Apple Arcade Review: 3 Months Free With a New iPhone, the 40% Yearly Saving and the Apple One Maths

Apple Arcade is the quiet one in this group. It has no cloud streaming, no day-one blockbusters and no console. What it offers is a library of more than 200 games for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Vision Pro, with no adverts and no in-app purchases, shared with up to five family members for one fee. For parents tired of games that nag children to spend, that alone can justify it. This review sets out the prices, the trials and when Apple One is the better deal. For the rest of the field, see our gaming hub.

Apple Arcade deal: 3 months free with a new device, or 40% off yearly

• Offer: 3 months free with an eligible new iPhone, iPad or Mac; otherwise a one-month free trial; or the yearly plan at £49.99 / US$49.99 / €49.99
• Promo Code: No Promo Code needed; the offer appears in the App Store’s Arcade tab
• Who qualifies: new and qualified returning subscribers; one offer per Apple Account and per Family Sharing group
• Key terms: renews at £6.99 / US$6.99 / €6.99 a month until cancelled

Offer detail	What you get
Promo Code	No Promo Code needed
Welcome offer	3 months free with an eligible new iPhone, iPad or Mac, or a one-month free trial; yearly plan saves 40% against monthly
Who qualifies	New and qualified returning subscribers; one offer per Apple Account and per family group; device offer within 3 months of activation
Key terms	Renews at £6.99 / US$6.99 / €6.99 a month; the 3-month offer cannot be reused if you or your family have had it before
How to claim	Open the App Store, tap Arcade, accept the offer shown and confirm with your Apple Account

Get the Apple Arcade offer

Apple Arcade at a glance

• Price: £6.99 / US$6.99 / €6.99 a month, or £49.99 / US$49.99 / €49.99 a year
• Free trial: one month; 3 months with an eligible new device
• Bundle: Apple One from £18.95 / US$21.95 / €19.95 a month
• Library: 200+ games
• Family Sharing: up to five other people at no extra cost
• No ads, no in-app purchases
• Devices: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and Apple Vision Pro
• Cloud streaming: no; games are downloaded

What Apple Arcade is, and who owns it

Apple Arcade is Apple’s games subscription, launched in September 2019 and run from Cupertino, California. It sits inside the App Store as its own tab. The catalogue has two parts: Arcade Originals, made for or exclusive to the service and playable across Apple’s devices, and App Store Greats, familiar paid games such as Stardew Valley+ and Fruit Ninja Classic+ with the + signalling the Arcade version, playable on iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro.

Apple Arcade prices: every plan explained

Plan	UK	US	Eurozone (Ireland)
Apple Arcade, monthly	£6.99	US$6.99	€6.99
Apple Arcade, yearly	£49.99	US$49.99	€49.99
Apple One Individual	£18.95	US$21.95	€19.95
Apple One Family	£24.95	US$27.95	€27.95
Apple One Premier	£36.95	US$39.95	€36.95

Regional differences. Apple uses the same number in every currency, which flatters no one in Britain. At our exchange rate, £6.99 is about US$9.31, while US$6.99 is about £5.25. UK and eurozone prices include VAT and US prices do not, which explains part of the gap.

Apple One bundles Arcade with Apple Music, Apple TV and iCloud+ storage: 50GB on Individual, 200GB on Family and 2TB on Premier, which also adds Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+. Family and Premier share with up to five other people.

Free trial and official discounts

Apple’s offers are generous and clearly signposted. Buy an eligible iPhone, iPad or Mac and you get 3 months free, to be claimed within 3 months of setting it up. Otherwise there is a one-month trial, and Apple One has its own one-month trial covering any services you are not already paying for.

Apple does not publish Promo Codes for Arcade, and we do not use codes from voucher sites. The two real savings are the yearly plan and Apple One.

A worked example: yearly plan or Apple One?

The yearly saving. Twelve months at £6.99 cost £83.88. The yearly plan costs £49.99, saving £33.89, or 40%. In dollars and euros the saving is the same number: US$33.89 or €33.89.

The family test. A family of four in Edinburgh has two parents’ iPhones and two children’s iPads. One Arcade subscription covers all four through Family Sharing. If the family already pays for Apple Music Family, Apple TV and 200GB of iCloud+, the separate bill is £39.96 a month; Apple One Family is £24.95, saving £15.01 a month, or £180.12 a year, with Arcade effectively thrown in. If the family uses only Arcade, the £49.99 yearly plan is much cheaper.

The commuter test. A barrister on the train from Brighton to London plays on her iPhone. Because Arcade games are downloaded rather than streamed, a tunnel or a weak 5G signal is far less of a problem than with GeForce NOW or Xbox Cloud Gaming, and there is no mobile data cost once a game is installed. Some games still need a connection for online features, so check before you travel.

Game library highlights and catalogue churn

Apple adds games most months. On 1 October 2026 it added Pusheen’s Place, River City Survivors, Terraria+, Touchgrind BMX 2+ and 4 Pics 1 Word+. Long-running favourites include Sneaky Sasquatch, Sonic Dream Team, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Stardew Valley+, Bloons TD 6+, Subway Surfers+, Football Manager 2026 Touch, NFL Retro Bowl ’26 and NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition.

Games do leave. The App Store’s Arcade tab has a “Leaving Arcade Soon” section, and when Apple first started removing titles, players were given a short grace period to finish. Whether progress carries over depends on whether the developer keeps selling the game outside Arcade.

Devices supported

• iPhone and iPad: the full catalogue
• Mac: Arcade Originals
• Apple TV 4K: Arcade Originals, some of which need a game controller
• Apple Vision Pro: Arcade Originals and App Store Greats
• Many games work with a game controller; a controller icon on the App Store page shows which

How to subscribe and cancel

1. Open the App Store on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV and tap Arcade.
2. Accept the free trial or new-device offer, or choose monthly or yearly billing.
3. Turn on Family Sharing in Settings to share with up to five others.
4. Download games from the Arcade tab; there is nothing more to pay inside them.
5. To cancel, go to Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions, choose Apple Arcade and cancel at least a day before renewal.

Charges go to the payment method on your Apple Account, including Apple gift card balance.

App ratings and customer service

Apple Arcade has no standalone app: it lives inside the App Store, so there is no store rating for the service itself, only for individual games. Support is through Apple Support online, the Apple Support app and Apple’s phone lines.

What users and reviewers say

Owners’ praise tends to centre on the absence of adverts and in-app purchases, especially for children, and on the family-sharing value. The complaints are a library that feels thin for teenagers and adults who want big games, and games disappearing from the catalogue, sometimes with progress lost. Apple has no Trustpilot profile we could rely on for this service.

Pros and cons

Pros

• No adverts and no in-app purchases in any game
• One subscription for up to six people
• 3 months free with a new device, and a 40% cheaper yearly plan
• Games are downloaded, so no streaming lag or mobile data use while playing
• Good-value add-on inside Apple One

Cons

• No blockbuster console or PC games
• Apple devices only
• Same number in pounds as in dollars, so dearer in the UK
• Games leave the catalogue
• No cloud streaming for older devices

Apple Arcade vs the rest

	Apple Arcade	Xbox Game Pass	PlayStation Plus	Nintendo Switch Online	GeForce NOW
Price (UK)	£6.99 a month, £49.99 a year	£6.99 to £16.99 a month	£59.99 to £119.99 a year	£17.99 a year	Free; Ultimate US$19.99 a month
Free trial	1 month, 3 with new device	US$1 first month (US)	No	7 days	Free tier
Family sharing	Up to 5 others	Home Xbox	Console sharing	8 accounts	No
Ads or in-app purchases	None	Varies by game	Varies by game	Varies by game	Varies by game
Hardware needed	iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV	Xbox, PC or cloud	PS5 or PS4	Switch	Almost any screen

For a family console subscription, see our Nintendo Switch Online review; for big games on an iPhone, our GeForce NOW review.

Also worth comparing: Amazon Luna, another subscription that runs on phones and TVs; Boosteroid; Humble Choice; EA Play; and Ubisoft+.

Apple Arcade FAQs

Is Apple Arcade worth it?
For families with Apple devices and children, yes: no adverts or in-app purchases, shared by six. For an adult wanting big games, it is thin.

How do I get Apple Arcade free for 3 months?
Buy an eligible new iPhone, iPad or Mac and claim the offer in the App Store within 3 months of activating it.

Is there an Apple Arcade yearly plan?
Yes: £49.99, US$49.99 or €49.99 a year, 40% less than paying monthly.

Is there an Apple Arcade promo code?
No Promo Code is needed. Use the free trial, the new-device offer, the yearly plan or Apple One.

How many people can share Apple Arcade?
You and up to five family members through Family Sharing.

Apple One Individual or Family: which includes Arcade?
All three Apple One plans include Apple Arcade. Family and Premier share every service with up to five others.

Can I play Apple Arcade offline?
Games are downloaded and run on your device, so many can be played without signal; some need a connection for online features.

What happens when a game leaves Apple Arcade?
It appears in the “Leaving Arcade Soon” section first, and you can no longer play it once it has gone unless the developer sells it separately.

How do I cancel Apple Arcade?
Settings, your name, Subscriptions, Apple Arcade, then Cancel, at least a day before renewal.

Does Apple Arcade work abroad?
Yes, on your Apple Account. Downloading games over a travel eSIM, such as those in our Airalo review, costs data, so do it on Wi-Fi with a VPN if the network is public.

Verdict

Apple Arcade is the best subscription here for young children and the easiest to justify for a family already living with iPhones and iPads. The yearly plan and the new-device offer make it cheap; Apple One makes it close to free if you already pay for Apple Music and iCloud. It will not satisfy anyone who wants Call of Duty or Forza on their phone, and in Britain it is relatively dear, but no other service here promises a child a game with nothing to buy inside it.

Visit Apple Arcade

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