At its WWDC keynote on June 9, 2025, The iPhone giant introduced the Games app, a unified gaming platform that comes pre-installed on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV when iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and tvOS update later this year.
The app consolidates the App Store’s game downloads, Apple Arcade titles, and Game Center’s social and leaderboard features into one streamlined interface.
The platform will offer:
- Improved Game Discovery: The “Home” tab curates trending titles, updates, and events, helping users find new games more easily than browsing the general App Store. 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.
- Unified Library & Social Hub: “Library” gathers all installed games, while “Apple Arcade” shows Arcade titles. “Play Together” and “Challenges” let you track achievements and compete with friends using Game Center integration. TechCrunch notes the new “Challenges” feature builds on leaderboards to foster competition.
- Cross‑device Integration: The app syncs your gaming history, progression, and social activity across Apple devices, reinforcing Apple’s ecosystem for gaming.
- Offer In-App Events: In‑App Events are timely events within your games — such as competitions.
Combined with updates to Metal 4 graphics and the Game Porting Toolkit, the company aims to draw “AAA-tier” games to macOS and iOS.
The “Games” app is expected to ship later this fall, alongside the OS updates on all devices.
