Play Halo on your iPhone

Apple isn’t too keen on game streaming services in the App Store, but Microsoft’s big plans are unstoppable. That’s how I like Xbox Cloud Gaming on iOS.

Halo on your iPhone: Xbox Cloud Gaming iOS tested

Game streaming services are not allowed by Apple as an app in the App Store, because the company then has no control over the games that are offered. That’s not stopping Microsoft, though. You can now play Halo on your iPhone or iPad with a web app via the Safari browser.

Microsoft is not the only player on the market, but it has the best papers at the moment. Google Stadia is missing the games and no longer making its own titles, and Amazon is another new player in the game industry. Microsoft is a veteran who not only understands gaming, but already has a whole library of exclusive titles of his own that are worth checking out.

In addition, Microsoft has an important secret weapon: Game Pass. For a fixed monthly fee you can play a library of more than a hundred games, to which new titles are added regularly. In the future, games like Halo: Infinite and the big new Bethesda game Starfield will also be added.

Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly known as xCloud) on iOS is now available to anyone with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. If you have this, all you need to do is go to Xbox.com/play in Safari to pick out a game. You can put a shortcut to the page on your home screen to make it look like you’re running an app. Although this shortcut often does not work for us.

On the Xbox website you browse through the offer, choose a game and start playing. Ideally, you don’t have to download the games, because everything is streamed. After a loading screen of a few seconds, the game will just start. Whether it’s a small indie game or a part in the Halo series.

offer

The offer consists of a lot of well-known games from Microsoft, Bethesda and other publishers. Think of games in the Halo, Gears of War and Forza series from Microsoft, or Dishonored, Fallout, Doom and The Elder Scrolls from Bethesda. Other major games such as Destiny 2 and No Man’s Sky are also present, as are smaller titles such as Don’t Starve, Donut County and Hollow Knight.

Conveniently, a separate section has been added to games that can be played purely via your screen. Then you don’t have to connect a controller. You have to do it with a virtual controller that is placed over the game. It’s not ideal, but it turns out to be a handy option if you want to play in between.

beta

Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in beta. This means that there is still a lot of work to be done on the service. Only recently is it no longer necessary to be invited to the beta to play on iOS. Microsoft has also recently upgraded the underlying hardware.

This beta is not perfect, but the question is whether that is due to the test version or whether it is simply about the limits of the technology. There is a slight delay noticeable. Most players are not bothered by this, but for example in Halo multiplayer it can make the difference between winning and losing. My connection also sometimes dropped, resulting in hitches, but that can of course also be due to my own WiFi.

Yet I am convinced. Streaming service Google Stadia is already impressive, with technology that works well, but a mediocre range of games that you also had to buy separately. Xbox Cloud Gaming and Game Pass now seem like a golden combination, because you can play top games for a fixed amount per month on the screens you already have. Including that of your iPhone.

App Store

Smartphone games are fun and I still love trying out the latest games in the App Store, but those are just casual games. Xbox Cloud Gaming is the future of smartphone gaming, and by banning these and other game streaming services from the App Store, Apple is holding back innovation.

Cost

Game Pass Ultimate costs 12.99 euros per month. You can try the service for 1 euro per month for the first three months. Enough time to try it then. We also explain step by step how to start playing on your iPhone or Mac.

More game streaming options

Do you want to stream games? Then you can also opt for Google Stadia, or you can stream an entire gaming PC with Shadow.