Are iPads good for gaming? YES! Check this out.

When it comes to playing mobile games, my iPad is my main gaming device. And, sometimes I use it to play games that I normally used to play on my computer, mostly due to the fact that it’s so much more convenient. But are iPads good for gaming? Let’s find out.

Your Answer Upfront:

The iPad (even the cheapest one) is unrivalled in terms of gaming performance. It can run almost all mobile games out there and even some that are exclusive to it (Like Divinity: Original Sin 2). In terms of CPU power, the base iPad (9th gen) can outperform 90% of mobile devices out there and has an amazing battery life. And yes, you can use wireless gamepads with it and even play games with a mouse and keyboard.

In this article we’ll look at iPads as gaming devices! We’ll talk about performance, peripherals and even the iPad Gaming Setup that I normally use. By the end of the article you’ll have a pretty good idea if iPads are any good for gaming.

Why Game On An iPad?

I mentioned that I prefer gaming on my iPad to using my phone or computer. No, it’s not because I’m in love with modern mobile games, quite the contrary – I’m disappointed with a lot of the things the industry is putting out nowadays. However, the iPad as a gaming device? It’s pretty amazing.

I game on my iPad because of the following reasons:

• I can set it up to game whenever I want and I always carry my iPad with me as it’s part of my desk setups, both at my work office as well as my home office.
• It works with my favorite wireless game controller (PS4) and I can carry it around with me.
• It’s screen is bigger than a smartphone screen, but smaller and more portable than a laptop’s screen. I can just plop it down on a stand on the train, on my desk or hold it in my lap.
• It pairs nicely with a mouse and keyboard and I can even play really old retro games on it, just as I used to do back in the day.
• The battery life is amazing and the screen is really good. As far as performance goes even the entry level iPad can outclass 90% of the android devices out there.
• If you pair it with a gamepad and an Apple Arcade subscription you can get really close to the experience of gaming on a Nintendo Switch. I’m not kidding. I even wrote a post where I compared a gamepad + stand + apple arcade to a Nintendo Switch and in some cases, the iPad is victorious.
• The iPad and my Macs connect via Universal Control, allowing me to control the iPad from my Mac’s mouse and keyboard. When I’m working I can just use it as a third monitor and I find myself playing a ton of games on the iPad like this.
• I can connect it to my bedroom TV and game on it while in bed.

My three iPad Gaming Setups

I have an iPad Air 4 that I carry with me everywhere I go, it’s part of my desk setup for work either from my home office or my very own work office. It sits to the side of the desk and I use it for productivity work (meetings, calendar, chat) as well as for leisure (gaming, especially turn based gaming).

So let’s talk about the different Desk Setups where I use my iPad.

iPad Bedroom Gaming Setup

This is the setup I most commonly use after a day of work when I just want to relax and have a console-like gaming experience. My Bedroom TV has a USB-C to HDMI adapter that I plug my iPad Air 4 into. I then turn on my PS4 DualShock gamepad and hop into bed.

For this setup my favorite games to play are games ported from consoles or computers and released on the iPad. I actually wrote an entire article about Console-quality game ports available for mobile devices and you can read all about them if you’re interested in a console-like gaming experience for the iPad.

Home Office Gaming Setup

My home office setup is used for many things from writing articles for this blog, to recording audio, making and designing games to just relaxing and playing games like a normal person. In this setup I mainly use my iPad to play games that work well with a mouse or keyboard. Turn Based Strategy games are one of my favorite choices, but Idle Games, RPGs and even some RTSs work really well.

In the photo above the iPad is running one of my own game prototypes. Normally when the iPad is docked to my home office setup I run the following games on it:

• Diablo 1 (yes, you can run diablo 1 on an iPad and I wrote a guide on how to do it)
• D&D Games like Baldur’s Gate (1/2/Siege of Dragonspear) and Neverwinter Nights.
• Idle Life Sim, an amazing idle game that works incredibly well with Universal Control (or a mouse and keyboard)! I reviewed the game in this article and spoiler warnings – I really liked it! I’m still playing it daily.
• A ton of games from the 80’s and 90’s like Doom, Duke Nukem, Warlords and Sim City! Seriously, the iPad is an amazing retro gaming machine if you take the time to set it up properly. Here’s a guide I wrote on how to do it and what retro, classic games, I played on it!
• Merchant, a free-to-play medieval, pixel art-ish, shop keeper simulation game that I fell in love with and gave 4.5 ⭐️’s in a review! You can read the review for Merchant here.

Work Office Gaming Setup

My work office setup is a setup for work only. I rented an 4 bedroom apartment in the city center with some friends and developers that I share a common client with. I usually go to my work office only when I want to 100% focus on work, be it due to a fast approaching deadline or I need a distraction free environment (it’s hard to make games at home when two cats are constantly clawing for my attention).

Even so, I find myself sneaking some gaming on my iPad when I’m not in a meeting or while waiting for my latest project to upload to our repository. In this setup I tend to favor a ton of non-realtime games. Turn Based Strategy games are the best in this environment however I do find myself experimenting with many hypercasual games for research (work) on it.

And when I’m in a really boring meeting? I pick up the iPad and play a little bit of QB Planets (review here) and Man Or Vampire (the review for it can be read here). Sometimes I use it as a Third Monitor for Parallels with Windows running so I can play X3 – Albion Prelude. Or as a third monitor for World of Warcraft.

I should really focus more on work, now that I think about it. And here I was saying I go to that office so I can work distraction free…. This comes to show how amazing an iPad is as a gaming device.

iPad Gaming Performance

I’m not going to go into too many details on the iPad’s gaming performance because every tech youtuber or gamer with a camera talks about it. In short, even the entry level iPad is incredible for mobile gaming and performs better than 90% of the mobile devices out there.

So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’ll give you the benchmark scores from Geekbench for the iPad’s CPU performance from the base level iPad (9th gen) to the iPad Pro and throw in some top tier Android phone scores so you can see how well it fairs.

Please note that Samsung is banned from Geekbench for a lot of their recent tablets and phones due to them throttling the phone normally except when benchmarks tests are performed. You can read more about this on AndroidAuthority, an amazing blog about everything Android. So, take Samsung’s score with a grain of salt as the actual performance would be lower than the scores there.

As you can see, even the entry level iPad that you can get for $299 performs better or on par with the top contenders from the Android gaming space. Spending a little bit more to get an iPad Air 4 (or 5 if you want a desktop level CPU) will get you a portable gaming machine like no other.

I’ve attached the Geekbench scores as part of an image gallery so you can check the scores out for yourself. For Samsung’s score I relied on this thread from Samsung’s own community forums.

Are iPads good for gaming?

The iPad (even the cheapest one) is unrivalled in terms of gaming performance. It can run almost all mobile games out there and even some that are exclusive to it (Like Divinity: Original Sin 2). In terms of CPU power, the base iPad (9th gen) can outperform 90% of mobile devices out there and has an amazing battery life. And yes, you can use wireless gamepads with it and even play games with a mouse and keyboard.

The iPad can be even more amazing when paired with a Mac because you can leverage the oh-so-talked about Apple Ecosystem where you can control your iPad using your Mac. Or, you can attach an external mouse and keyboard or a case with a keyboard and touchpad. The fact that you can use the iPad in such a versatile manner makes it a great gaming device to complement your computer.

It’s got the brains, it has the brawn and it has the CPU and GPU power to match anything else head-to-head without breaking a sweat.

I’ve been gaming on iPads for almost as long as I’ve been making games as a professional game designer in this industry and to this day it’s one of my favorite gaming devices. The iPad keeps getting better and better year-over-year!

Where To Next?

If you’re interested in more articles on iPad for gaming I have you covered. There’s an entire category dedicated to iPads that you can access here. Some worth while articles regarding the iPad as a gaming device are these ones:

• Does Apple Care About Gaming?
• The Most Comprehensive Guide To D&D games on the iPad
• Here’s 5 Great Offline PREMIUM RPGs You Can Play on Your iPad
• The Perfect Setup to play Mac Games on an iPad
• Can you play classic, retro games on the iPad?

If you’re interested in more games for your iPad check out the game’s we reviewed! 90% of our reviews are done on our iPads or for games that are available on the iPad!

You know how they say that Macs don’t have many games? Well, you can play most of the iPad games on this list on your Mac if you have a Mac with an M1 Processor. We even have a guide on How To Play iOS Games or iPad Games on a Mac! So make sure to give that one a read.

That being said, if you want to stick around, you can check out “How Do Free Mobile Games Make money“, “Why Do Mobile Games Have Fake Ads” and “Why Do Mobile Games Have In-App Purchases“. I write extensively about the mobile gaming industry – the same industry that removes classic retro games from the store because they have an ad filled, Pay2Win, Free2Play and micro transaction infested games. Oof I’m grumpy and tired of these practices.

There’s also a monster post (about 4000 words) that answers the question: “How Hard Is It To Make A Mobile Game“. It goes in-depth with actual examples on how Experience, Resources and Financials affect the difficulty of developing and releasing new mobile games!

If you like our content and want to stay up-to-date, you can subscribe via the mailing list widget on this page! Or give us a follow on twitter. Is there something else you’d want covered on our Best Smartphone Games blog? Let us know in a comment below.