Can I Play Xbox Games On My Phone? Answered!
If you enjoy playing top-quality video games on the go, you might want to know if you can play Xbox games on your phone. There are tons of mobile games available to play from Google Play and the App Store, but the in-game ads and cost to buy game items can be excessive. I often prefer playing Xbox games since they are more robust and engaging.
Table of Contents
- How do you play Xbox games on a phone?
- Is Playing Xbox Games On My Phone Similar To My Console?
- How Do I Play Xbox Games On My Phone?
How do you play Xbox games on a phone?
You can play Xbox games on your phone through the Xbox app and Xbox Game Pass app. Both of those apps can be easily downloaded from Google Play for Android phones and the App Store for iPhones. Minimum system requirements must be met for the apps to work.
Common Android phones that can be used to play Xbox games include phones from Samsung, Huawei, and Google. Along with the iPhone, Xbox games can be played on other Apple mobile devices such as the iPad and iPod Touch.
To ensure optimal performance of Xbox games on your phone, you should be sure to have the latest versions of the relevant operating system installed on your phone. There are more details to consider when playing Xbox games on your phone, which we will go over below.
Is Playing Xbox Games On My Phone Similar To My Console?
When I first played video games on my phone, they were nowhere near the quality of my favorite console games.
In fact, I think the best mobile games weren’t even as good as the worst console games I played.
Video game technology has come a long way over the years, and thanks to platforms like the Xbox, we can now play games on our phones that are as good as games on our consoles.
We can now use apps developed by Xbox to seamlessly play console games on our phones.
If we start playing a game on our Xbox, we can continue where we left off on our phone.
The same can be done the other way where we start a game on our phone and continue on our Xbox.
Playing games this way is much more advanced than how I first started playing console-style games on my phone.
Those games were often emulated games developed by small mobile game developers.
All of the features present in the console games were usually not seen in the emulated mobile games.
Even console games converted to mobile games from big developers like EA and Nintendo weren’t up to par with the console versions of the games.
When you play Xbox games today through the Xbox app or Xbox Game Pass app, you essentially get access to the console version of the game on your phone.
The Xbox app is different from the Xbox Game Pass app since the Xbox app lets you play games on your phone that were purchased and downloaded to your Xbox.
On the other hand, the Xbox Game Pass app lets you play games from your Game Pass subscription on your phone.
Since playing Xbox games on your phone requires the games to be online from your console or the Game Pass cloud, your internet connection plays a significant role in your phone gaming experience.
Slow internet connections and congestion within the Xbox network can contribute to gameplay with noticeably high lag and latency.
The amount of data that streams online when you play a console or Game Pass game on your phone can be huge.
When you’re playing a game that requires full control and instant reaction capabilities, a slow network that creates lag can be very detrimental to your gameplay.
For instance, if you’re playing a game where you’re driving a fast car or flying a fast plane, you need to be able to react to oncoming objects in your way.
If your screen freezes up for even a second, that could easily be too long for you to adequately react to whatever is in front of you.
If you face an opponent that runs up on you in a shooting game, you need to be able to move, duck, or shoot in order to survive.
Not being able to keep up with standard gameplay abilities can make you lose games and ruin the fun.
With all that said, playing Xbox games on your phone can definitely be fun if you have lag and latency under control.
I find that slower-paced games with minimal on-screen animations and movements offer the best Xbox game experiences on my phone.
How Do I Play Xbox Games On My Phone?
Playing Xbox games on your mobile phone only requires a few simple steps.
Before you do anything on your phone, you will need to set up your Xbox console for remote play to play games from your console.
Follow these steps to set up your Xbox console for remote play:
- Go to the guide on your Xbox console by tapping the Xbox button on your game controller.
- Choose Profile & system.
- Choose Settings.
- Choose Devices & connections.
- Choose Remote features.
- Check the box next to Enable remote features.
- In the Sleep mode section, choose Standby.
After your Xbox console is properly configured, you should download and install the Xbox app to play games from your console and the Xbox Game Pass app to play games from your Game Pass subscription.
These apps are available through Google Play for Android phones or the App Store for iPhones.
Your phone must meet minimum system requirements, so be sure to check the Xbox website for the latest requirements before playing.
If the minimum system requirements have been met or exceeded, you can follow these steps to play Xbox games from your console on your phone:
- Load the Xbox app on your phone.
- Go to My Library.
- Choose Consoles.
- Choose the Xbox console from which you want to play games on your phone.
- Choose Remote play on this device.
Your phone is now ready to play games from your Xbox console.
To play games from your Xbox Game Pass subscription on your phone, you simply have to open the Xbox Game Pass app on your phone and choose a game you want to play.
You can browse and search for games through the mobile similarly to the way you would through Game Pass on your console.
Keep in mind that only certain Xbox games are available through cloud gaming.
For games you plan to play on your phone, you should first check to see if the games are enabled for cloud gaming.
You can verify if a game is enabled for cloud gaming by following these steps:
- Go to the Game Pass section of the Xbox website.
- Choose the Console games tab.
- In the filter section, go to Delivery.
- Go to Cloud.
- You can now browse games that are enabled for cloud gaming.
If you want to search for specific games to see if they are enabled for cloud gaming, follow these steps:
- Go to the Game Pass section of the Xbox website.
- Search for a game you want to play on your phone.
- Select the game cover or title you want to play.
- In the bar with the ESRB rating, you will see if the game is cloud-enabled.
As far as game controllers go, you should be able to play with an Xbox game controller connected wirelessly or with a wire to your phone.
Only select Xbox games will have on-screen controls for your phone.