Apple Arcade Subscription Gaming Service Goes Live Alongside iOS 13, One Month Free Trial Available

Apple Arcade, Apple's new subscription gaming service, is now available for everyone following the launch of the iOS 13 update for the iPhone.

‌Apple Arcade‌ offers up dozens of games for one monthly $4.99 price, and reviews of the service have been positive, praising the wide selection of available titles.

apple arcade devices
Apple actually began rolling out ‌Apple Arcade‌ to iOS 13 and iOS 13.1 beta testers earlier this week, but now it is available to everyone who has installed the release version of iOS 13.

When ‌Apple Arcade‌ first became available, there were just over 50 games available, but more titles have already been rolling out. Apple says that new ‌Apple Arcade‌ titles will be coming out on a weekly basis, with at least 100 games in the works.

applearcade
While ‌Apple Arcade‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, that price allows up to six family members to access games through Apple's Family Sharing feature. There's also a one-month free trial available, so everyone can give it a try before paying.

applearcadeinterface
You can access ‌Apple Arcade‌ through the App Store using the new ‌Apple Arcade‌ tab in the navigation bar. ‌Apple Arcade‌ looks similar to the standard ‌App Store‌ with apps arranged into different categories like "Start Your Adventure," "New Arrivals," "You Have to Hear This," "No Time to Blink," and more.

applearcadecategories
Apple's editorial team will highlight standout ‌Apple Arcade‌ titles, but there's also an option to access all available games, and you can search for titles as well.

Right now, ‌Apple Arcade‌ is available only on the ‌iPhone‌, though iOS 13 and 13.1 beta testers on iPad can install the update. Apple isn't releasing iPadOS until September 30, and tvOS 13 and macOS Catalina also aren't coming out until a future date. For more details on ‌Apple Arcade‌, make sure to check out our Apple Arcade guide.

If you have a favorite ‌Apple Arcade‌ title, make sure to share it in the comments down below, because there's a lot of available content to go through. Our sister site TouchArcade also has a dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussing games, which is well worth checking out.

Top Rated Comments

Unity451 Avatar
59 months ago
Can't wait to delete all the freemium garbage games on my phone!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blasto2236 Avatar
59 months ago
It’s a real bummer that this isn’t available for tvOS at launch. For me, that’s a huge part of the appeal of the service, and having tested a lot of these games on the iPadOS beta, I’m eager to try them on a larger screen with a controller.

Sadly, it looks like this won’t be possible until my free trial is mostly up. Don’t have any interest in playing these games on a tiny iPhone screen, where I have the least amount of storage space. Kinda lame that’s the only officially available platform at launch.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darkslide29 Avatar
59 months ago

No true gamer will ever take this seriously. Glorified iOS titles & company that has never gotten gaming. Fail
A game on an iOS device doesn't mean that it's a bad or a sub-par experience anymore - it's time to end that thinking. The Apple TV, and the iPad Pro specifically (remember the keynote benchmarking it equal to an Xbox One S?), are capable of running some really good games, without any sacrifice of making it a 'light' version. And for whatever market reason, many games are priced even more affordable than their counterpart on a PS4, Nintendo Switch, or Steam.

Take for example games such as Dead Cells, Oxenfree, and Hyper Light Drifter. These are examples of games that are well reviewed by 'true gamers' on PC or traditional console, but now also available on Apple devices as a complete port including proper (thank goodness) controller support in iOS 13. Hyper Light Drifter even runs natively at 120hz on an iPad Pro, arguably making it the better version vs the Nintendo Switch (60hz) if you're using a controller. So we are far from the days of glorified iOS titles.

Sure, you won't be playing Call of Duty or Borderlands 3 on an Apple TV. At least not yet. But Apple Arcade are getting good indie developers to make games, with many expressing their excitement at this. Mini Metro is very much an indie but a beloved game, so it's nice to see that the developer put out Mini Motorways on Arcade. Exit the Gungeon is another one to check out since Enter the Gungeon was such a popular and well reviewed game. So long as they continue to be enticing and bring in well established developers, it will go well. Apple aren't even requiring games to be an absolute Arcade exclusive, as some of these games will be on PC. They just aren't going to be on other mobile platforms is all. This isn't the $15/mo Ultimate Game Pass that Xbox offers for AAA games today, but at just $5, I think we can already be optimistic for this starting point and where it can grow from here.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kabeyun Avatar
59 months ago
This is what a subscription feels like it should be for: pay a monthly fee, have access to a bunch of stuff. I know I’m picking an old scab, but the current money-grabbing trend of subscriptions for a single app, even one with no services, is a bunch of malarkey. Otoh, $5/month for a gaming catalog seems reasonable.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ar40 Avatar
59 months ago

No true gamer will ever take this seriously. Glorified iOS titles & company that has never gotten gaming. Fail
Don't you mean "no true scotsman"?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aevan Avatar
59 months ago

Apple should give Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV buyers one free year of the Arcade service. Like the TV service, I'm not excited enough by this offering of what has so far looked like basic mobile games to start paying a separate monthly fee for it. Especially if these are the same games the Mac will be receiving.
Games offer much more value than a couple of TV shows. It’s a great service. The games are not exactly console level in terms of scope, true, but it’s a start.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...