a more immersive experience, as well as a breadth of new titles, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Frostpunk 2, and more.

macOS Sequoia also introduces Apple Intelligence , the personal intelligence system for Mac, iPhone, and iPad that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant. Built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18. It understands and creates language and images, takes action across apps, and draws from personal context, simplifying and accelerating everyday tasks. Taking full advantage of the power of Apple silicon and the Neural Engine, Apple Intelligence will be supported by every Mac with an M-series chip. 1

“The all-star combination of the power of Apple silicon and the legendary ease of use of macOS have made the Mac more capable than ever. Today, we’re excited to take macOS to new heights with macOS Sequoia, a big release that elevates productivity and intelligence,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “macOS Sequoia ushers in Apple Intelligence, unlocking incredible new features that will be a game changer for working on Mac. And with more ways to help users effortlessly get things done, new Continuity features like iPhone Mirroring, major updates to Safari, and a host of new games, we think Mac users are going to love it.”

macOS Sequoia makes Continuity even more magical with iPhone Mirroring, which allows users to fully access and engage with their iPhone — right from their Mac. A user’s custom wallpaper and icons appear just like on their iPhone, and they can swipe between pages on their Home Screen, or launch and browse any of their favorite apps. The keyboard, trackpad, and mouse on Mac also let a user interact with their iPhone, and audio even comes through. Users can seamlessly drag and drop between iPhone and Mac, and a user’s iPhone remains locked, so nobody else can access or see what the user is doing. It also works great with StandBy, which stays visible, so users can get information at a glance. Additionally, users can review and respond to iPhone notifications directly from their Mac.

Safari, the world’s fastest browser, 2 now offers Highlights, an even easier way to discover information on the web, such as directions, summaries, or quick links to learn more about people, music, movies, and TV shows. A redesigned Reader includes even more ways to enjoy articles without distractions, featuring a streamlined view of the article a user is reading, a summary, and a table of contents for longer articles. And when Safari detects a video on the page, Viewer helps users put it front and center, while still giving them full access to system playback controls, including Picture in Picture.

A stellar lineup of games is coming to Mac — including the highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the next installment in Ubisoft’s blockbuster series — alongside new features like Personalized Spatial Audio that make gaming even more immersive.

Users can stay organized with new ways to arrange windows into a layout that works best for them. When a user drags a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia automatically suggests a tiled position on their desktop. Users can release their window right into place, quickly arrange tiles side by side, or place them in corners to keep even more apps in view. And new keyboard and menu shortcuts help users organize tiles even faster.

The new presenter preview makes it easier to present, letting users see what they’re about to share before they share it, and works with apps like FaceTime and Zoom. Users can also apply beautiful built-in backgrounds, including a variety of color gradients and system wallpapers, or upload their own photos. Background replacements can be applied during a video call in FaceTime or in third-party apps like Webex, and with Apple’s industry-leading segmentation, users will look their best when on a call.

Built on the foundation of Keychain, which was first introduced over 25 years ago, macOS Sequoia brings Passwords, a new app that makes it even easier to access passwords, passkeys, Wi-Fi passwords, and other credentials all in one place. iCloud syncing is backed by secure end-to-end encryption. Passwords works great with Safari, and seamlessly syncs between a user’s Apple devices and Windows with the iCloud for Windows app.

Deeply integrated into macOS Sequoia and built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively. With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into macOS Sequoia, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

New image capabilities make communication and self-expression even more fun. With Image Playground, users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use, built right into apps like Messages, and also available in a dedicated app.

Memories in Photos lets users create the stories they want to see just by typing a description. Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. In addition, a new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

With the power of Apple Intelligence, Siri takes a major step forward, becoming even more natural, contextually relevant, and personal. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment — making the Siri experience on Mac incredibly easy and seamless.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers. When requests are routed to Private Cloud Compute, data is not stored or made accessible to Apple, and is only used to fulfill the user’s requests, and independent experts can verify this privacy promise.

Additionally, access to ChatGPT is integrated into Siri and systemwide Writing Tools across Apple’s platforms, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.

Additional features in macOS Sequoia include:

Availability

The developer beta of macOS Sequoia is available through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com starting today, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com . The release will be available as a free software update this fall. Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English, as part of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall. For more information, visit apple.com/macos/macos-sequoia-preview  and apple.com/apple-intelligence . Features are subject to change. Some features are not available in all regions, all languages, or on all devices. For more information about availability, visit apple.com .

• Users with an eligible iPhone, iPad, or Mac with Siri and device language set to English (U.S.) can sign up this fall to access the Apple Intelligence beta.
• Testing was conducted by Apple in May 2023. See apple.com/safari for more information.

Press Contacts

Michelle Del Rio

[email protected]

Starlayne Meza

[email protected]

Apple Media Helpline

[email protected]

Images in this article

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My favorite iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and watchOS 11 features that flew under the radar at WWDC 2024

Digging into best of the lower key updates coming to iphone, ipad and apple watch..

There was so much Apple had to cram into its WWDC 2024 keynote that some features were left out of the spotlight. Here at the company's campus, I've had the chance to speak with various executives, as well as get deeper dives into iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , Apple Intelligence , watchOS 11 and more. In these sessions, I've been able to learn more about how specific things work, like what steps exactly do you take to customize your iPhone's home screen and control center. I also got to see some other updates that weren't even briefly mentioned during the keynote, like new support for hiking routes in Apple Maps and what training load insights look like on watchOS 11. Of all the unmentioned features I've come to discover, here are my favorites.

Maps: Create and share custom routes

I've always been a Google Maps girl, in part because that app had superior information compared to Apple Maps in its early years. These days, I stick to Google Maps because it has all my saved places and history. When I found out that iOS 18 would bring updates to Apple Maps, particularly to do with hiking and routes, I was intrigued.

Basically, in iOS 18, when you go into search in Maps, you'll see a new option under "Find Nearby" called hikes. It'll show you recommended hikes, and you can filter by the type of hike (loop, for example) and specify a length. You'll find options in the vicinity and tapping into one will show you a topographical view with the elevation details, how challenging it should be as well as estimated duration. You can tap to save each route and store it for offline reference later and add notes too. There's a new Library view and you'll find it in your profile in Maps.

You'll also be able to create new routes in Maps by tapping anywhere to start defining your route. You can keep tapping to add waypoints, which will cause the trail to continue to connect them, then hit a "Close loop" button to finish your trail. These routes can be shared, though it's not yet clear if you can share it to, say, your friend or driver to have them take your preferred path to your destination.

The hikes that Apple will serve up in Maps are created by its own team, which is working with US National Parks, so they'll only be available for the 63 national parks in the country to begin with. In other words, it's not porting information from AllTrails, for example. In a press release , Apple said thousands of hikes will be available to browse at launch.

As a city dweller who only sometimes hikes, my excitement is less about hiking and more about the potential of sharing my custom routes to show people how they should walk to my building or favorite restaurant from the train station. It's a compelling feature, and arguably a reason I'd choose Apple Maps versus Google's.

Calendar integration with Reminders

Frankly, the Maps update might be my favorite out of everything that wasn't shown off during the WWDC 2024 keynote by a huge margin. But some of the new tools coming to Calendar tickle my fancy too. Specifically, the new integration with reminders makes it easier to not just schedule your tasks right into your daybook, but also check them off from the Calendar app. You can soon move reminders around by long pressing and dragging them, so that note to call your mom can be placed on a slot at 5pm on Wednesday, instead of sitting in your Reminders app. In addition, Calendar is getting new views that better detail your level of activity each day in a month, similar to how the Fitness app shows your daily rings progress quickly in the monthly view.

Tapback insights showing who exactly responded with what emoji

This isn't one that wasn't mentioned at all during the keynote, but there are details about how Tapback works that weren't described at yesterday's show. If you're like me, you might not even have remembered that Tapback refers to those reactions you can send in Messages by double tapping on a blue or gray bubble. With iOS 18, you'll get more options than the limited selection of heart, thumbs up, thumbs down, "Haha," exclamation points and question mark. They're also going to show up in full color with the update, instead of the existing (boring) gray.

What I found out later on, though, is that when you double tap a message that already has reactions attached, a new balloon appears at the top of your screen showing who has responded with which emoji. This should make it easier to lurk in a group chat, but also could double as an unofficial polling tool by asking your friends to react with specific emojis to indicate different answers. That should make Messages a bit more like Slack, and I wish Whatsapp and Telegram would take note.

Others: Math Notes in iPhone, updates to Journal and Safari

There are quite a lot of features coming to iOS 18 that didn't get much love on the WWDC stage, like the Journal app's new widget for the home screen, which shows prompts for reflection and lets you create new entries. Journal also has a new insights view that displays your writing streaks and other historical data, plus a new tool that lets you add your state of mind to each entry from within the app.

Meanwhile, Safari is getting a new "Highlights" button in the search (or URL) bar, and tapping it will show a machine-learning-generated summary of the webpage you're on. Tapping into this brings up a panel with more information like navigation directions to a restaurant mentioned on the page, for example, or a phone number to call up a business. You can also quickly launch the reader view from this pane.

I wasn't super enthusiastic about either of those, largely because I don't use the Journal app much and I don't need Safari summarizing a webpage for me. But there are some other buried updates that I really wanted to shout out. For example, Math Notes for iPad and with Apple Pencil certainly got a lot of time, but it wasn't till I looked at Apple's iOS 18 press release that I found out the iPhone's Notes app is also getting a version of it. According to the screenshot Apple included, it looks like you can tally up and split expenses between a group of friends by writing a list of expenses and how much each item cost, then add the names of each expense to a formula with plus and equal signs, then get that divided by the number of people in your group. Not quite Splitwise , but I could see this becoming more powerful over time.

I was also intrigued by some of the Smart Script features on iPadOS 18, especially when I realized that you can just move your handwritten words around by dragging your handwritten words further away from each other, and the rest of your scrawled text moves in tandem. This is hard to describe, and I'll have to wait till I can try it for myself to show you an animated example. But it was impressive, even if it's not extremely useful.

Finally, the Passwords app and other privacy updates got a shout out during the keynote, but I learned more about how things like accessory setup and contacts sharing with apps work. Apple is releasing a new accessory setup kit so that device makers can adopt a pairing interface similar to how you'd connect your AirPods or Apple Watch to your iPhone. If developers don't use this approach, the new Bluetooth connection interface will be clearer about what other devices are on your network and what you're actually granting access to when you let an app see other devices on your network. Though it wasn't entirely skipped during the keynote, the Passwords app is something that makes me happy, since I'm absolutely sick of having to dig through settings to get codes for apps which I use my iPhone's authenticator to unlock.

There are plenty of features that were talked about that I'm excited by and learned more about the workings of, including the new dynamic clock style in the Photos face in watchOS 11, pinned collections in the redesigned Photos app and iPadOS mirroring for easier remote tech support. Oh, and that Airplay feature that'll let you send money to friends by holding your phones together? Yes! Being able to pause and adjust your Activity rings in watchOS and that Training Load insight? Hallelujah!

And though I can see the appeal of locked and hidden apps, I'm not sure I'd find much use for that and it would probably exacerbate my already prone-to-suspicion nature.

I'm also a little wary of things like Genmoji and Image Playground, which are both Apple Intelligence features that won't hit all iOS 18 devices. There will be metadata information indicating when images were generated by Apple's AI, and guardrails in place to prevent the creation of abusive and exploitative content.

Clearly, there are plenty of updates coming to Apple's phones, tablets, laptops and wearables later this year, and I can't wait to try them out. The public beta should be ready around the end of summer this year, which is when most people (who are willing to risk an unstable platform) can check them out.

Catch up here for all the news out of Apple's WWDC 2024 .

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How to play xbox cloud gaming with game pass on iphone and ipad.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is officially available on iPhone and iPad. Here's how to get it up and running.

Key Takeaways

• Xbox's Cloud Gaming is a solid streaming option available on most devices.
• Setting up Cloud Gaming on iPhone and iPad is easy using the Safari browser.
• Compatible devices include newer iPhones and iPads for high-quality streaming.

Cloud gaming isn't going to replace traditional digital or physical games for a while, but it is a very handy and convenient option if you've got a strong enough connection to support it. While there are a ton of game streaming options out there, Xbox's Cloud Gaming is one of the most robust and compatible on just about everything. If you've got an iPad or iPhone, you can take almost all your games wherever you go .

Although there's no dedicated app, Cloud Gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate works great on iPhone and iPad. It uses the Safari browser, but you can also add an app icon to your iOS or iPadOS home screen, so you can have a fullscreen, non-URL experience with a single tap each time. Here's how to set it up and what you need.

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How to run cloud gaming with xbox game pass ultimate on ios and ipad os, gaming on the go.

Xbox Cloud Gaming offers more than 100 games to stream over an internet connection at up to 1080p 60fps for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, so you'll need to get that first (if you haven't already). It costs $15 per month and includes over 300 games for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, 200 games for Windows PCs, all the games available on EA Play, Xbox Live Gold for online play, and exclusive discounts and offers.

Once subscribed, you need to follow the instructions below to get Cloud Gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate running and installed on your iPhone or iPad (see the list of compatible devices below).

1. Open the Safari browser and head to xbox.com/play . Note: while Xbox Cloud Gaming works through the Chrome browser too (and Microsoft Edge) it works best in Safari and you need to use it to create an app icon for your home screen.

2. Tap on " Sign In " and log into your Microsoft account associated with Xbox Game Pass. The Xbox Cloud Gaming (beta) home screen will appear. Look at the bottom of the screen and tap on the share button (the box with an up arrow in it).

3. Scroll down to " Add to Home Screen ", tap on it and a pop-up will appear with a Cloud Gaming icon and URL address. Tap on "Add" in the top-right corner.

4. You will now have a new app icon on your home screen titled "Cloud Gaming". Tap on that and you will be asked to sign in again. The full Xbox Cloud Gaming service will now be available, and you only need to open that app whenever you want to play in the future.

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Xbox cloud gaming compatible ios and ipad os devices list, what devices will work.

While Xbox Cloud Gaming might work on older iPhones and iPads, Microsoft will only guarantee the following devices will work with Cloud streaming:

• iPhone 11 Pro
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• iPhone 13 Mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
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• iPad Air (3rd Gen)
• iPad Air (4th Gen)
• iPad Pro 11 2nd Gen
• iPad Mini 5th Gen
• iPad 8th Gen

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30 Best Educational iPad Games for Kids in 2024 (Free and Paid)

Learn while you play!

Tablets are a regular part of most kids’ routines these days, and teachers and parents can use that to their advantage. There are a lot of terrific iPad games for kids that are designed for learning but disguised as fun! Here are some of the best that cover reading, math, science, social studies, and more for kids of a variety of ages.

Free iPad Games for Kids

The earlier kids start to learn new languages, the better. When we’re young, our brains are more receptive to learning language in general. Duolingo no longer has a specific version just for kids (though they do have a reading program; see below). But the general app itself is still great for kids by upper elementary or so. It’s completely free, and offers more than 40 languages to explore. Teachers should check out Duolingo for Schools , too.

Duolingo ABC

Ages: Pre-K to Grade 1

The foreign language learning company has brought its same philosophy to teaching kids how to read. The entirely free lessons focus on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, and reading comprehension, all the skills emergent readers need. The lessons increase in difficulty as children progress, with tailored reviews to help kids strengthen skills they struggle with. It’s aligned with Common Core standards too.

PBS Kids Games

Ages: Pre-K to Grade 2

You know you can trust PBS to provide safe, fun, and educational iPad games for kids. Their collection features stars from popular shows like Daniel Tiger and the Wild Kratts, with hundreds of games on just about every subject. This is one iPad app every parent and teacher needs, especially since it’s all entirely free (and available in Spanish too!).

iCivics Games

Ages: Middle and High School

iCivics has a suite of terrific social studies games that kids will truly enjoy playing. They’ll feel like they’re right in the action as they try to get a new law ratified, run in an election, or try a case in court. These apps are all free, and their website has lots of excellent accompanying resources for teachers.

Bedtime Math

Ages: Pre-K to Grade 3

Bedtime stories are a longstanding tradition, but what about bedtime math? That’s what this free app, along with its accompanying books , aims to do. Each day, the app adds a new fun math problem for parents and kids to do together. (Teachers could also use them as daily problems in the classroom.) Each math problem has three levels of difficulty, and many offer challenge questions too.

Little Alchemy 2

Ages: K to 12

Starting with just a few basic elements (air, earth, fire, and water), players mix these to create dozens of new items, both real and imaginary. For instance, mix water and earth to get clay, then mix clay and fire to make bricks, add brick to brick to build a wall, and so on. This robust free game is completely engrossing, and it encourages both creativity and logical thinking.

World Geography Quiz Game

Ages: Grades 3 to 12

This isn’t one of those iPad games for kids full of animated characters and flashy graphics. It’s a straight-up geography quiz game and a very good one. Kids who are into maps and globes will enjoy checking their knowledge of flags, capital cities, statistics, and much more. The game is free to download and play; you have the option to buy “hints,” but they’re not necessary to enjoy the fun.

Sushi Monster

Ages: Grades 2 to 6

Looking for a fun way to practice math facts? Check out this free app! Sushi Monster is hungry. Feed him the sushi plates to make the correct goal number and practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Lyrical Letters

Ages: Pre-K to Grade 12

Combine music with spelling and vocabulary in this charming game, enjoyable for anyone at any age. Listen to the sequence of notes, then play them back to spell the right word. You can also simply play around with the keyboard and synthesizer functions, composing tunes just for fun. Lyrical Letters is free to download and play; you can remove the in-game ads for $1.99.

Ages: Grade 4 and up

Build vocabulary and work on spelling with this innovative word game. As you connect letters to make a word, they disappear from the board, collapsing others around them. New letters are always rising from the bottom, though, so you’ll have to think quickly to stop them from reaching the top and ending the game. The game is free to download, but many reviewers note that it’s ad-heavy; pay $4.99 to unlock the full version.

More Great Educational iPad Games for Kids

Think of this collection of iPad games for kids as your personal set of Montessori activities on the go. From busy boards and blocks to music sequencers and a marble machine, the youngest learners will find plenty to keep them engaged as they develop key skills. Pok Pok is subscription-based ($6.99/month or $45.99/year), with a free 7-day trial.

Hands-On Equations

Ages: Grades 4+

The Hands-On Equations iPad games teach algebra skills in a fun and engaging way. There are three levels available, plus Hands-On Equations Lite, a free version you can try to see if you like it. Level 1 covers the basics of equations, while 2 and 3 build up the difficulty to include order of operations and negative numbers. Levels 1, 2, and 3 range in price from $2.99 to $3.99 each.

Endless Alphabet

Ages: Pre-K

This iPad game has been around for awhile, but parents and kids both continue to love it. Kids build their vocabulary and alphabet knowledge through interactive games and fun animations. They’ll also enjoy the adorable monsters that join in on the game! Get Endless Alphabet for a one-time purchase price of $8.99.

ABCmouse is one of the most popular educational iPad games for kids who are learning to read, count, and more. They offer thousands of learning activities across the curriculum, including hundreds in Spanish. It requires a subscription ($12.99/month or $45/year), but you can try it for free for 30 days to see if you like it.

Adventure Academy

Ages: Grades 3 to 8

Adventure Academy is ABCmouse’s older cousin. Upper elementary and middle school students can learn math, science, language arts, and more. They’ll create their own avatar and make their way around a fully interactive school environment, learning as they go. It has the same subscription rates as ABCmouse ($12.99/month or $45/year).

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Ages: Pre-K to Kindergarten

Everyone’s favorite caterpillar is now available in an app! Play games to match colors and shapes, put together puzzles, and learn to take care of plants and animals. The app is free to download, but it costs $4.99 to unlock all of the available activities.

Ages: Grades 1 to 5

Solve math problems and try to get five Bingo Bugs in a row. Be careful, though, because wrong answers will affect your end score. High scores earn you your very own Bingo Bugs for your collection! There are five modes: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and mixed. Math Bingo costs $2.99 to download and play.

Ages: Grades 3 and up

Everything you love about Mad Libs in an app! Kids will get sneaky practice in learning the parts of speech, while creating zany stories that make everyone laugh. You get a limited number of Mad Libs for free, with the ability to buy more packages starting at $1.99.

Sight Words Ninja

Ages: Grades 1 to 4

This is such a fun way to practice sight words! As various words appear on the screen, slice through the target word as fast as you can to score points. At only $1.99, this game is a terrific bargain and one that students will beg to play.

Wee ones will love helping Tim and his family as they learn colors and shapes. The game is available in multiple languages, so you can also use it to help kids learn basic words in Spanish, French, and more. Dino Tim is free to download and $2.99 to unlock all content.

Presidents vs. Aliens

Ages: Grade 3 and up

Learn more about U.S. presidents while you battle aliens in this silly but informative game. As you answer the questions and beat each level, you add a new president to your collection. Then, you can fling these presidents at the aliens to help defend the planet! The app costs $1.99 to download but has no in-game ads and doesn’t require any additional purchases to play. Kids will need to be able to read to play on their own.

Ages: K to Grade 4

This subscription-based iPad game for kids promises to make learning math fun and engaging. Kids set out on missions to earn monsters by solving math puzzles. This is a program that can grow with any child, starting with very basic counting skills and building through to multiplication and division. After a 7-day free trial, the program costs $7.99 a month or $49.99 annually.

Where’s My Water?

Ages: Kindergarten and Up

Swampy lives in the sewers under the city, but he loves to stay clean! His shower is constantly getting stopped up, though, so kids need` to dig through the dirt and avoid obstacles to guide the fresh water to Swampy. This game is a lot of fun, but it’s based on real physics and the movement of water, so they’ll learn while they play. This Disney game costs $1.99 to download and includes additional storylines for purchase.

Stack the States 2

Ages: Grade 3 and Up

Learn U.S. geography the fun way by answering questions and building your own collection of states. Kids master state capitals, cities, landmarks, flags, and more. The app costs $2.99 to download and play, with no ads or other in-app purchases to worry about.

Teach Your Monster to Read

They say the best way to learn something is to teach it to another. That’s the idea behind this popular iPad game, where kids “teach” a monster to read while learning the skills themselves. It covers early reading skills, from letter recognition through phonics and word-building. Download and play for $8.99.

Monster Physics

Kids who love to tinker will get a real kick out of this game. They can design and build their own inventions, then see how (and if!) they would work in the real world. There are 50 different missions for them to invent and conquer alongside their own monster avatar. At only $1.99 to download, with no in-game ads, this one is definitely worth a look.

Cut the Rope

Ages: Kindergarten and up

This game has been around for a while, but it’s popular for a reason. The concept is simple: arrange the objects on the screen and then cut the rope to release the candy into the hungry monster’s mouth. The laws of physics apply here, so kids will learn without even knowing it. The levels get progressively more challenging as you play. Cut the Rope costs $1.99 to download, with the ability to buy hints, solutions, and more puzzles in the app.

Slice Fractions

Ages: Grades 1 to 6

Learn fractions in an interactive environment as you slice through ice and lava to clear the mammoth’s path. There’s no reading involved in this game, so kids can focus purely on numbers and fractions. Slice Fractions costs $3.99 to download and play.

Ages: Grades 2 to 12

You don’t need any coding experience to play this game; you’ll learn as you go. Solve puzzles by guiding a robot to light up tiles with basic commands. Multiple players can save their progress on the same device, so this one’s great for classrooms or families. Some reading is required, but otherwise, even little ones can play on their own. Lightbot costs $2.99 to download and play, without the need for in-app purchases.

Reading Raven

This well-reviewed app teaches basic reading and writing skills, starting with letter recognition and tracing. As their skills advance, so do the challenges, until they’re able to practice reading aloud using voice recording. Reading Raven is a one-time cost of $3.99 to download and play, with no in-game ads.

Did we miss one of your favorite iPad games for kids? Come share your thoughts in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, our favorite online games that are fun and educational too ., you might also like.

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12 New iPadOS 18 Features You'll Want To Start Using ASAP

WWDC's main event is over, leaving us with a brand-new spread of OS refreshes for visionOS, iOS, watchOS, macOS, and — of course — the iPadOS. The iPad Pro M4's release reminded us once again that while the hardware is incredible, the software side of things often fails to put it through its paces. Anyone who was hoping to replace their Mac with an iPad Pro should just get the Mac, frankly. So did the iPadOS 18 reveal change the answer to that question? Probably not. Still, this year's upgrade still adds a bunch of helpful features to polish the platform and potentially bring it a step closer to being a Mac replacement.

Apple Intelligence — or AI — was the name of the game for WWDC 2024, and thankfully the iPad wasn't left out in the cold. Those M-series Pro and Air chips were overkill once, but now they seem more like futureproofing that enables the new and improved Siri, among other things. Whether you missed WWDC or didn't feel like watching a feature-length Apple commercial, we've got you covered. Here are 12 iPadOS 18 features we think will change the way you use your iPad come this fall.

Solve handwritten math equations in Calculator

It's ridiculous to think that a tablet that easily reaches well into the $1,000 range doesn't come with a stock calculator app, but there's  a reason why the iPad doesn't have one . Steve Jobs didn't like the first iPad's calculator, and then the project got stuck in development for over a decade. 

Still, we might be able to forgive fourteen calculator-less years because Apple really internalized the "don't do something unless you can do it well" mentality, here. At a foundational level, the calculator is nothing special. You've got a Basic, Scientific, and unit converter option, plus a new history feature. However, what really stole the show during the iPad's presentation was the Math Notes mode.

Math Notes lets you do scientific calculator level equations by hand. It uses machine learning to not just accurately recognize and interpret your handwriting, but also replicate it to fill the solution fields. Even cooler, you don't have to erase an equation and start over to change one value — simply updating it reflects in the equation's result. Variables work, too. You could, say, write A = 1 anywhere on the screen, and Calculator will pull it into formulas incorporating that variable. You can adjust any variable with a scroll wheel and visualize the results by tapping the equal sign next to a relevant equation to create a graph.

Math Notes stores all of these equations in the history tab so you can revisit them later without losing your work. All of this functionality is available in Notes, too. Early trials of iPadOS 18 beta show that the handwriting recognition is good, and able to correctly interpret — and imitate — even the worst chicken scratch.

Take better handwritten notes in Notes

Handwriting supercharged by AI seems to be the running theme for my iPadOS 18, because the Notes app takes it to a new level with the new Smart Script feature. Building on top of existing support for handwriting — such as being able to copy written text or refine it – your iPad will now beautify your letters as fast as you can jot them down. Say goodbye to compulsive rewriting to appease your OCD.

That's just the beginning. Once your iPad learns what your handwriting looks like, you can edit it as if it were any other system font. You can use spellcheck, copy in new text, and rearrange and it will still look like you wrote the whole thing. The Apple Pencil's lack of an eraser when you flip it around won't be a concern either, because you can scratch out any text you don't want, and it will disappear from view.

The iPad has always been in an awkward place between an iPhone and a Mac because it does few things better than the other two platforms, but Smart Script definitely gives it and the Apple Pencil a better sense of purpose.

Write, proofread, and compose with Apple Intelligence

ChatGPT lets you do a lot more than draft a professionally written email in seconds. Prompt engineers have found a ton of unexpected uses , such as getting outfit suggestions or picture pose ideas. The only problem is that you have to open a browser to use ChatGPT, unless you're rocking Windows, where Copilot bakes a ChatGPT twin into your OS . Apple users may have the next best thing with Writing Tools, available natively on iPadOS 18 and other platforms. Writing Tools is a pop-up window that allows you to generate or edit text in a convenient way that is similar to how ChatGPT works.

When summoned, Writing Tools lets you describe, in natural language, what you would like to write or change. If you want to do the writing yourself, but aren't pleased with the result, then you can use the Proofread or Rewrite option to polish it up, the latter of which gives you multiple rewritten versions to choose from. Your tone can also be tweaked with the Friendly, Professional, and Concise presets. At any time, you can fall back on the prompt box to describe, in precise detail, what result you're looking for. Then you can condense your text into summaries, key points, lists, and tables, potentially making TL;DRs and overviews effortless.

Those who are familiar with Apple's shenanigans might be wondering if this is only available in Pages, Mail, and Notes. Not so. Most text-based apps should support it, so presumably developers need only hit some switch in the code to make Writing Tools talk with their platform. The feature goes hand in hand with cool additions like Smart Reply, which creates context-based, intelligent responses to emails and — hopefully someday — messages in third-party apps.

Do anything with Siri thanks to Apple Intelligence

iPhone owners were dismayed to learn that new Apple intelligence features would be restricted to the small number of users with an iPhone 15 Pro and above, meaning that anyone who wants the new Siri might need to upgrade. This news was a much softer blow to iPad owners. The only requirement is an M1 chip or greater, which includes a larger group of Air and Pro models. Now those M-series iPads can finally bring all that horsepower to bear with Siri's Apple intelligence.

WWDC showed off an impressive tech demonstration where a presenter was able to plan out a lunch with another person while keeping past conversations, traffic delays, restaurant opening times, and other conflicts in mind. Siri on iPadOS 18 will have stronger contextual awareness, memory of previous requests, improved understanding of your intent, better language comprehension, and deeper integration with information stored on your tablet. In addition, Siri will be able to do this through multiple apps at once without opening them, including third-party apps that support her integration.

Imagine a future where you can voice-control professional software suites to automate tasks and speed up your workflow — for example, you might ask Siri to apply a mixer effect in Logic Pro to a handful of specific channels. Once this feature rolls out later this year, users are bound to find all kinds of clever ways to put it into practice.

Make AI compositions in Image Playground

Image Playground is Apple's answer to DALL-E and Midjourney, albeit it runs on-device to keep things private, offline, and latency-free. That said, you won't be creating the stunning, detailed, hyper-realistic images seen with OpenAI's diffusion models, as Apple has restricted image playground to Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles for now. That is likely because there's not enough processing power for more and because Apple wants to limit the misuse of generated images. 

Image Playground on iPad makes up for its limitations with the many, many ways you can use it. If you aren't sure what kind of image you want to create, you can choose from themes, costumes, accessories, places, and others and then let the system decide what image to create. Image Playground also takes your personal context into account, so you'll see automatic suggestions based on conversations with friends — including the ability to transform people from your contacts into cartoonish images. If you know exactly what you want, then just describe it the prompt box like you would with any AI image generator

Image Playground is the basis for other cool features in iPad like Genmoji, which lets you create custom emoji on the fly to send in iMessage or use as a Tapback reaction. Image Wand turns a rough sketch into what you're really imagining in your head. So in the Notes app, morph a drawing you've done into a more eye-popping illustration — this is especially cool, since it finds relevant keywords in surrounding text to get the right look.

Customize your home screen icons

For reasons known only to Apple, the tech giant has deprived users for many long years of the ability to simply place home screen icons wherever they like, something Android has had since the dawn of time. However, that feature is finally making it to iOS and iPadOS. Praise be. You can move and resize both app icons and widgets anywhere on the screen, making full use of all that extra home screen space. 

Thankfully, Apple didn't stop there and included another recent Android feature in the form of icon color schemes. Users can choose a specific color, or let apps draw inspiration from the home screen background. In addition, a color picker tool lets you home in on a specific shade if you aren't happy with the automatic one. For fans of dark mode, you can force icons to take on a darker theme or the reverse for the odd app that has a dark field already. Icon coloring also supports your system's automatic light and dark mode settings. The only downside here is that it'll be tricky finding a color option that doesn't make a graphic designer somewhere cry.

Change up your Control Center

On the heels of the home screen customization change, your Control Center got a much-needed customization-oriented refresh, too. For years the Control Center was practically immutable. Your customization options were limited to adding and removing items via Settings, not placing them. Now, you can resize and move controls anywhere you like. 

On top of that, Control Center has been divided into relevant sections for things such as media, home controls, and more. You can swipe through them one at a time, or use a continuous swipe and release to view options before committing to one.

Most importantly, this won't be limited to just Apple's native apps. Third-party developers can make their own controls should they so choose. Aside from that, Apple has slightly altered the design language of the Control Center, rounding it off and adding small tweaks to a handful of icons. Thankfully, it's mostly the same as before, so users won't have to entirely retrain their muscle memory after upgrading to iPadOS 18.

Guide a friend via SharePlay or remote control their iPad

SharePlay is Apple's built-in screen sharing utility for iPad users that lets you do just about anything with another Apple user at a distance. Watch shows, play games, share your screen while doing a FaceTime call, and so on. With iPadOS 18, the Screen Sharing in particular gets a nice little upgrade. Now, users have the ability to draw on the shared screen of a friend to indicate things. For example, creative professionals could guide a colleague step-by-step through doing something in Final Cut Pro.

The biggest change, though, is the ability to remote control another iPad. This can be super helpful if you have an elderly family member who is struggling to do something, but you can't be there to take over in person. However, iPad users have to consent to Screen Sharing, so your friend won't be able to control the device without permission. 

Our only concern here is whether or not Apple has safeguards in place to prevent the abuse of this function. Some basic limitations on entering the Settings app and making security or privacy changes would be the bare minimum expectation, so hopefully these options are easy to find and clearly detailed when this functionality arrives.

Tweak your photo library better than ever

The Photos app works great on the iPhone, although having a tiny screen to work with can be a pain. On iPad, the extra breathing room makes the Photos app the best it can be, especially when it comes to organizing and editing. Thankfully, this year's improvements to Photos on iOS 18 will extend to iPadOS 18. The once separate tabs in Photos have been unified with the camera roll so you can scroll straight down to Collections.

We also get the option to filter out clutter like screenshots and edited pics. Meanwhile, automated daily picture collections will show everything but random junk like receipt pictures. In addition, categories such as People and Pets now groups individuals that appear together in frequent group pics. Finally, there's also the Carousel, a self-updating spotlight for all your best takes.

Coupled with the new Apple Intelligence features, we are also getting the option to build Memory Movies based on prompts complete with relevant images and fitting music. Photobombers will disappear forever with the Clean Up tool, and if you are really struggling to find a specific image, you no longer have to search for it with a jumble of keywords. Instead, you can describe it with natural language either through Siri or using the search function in the Photos app. 

Use Game Mode to improve gaming performance

There is already some solid gaming on iPad. You can play AAA titles like "Resident Evil 4" and "Death Stranding" on a device that doesn't even have a fan to cool it down. Sure, the iPad has a long way to go before it could ever dream of dethroning your Steam Deck OLED , but iPadOS 18 is at least taking steps in the right direction. 

The biggest step yet is the addition of Game Mode, which  debuted on macOS in 2023 . Game Mode squeezes out a handful more frames by limiting background tasks and reducing Bluetooth latency. In additon, personalized Spatial Audio is coming to gaming. The feature creates a custom Spatial Audio profile for AirPods by scanning your ears, but was limited to media like Apple Music and Apple TV. Now, iPad games can take advantage of three-dimensional sound for much deeper immersive. 

The only question remaining is whether or not the iPad will get more titles that are already available on Mac. Apple confirmed that "Assassin's Creed: Shadows" will be released on iPad, but others, such as "Frostpunk 2" and "Control," are still limited to Mac. Of course, Game Mode was a Mac exclusive initiative too at first, so perhaps we've reason to hope that other ports will trickle down to Apple's tablet.

Control your iPad with Eye Tracking and Vocal Shortcuts

If there's one thing Apple seems to consistently do well, it's accessibility features. Both iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 added noteworthy upgrades in this category. Take Vehicle Motion Cues, which is designed to reduce motion sickness while using an iPad in a car. Another important accessibility feature is CarPlay's new Voice Control and Sound Recognition for the deaf and hard of hearing. Our favorites, however, are Eye Tracking and Vocal Shortcuts.

Eye Tracking uses machine learning to transform your eyes into a mouse, no fingers required. You can select items with Dwell Control — hovering over an item to interact with it — while use other workarounds for swipe gestures and physical side buttons. This new Eye Tracking is designed to give individuals with limited hand articulation a way to do everything on their device hands-free, which is excellent news.

Then there are Vocal Shortcuts, an accessibility feature with a lot of interesting potential. This tool teaches Siri a specific phrase that, once heard, has her automatically carry out a shortcut or complex task. So, instead of summoning Siri and asking her to turn off the lights, you could do it just a bit quicker with the phrase "turn off the lights."  The sky is really the limit as to what sorts of things you could do with Vocal Shortcuts — if a shortcut can do it, then your voice can, too.

Browse better with Safari

Safari is a great browser for the iPad, and iPadOS 18 adds a handful of marginal improvements. The first is a new Highlights dropdown menu that identifies the most important information on a page and gathers it in one place. This means that instead of hunting for a business' address or phone number, you can tap Highlights and find it in a flash. Safari will also create an intelligent summary if you want to get the basics of a page without reading it.

Lots of people use their iPad as their primary reading device, so those individuals in particular will be happy to know that Safari's Reader got an overhaul as well. Aside from the automated summary, Reader also intelligently breaks up an article into a table of contents so you can skim through to the good parts. The new Viewer is helpful, too, if you want to grab whatever video is playing and put it center stage, or put it off to the side in Picture in Picture mode, which presents a floating video box that remains on top of other windows.

I've used iPadOS 18 for 24 hours and it emphasizes more than ever just how unloved the iPad truly is

What's a computer who knows..

Early Verdict

In its current state without the powers of Apple Intelligence, iPadOS 18 is a fairly limited update that adds some nice quality-of-life improvements and not much else. The biggest addition here is unironically the Calculator app and the new "Math Notes" feature, but I think most of us were hoping for more after the launch of the impressive M4 iPad Pro hardware.

Home Screen customization

New design language for the Tab Bar

The iPad is still incredible hardware limited by its software

No Apple Intelligence capabilities yet

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1. iOS 18 — what's next for iPhone? 2. iPadOS 18 — the power of iPad unleashed? 3. macOS 15 — what's new for Mac? 4. Apple Intelligence — what will it be able to do?

iPadOS 18 was announced earlier this week at WWDC 2024 , and it comes at a very interesting time for the iPad. Just last month, Apple unveiled the M4 iPad Pro and the M2 iPad Air both with incredible hardware that is far too powerful for the streamlined tablet operating system it currently runs on.

The latest attempt to harness the hardware of the best iPads , iPadOS 18, is set to release later this fall. I’ve been using the early Devolper beta version of the new update for the last few days on my M2 iPad Pro to see if it finally unlocks the full potential of everyone’s favorite tablet.

There’s a lot to talk about, from the arrival of the Calculator app (and that mad Math Notes addition — more on that later) after over a decade since the iPad’s launch to the new customization features on the Home Screen. 

However, the biggest addition of them all isn’t present in the first developer beta, so we’ll need to wait until later in the year to truly understand what the iPad is capable of when Apple Intelligence arrives. With that in mind, here are my initial thoughts on iPadOS 18 after a few days of use.

iPadOS 18 first thoughts

Apple has made it very easy to download the iPadOS 18 beta , so I installed the new operating system on my iPad mere minutes after the end of the WWDC keynote on Tuesday. Since then I’ve been putting the software through its paces to see just what the update is all about. 

It’s worth noting that developer betas will impact performance and stability, and if you want to make sure that your iPad is free of problems, you might want to wait until full release. Having said that, my experience with the beta has been smooth and trouble-free — although, time will tell. Again, wait until full release in September just to be on the safe side.

I’ve wanted to be able to customize my iPad Home Screen for years and now I can finally take control over the position of apps. You can now move your icons and place them essentially anywhere on the screen which feels far more of a big deal on an iPad than the same feature on a smaller screen like the iPhone. I found that I could use screen real estate much better than before and it gives more control over your widget placement. There are also color themes for app icons for the first time ever allowing you to choose different tints — although I will say in its current form it can get pretty ugly as it pastes a blanket filter over everything, including the Photos widget giving your photos an ugly colored hue. More appealing is the ability to use Dark Mode for app icons, and it looks like Apple has made some lovely design choices here that pop off the screen. Additionally, you can choose between small or large icons with the latter removing any app names and it feels right at home on the larger tablet display — props for this one, Apple, but please let us add more apps to our grids, it’s 2024!

You can also adjust widgets by dragging the corner like you would a window on a Mac making widget management and placement far more intuitive than before. Elsewhere, Control Center has received a full redesign allowing you to swipe between different pages of widgets like Home controls and Apple Music. It’s nice to get more flexibility with the options in Control Center but this redesign isn’t as groundbreaking as I hoped it would be when I heard the rumors. Instead, it’s just a new coat of paint with a little more flexibility.

• iOS 18 compatibility: Will my iPhone work with Apple's latest software?

Calculator, finally

In the beta’s current state with the lack of Apple Intelligence features, iPadOS 18’s most impressive new feature is unironically the new Calculator app. Yes, it initially looks like a blown-up version of the Calculator app on iOS 18, perfect for doing some quick math. But it has an incredible new tool Apple is calling ‘Math Notes’ that makes the wait for a dedicated app on iPad totally worth it. 

Nestled at the bottom of the regular calculator, Math Notes takes math to a whole new level, something I wish existed when I was in high school. You can simply write an equation or a math problem and Math Notes will give you the answer, even going so far as to mimic your handwriting. You can even turn an equation into a graph and then make live adjustments that reflect in said graph, it’s seriously impressive. Best of all Math Notes works in the Notes app too which feels right at home on the iPad, meaning you can use your Apple Pencil to do math problems without ever opening the Calculator app. 

Coming later this year, handwriting on iPad will also improve thanks to Smart Script which uses AI to make your handwriting look more appealing and fluid. I’m excited to try this out as I find that my handwriting using the Apple Pencil is never quite right, so if it makes my scrawling appear more natural then it could be one of the biggest additions to the iPad in years.

The Tab Bar, Photos, and…

iPadOS 18 introduces a new redesigned tab bar for app design language and while I haven’t seen it often it looks good in the apps that do use it already. The new Tab Bar in Apple News floats at the top of the screen and is able to morph into the sidebar whenever you want it to with the tap of an icon. It’s a welcome design change for the iPad as it makes better use of the display, but like many of these new additions in iPadOS 18, it makes me wonder why Apple didn’t invest more time into transforming the capabilities of the tablet rather than a nice coat of paint and everything else from iOS 18.

Just like iOS 18, there’s a new Photos app that looks gorgeous on my 11-inch iPad Pro.  Having said that, I never had any issues with the old Photos app so it almost feels like Apple’s software design teams have done work for the sake of working. Yes, libraries are more organized, but I suspect that any iPad owner would’ve rather had these efforts put into, say, multitasking, rather than fixing an app that didn’t really need fixing.

Speaking of multitasking, you’re probably wondering what improvements Apple has made to make Stage Manager feel more fluid and powerful, in line with all the cool new accessories like the Magic Keyboard released alongside the M4 iPad Pro. Well, there aren’t any. Stage Manager remains unchanged from iPadOS 17, that’s to say far too barebones for a tablet that can cost upwards of $2,000.

The similarities with iOS 18 continue with improvements to Messages, like the added functionality of scheduling an iMessage and formatting with bold, underline, or italics. It's a much-needed addition but it’s hardly anything that’s going to get the heart racing. Tapbacks have also been redesigned, and you can now react with any emoji which is a nice change from the limited selection in the previous software.

Finally, Safari now has a better Reader experience that lets you consume content on the internet without the distractions of ads, pop-ups, and anything else that might get in your way. Reader looks great, but the real improvements in Safari won’t arrive until the introduction of Apple Intelligence later this year when summaries and Highlights, which surfaces key information like locations, become available.

No Apple Intelligence, no party

Using iPadOS 18 in its very infant form has been eye-opening, to say the least. It has given me a feel for how the operating system will run for any iPad that doesn’t have an M-series chip, which highlights just how minimal an upgrade this year’s software really is for most people. 

There are definite improvements peppered across the OS and Math Notes is seriously impressive, but I can’t help but feel like the iPad is yet again a forgotten sibling. Yes, the powerful M-series iPads will get access to Apple Intelligence and all that it has to offer later this year but even with AI improvements the iPad still feels like it has so much untapped potential. 

Adding the brand new M4 chip to the iPad Pro in early May was a sign of intent from Apple but after testing iPadOS 18 for a few days I still feel like that intent isn’t matched. For many, if iPadOS 18 had been a newly designed Files app and a better way to multitask that allows you to do actual work on the tablet then it would’ve been enough — instead, we get quality of life improvements from the smaller sibling’s OS and the promise of AI at some point in the future.

All the latest on the newly announced  iOS 18 ,  iPadOS 18 ,  macOS 15 ,  watchOS 11 ,  visionOS 2 , and  Apple Intelligence .

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John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019.  John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit. 

What is a hands on review?

'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view.

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• Just_Me_D I understand where the author is coming from. To me, the non-pro models are an excellent media device. However, the iPad Pro should be more than that. If Apple is going to call it a pro device then back it up with a professional level operating system in which those of us what aren’t artists can do the things I can do on a Mac. The iPad Pro is spec’d for power, but iPadOS is not - at least not in my opinion. Reply
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