Apple Games app offers a one-stop gaming destination

"Gaming on Apple devices can be a mess. Titles can pile up on an iPhone, iPad and Mac as players dabble in different titles looking for the right amusement for their snippets of free time. That type of entertainment grazing can make searching for a game difficult, especially if a collection is unorganized. That's where the new Apple Games app comes in. The Cupertino-based company has previewed the new feature coming to iOS 26 in a beta."

"It acts as an all-in-one hub for gaming across the company's devices. It gathers what players are enjoying on the iPhone and Mac from different services (including Steam) and puts it in a space, where they can see, and depending on the device, access it. From what I've seen, it's comparable to what Nvidia does with its GeForce Experience on PC, but Apple Games has a few more tricks up its sleeve."

"The app is split into five tabs: Home, Arcade, Play Together, Library and Search. Some of these are self-explanatory. Arcade is for games tied to the Apple Arcade service, which is packed with more than 200 games, and the Library shows players all the titles on a device. It can be titles they purchased on the App Store, free-to-start projects like Marvel Snap or even Steam games downloaded on a Mac."

"The Search is a way to find titles by name. It can filter games by genre or even different control schemes. Play Together is an intriguing option. It shows what games friends are playing, leaderboards, achievements and challenges. The supported genre extends to unexpected ones such as Crosswords or Sudoku in Apple News +. This is where Apple tries to build in more multiplayer components."

Apple Games centralizes gaming across iPhone, iPad and Mac by aggregating titles from the App Store, Apple Arcade and services like Steam into one hub. The app uses five tabs—Home, Arcade, Play Together, Library and Search—to organize content, surface Apple Arcade offerings, and display all device-installed games. The Library tracks titles historically and can include purchased and free-to-start games. Cross-device save syncing is supported for compatible titles. Search supports filtering by genre and control scheme. Play Together surfaces friends' activity, leaderboards, achievements and challenges, and broadens multiplayer-like features to unexpected genres.

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