Dedicated Games app in iOS 26 will try to help users play together & find new titles
A standalone Games app in iOS 26 will consolidate Apple Arcade and third-party titles into a single hub, with tabbed sections to help users discover new titles and play games together.
WWDC 2025 kicks off on Monday, June 9. During the event, Apple is expected to unveil everything we can expect coming to its software later this year.
One new addition coming to iOS 26 -- and likely iPadOS 26 -- is the Games app. According to Bloomberg on Friday, this new standalone app takes the place of the Games tab in the App Store.
The Games app isn't a new rumor. What is, is how the app is laid out.
Games is said to have five tabs: Home, Arcade, Play Together, and Search. It will include both Apple Arcade and third-party games.
Friday's report posits that this may have been done to try to keep pace with the Nintendo Switch 2 launch in hopes that the new Games app could make its devices contenders in the gaming industry. However, Bloomberg suggests that the app is underwhelming and that Apple will continue to come up short in gaming circles, as it has traditionally.
If you want to get a first look at the changes coming to iOS 26, be sure to check out our helpful guide on how to watch WWDC 2025. AppleInsider will also be offering up-to-the-minute coverage and insights for Apple's biggest software event of the year.
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Comments
It could track what games and publishers a player likes and push similar games to the front of the queue and notify when a publisher releases a new game. When a user flags that they aren't interested in a game, the store should hide it from being seen by the user in promotions (the user can choose to show ignored items if they want).
This queue can either be an infinite scroll of apps or swipe through them one by one.
Play time is also useful for games for a player to know which games they like the most and which apps they spend the most money on.
Better cross-save would be good between iPhone, Mac and iPad, often this needs a manual login inside the app and between 3rd party stores where possible.
Apple can offer rewards for achievements. If they put up a prize pool per year of $100m, they can have $1k as the top prize for some kind of combinations of play metrics like achievements, play time, purchases and this can be spent in the Apple Store.