iPhone Games to Play With Friends, Together or Apart

"Multiplayer" on iPhone covers very different things. Some games need everyone holding a phone in the same room. Some need you all online at once. Others let you take a turn on the bus and leave it for your friend to answer tonight.

Picking a game is mostly about picking the right one of those, so that's how this list is organized:

1. Over text. Games that live inside iMessage or a chat.
2. In your own time. Asynchronous games, where each player moves whenever they're free.
3. In the same room. One phone or several, everybody together.
4. Live, apart. Real-time play while you're on a call.

Full disclosure: we make Where&When, which appears in section 2. Every app below was checked against its App Store listing in October 2026.

At a glance

1. Games to play over text

GamePigeon

GamePigeon is the default answer to "games to play with friends over text." It's an iMessage app, so you send a game the way you'd send a photo. The listing names more than twenty games, including 8-Ball, Mini Golf, Cup Pong, Sea Battle, Word Hunt, Anagrams, Chess and Four in a Row.

It's free and needs nothing beyond Messages. The catch is that it only works for people with an iPhone.

Plato

Plato turns that idea around. It's a full messenger with group chats and voice chat, and its listing describes more than fifty games built into it, from Chess and Backgammon to Werewolf, Bowling and card games like Spades and Hearts. It's free, describes itself as ad-free, and supports player-run tournaments.

Pick Plato over GamePigeon when your group wants a dedicated place to play rather than games mixed into your regular texts.

2. Games to play in your own time

These are asynchronous multiplayer games: you take your turn, the game waits for your friend, and a notification tells you when it's your move again. On a phone, where everyone's free at different moments, this is usually the format that keeps a game going past the first week.

Where&When — a history challenge against one friend

Where&When is our free history guessing game. Each round is an AI-generated scene of a real historical event with no caption. You pin where it happened on a world map and enter the year, then the reveal tells you what the event was. Events run from the 1st century to the 2020s.

Its Tournament mode is a two-player challenge:

1. You tap New challenge and send the link, or a six-character code, through Messages, WhatsApp or anything else in your share sheet.
2. The server picks five events, and you both play the same five, each on your own iPhone. Sending comes before playing, so your friend can start straight away.
3. After each event you see your friend's guess next to yours, once you've played it yourself.
4. When the second player finishes, the other gets a notification with the result. Challenges stay open for seven days.

Each round has its own 60-second clock, so there's no penalty for playing at a different time of day than your friend. If they don't have the app, the link takes them to the App Store and they can join with the code once it's installed.

Words With Friends

Words With Friends is the long-running turn-based word game. You can challenge a friend or let Smart Match find an opponent. It's free with optional in-game purchases, and it runs on Android too, which makes it the easy choice for a mixed group of friends.

Codenames

The official Codenames app is a one-time $4.99 purchase with no ads. Matches are turn-based, so you can run several at once and come back when it's your turn.

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride ($4.99) supports private games with friends and an asynchronous mode played "across multiple days," with a notification when it's your turn. It's the deepest game on this list, so it suits friends who'd happily play a board game for an evening.

3. Games for the same room

Heads Up!

Heads Up! ($1.99) is the charades game where you hold the phone to your forehead and your friends shout clues. It has more than 100 decks plus custom ones. One phone does the whole group, and nobody needs to download anything.

Psych!

Psych!, from the same makers, is a bluffing game. Everyone writes a fake answer to a real trivia question, or to a question about someone in the room, and you score by spotting the true answer and fooling your friends. Its listing pitches it for game nights and for Zoom calls. Everyone needs their own phone.

4. Games to play live, apart

Wavelength

Wavelength is a cooperative guessing game: one player gives a clue and the group places it on a spectrum. The listing says it takes 2 to 10+ players "in the same room or across the world." It's free with no ads and cross-platform, which makes it the most broadly playable game here.

Any of the asynchronous games also work live. Start a Where&When challenge during a FaceTime call and you'll both see the guesses side by side as you go.

Which should you pick?

• You want something inside your existing texts: GamePigeon.
• Your group wants a place to hang out and play: Plato.
• You and one friend are rarely free at the same time: Where&When's Tournament, Words With Friends or Codenames.
• You're all on the sofa together: Heads Up!, or Psych! if everyone has a phone.
• Some of your friends are on Android: Words With Friends or Wavelength.
• You want to learn something while you play: Where&When. Every round ends with the story behind the scene.

Hosting a bigger group? Our guide to hosting a history guessing tournament shows how to turn one-on-one challenges into a game night for four to eight people.

Frequently asked questions

What are good iPhone games to play with friends?

It depends on how you play. GamePigeon and Plato are best for playing over text. Where&When, Words With Friends, Codenames and Ticket to Ride are turn-based or asynchronous, so you play whenever you're free. Heads Up! and Psych! are for being in the same room, and Wavelength works live from anywhere.

What are the best two-player iPhone games?

For two players apart, Where&When's Tournament gives you both the same five history rounds and shows your guesses side by side. Words With Friends and Codenames are good turn-based options, and GamePigeon has dozens of quick two-player games in iMessage.

What does asynchronous multiplayer mean?

Each player takes a turn whenever they're free, rather than everyone playing at the same moment. The game waits between turns and usually notifies you when it's your move. It's the format that works best for friends on different schedules or in different time zones. See games to play with long-distance friends for more.

Can you play games with friends over text on iPhone?

Yes. GamePigeon runs inside iMessage, and Plato is a messenger with games built in. Where&When challenges are sent as a link and a code in any messaging app, though the game itself is played in the Where&When app.

Are there free iPhone games to play with friends?

GamePigeon, Plato, Where&When, Psych! and Wavelength are free. Words With Friends is free with optional purchases. For history-themed options specifically, see history games to play with friends.