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.

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Three Companies Are Now in the Running to Take Over the Apple Card

Thursday January 16, 2025 8:18 am PST by
Apple is in talks with Barclays and Synchrony about becoming its new financial partner for the Apple Card, according to Reuters sources. The report today added that Apple has also been holding discussions with Chase Bank owner JPMorgan since last year, so there are at least three potential companies in the running to take over the Apple Card from current partner Goldman Sachs. Goldman...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 8 New Features

Thursday January 9, 2025 5:45 am PST by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of January 2025: More aluminum: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models ...
MacBook Air 15 Inch Feature Blue

MacBook Air Likely Apple's First Product Update of 2025: What to Expect

Wednesday January 15, 2025 8:49 am PST by
There is a good chance that Apple's first product announcement of 2025 will be updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M4 chip. Last month, Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.2, and in doing so it accidentally confirmed new MacBook Air models are coming this year (unsurprisingly). Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the new MacBook Air models will be announced "earlier" than some...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade

Friday January 17, 2025 4:33 am PST by
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report. The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader. Vapor chamber technology is already used...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...

Top Rated Comments

Unity451 Avatar
70 months ago
Can't wait to delete all the freemium garbage games on my phone!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blasto2236 Avatar
70 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
70 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
70 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
70 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
70 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)