Introducing the Apple Games app
An all-in-one gaming destination for players to explore what‘s happening across their games, discover new ones, and play with friends.
Now available in beta. Coming to all customers this fall.
Get the highlights
A new way to get discovered
The Games app is a dedicated destination for people who love playing games on their Apple devices. Players can find new games through personalized recommendations based on the games they play, and what their friends are playing — offering an entirely new way for your games to get discovered. The Games app is installed on player’s devices on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, or later.
Engage current and past players
The Games app highlights Game Center features and In-App Events to encourage player engagement in your games. Achievements and leaderboards let players track their progress from the Games app, and get notified if a friend passes their score, so they can jump back in or redownload your game — even if they no longer have your game installed. When you use challenges and multiplayer activities, the Games app can recommend your game in more places, making it easy for players to bring their friends in on the action. And In-App Events help you showcase new content in your game on the Home tab.
Where your game can appear
Home
The Home tab is where players can get the latest highlights, discover new games and challenges, as well as jump back into their games. On the Home tab, players can see their most recently played games, top charts, In-App Events, personalized recommendations, editorial selections, friend activity, and more.
Play Together
The Play Together tab keeps players connected to friends and helps them discover new games their friends are playing. They can also invite friends to challenges or multiplayer matches, as well as compare scores and achievements.
Arcade
Apple Arcade subscribers can access the entire catalog of games, play the latest releases, and more — all from the Arcade tab. If you offer games on Apple Arcade, your games can also appear here.
Library
On the Library tab, players can quickly jump into a specific game they’ve installed and redownload old favorites. This includes all the of the games they have downloaded from the App Store for their iPhone and iPad, and all games downloaded from any platform or service for Mac.
Search
Players can use Search to find and download games as well as browse curated collections and charts.
Your game page
This is where players can learn more about your game and download it, as well as tap to play it and invite friends to play. Players can also view the latest in your game like In-App Events and Game Center activity, such as achievements, scores, and friend activity. Your game page automatically includes the same metadata from your App Store product page — such as your app description, screenshots, and previews.
Get ready for the Games app
Games that are available on the App Store will automatically appear on the Games app including in search results, the Library tab, and the Continue Playing section. Additionally, games that include Game Center features and In-App Events are prominently displayed across the Games app in order to help players discover and engage deeper with them.
Maximize discovery with Game Center
Game Center makes playing across Apple devices more connected and rewarding for players, with features like achievements, leaderboards, and discovering new games through friends.
Support Game Center initialization.
With initialization, players are automatically signed in to their Game Center account and can access your game’s activity across their Apple devices. This lets your game appear in social recommendations on the Home and Play Together tabs, as well as in a new Top Played chart which appears on the Games app and on the App Store.
Add additional Game Center features.
To help players and their friends discover and engage more deeply with your games, the following features can appear as recommendations across the Games app:
Leaderboards. Encourage friendly competition and re-engagement within your game. With leaderboards, players are automatically notified when a friend beats their score. Learn how to encourage progress and competition with leaderboards.
Challenges. Turn single-player activities into social experiences with friends. With challenges, players can invite their friends to compete in score-based competitions to see who can win before time runs out.
Achievements. Motivate players and help them track progress in your game. Players can collect and unlock achievements, and see which ones their friends have completed. Learn how to motivate players with achievements.
Multiplayer activities. Promote your game’s multiplayer experiences across the Games app, and help players seamlessly invite friends to join — even across platforms. You can configure multiplayer activities using the infrastructure provided by Game Center, or your own multiplayer system.
Offer In-App Events
In‑App Events are timely events within your games — such as competitions. People can discover your In‑App Events on both the Games app and the App Store on iOS and iPadOS, giving you another way to showcase your events and reach new, current, and previous players.
In-App Events can appear on the Home tab, on your game page, in a player’s library, and in search results.