Top 25 best iPad games you can download for free (2023)

The only thing we love more than 69p / 99c games here at Pocket Gamer is games that we can download completely free of charge.

Thankfully, the App Store is filled to the brim with costless titles.

Naturally, these freebies vary in quality, but there are some genuine gratis gems to be had.

Here are 25 games that you can download and play on an iPad without touching your wallet. Enjoy them. We do.

Plants vs Zombies 2
By PopCap – download for iPhone and iPad

Visit ancient Egypt or take a trip across the Wild West as you mow down endless waves of cartoon zombies using garden-variety plants.

Real Racing 3
By Firemonkeys – download for iPhone and iPad

Jump behind the wheel of the some of the world’s most prestigious cars from some of the world’s most prestigious manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Bugatti.

Sonic Dash
By Hardlight – download for iPhone and iPad

Step into the shoes of Sega’s infamous Blue Blue and speed around endless enemy-filled environments, collecting gold rings and completing tasks along the way.

Temple Run 2
By Imangi Studios – download for iPhone and iPad

Swipe up, down, left, and right on your device’s screen to leap over, slide under, and generally avoid obstacles in this action-packed endless-runner.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out
By EA Mobile – download for iPhone and iPad

Homer Simpson has accidentally wiped Springfield off the map. It’s up to you (for some reason or another) to rebuild it, with the help of plenty of familiar faces from the hit animated TV show.

The Sims FreePlay
By EA – download for iPhone and iPad

Create a character, build a home, live life however you see fit. You can quit your job and host daily pool parties, if you like. Or you can spend all of the time trying it on with women in your neighbourhood.

Jetpack Joyride
By Halfbrick – download for iPhone and iPad

Avoid missiles, dodge laser beams, and skirt around any other obstacles you come across as you aid foul-mouthed action hero Barry Steakfries’s escape from a guarded lab.

Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol
By Firaxis – download for iPhone and iPad

Take to the skies over Europe in a range of authentic World War I aircraft, and complete over 120 different missions in this strategy title from genre legend Sid Meier.

CSR Racing
By Boss Alien – download for iPhone and iPad

Change the wheels on your favourite Audi. Swap out the turbo on your Corvette. Then, head to the street and beat a range of opponents in gorgeous-looking fast-paced drag races.

Star Wars Pinball
By Zen Studios – download for iPhone and iPad

In Star Wars Pinball, you can relive some of the most iconic moments from George Lucas’s revered Star Wars saga. There are currently three tables based on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and character Boba Fett available.

Triple Town
By Spry Fox – download for iPhone and iPad

Your aim is to construct the best city you possibly can. You do this by combining three similar elements to create a new element. By combining three pieces of grass, you create a bush, for example.

Might & Magic: Duel of Champions
By Ubisoft – download for iPad

Duel of Champions is a deck-building card battler that features well-known characters, spells, and heroes from the Might & Magic universe. ‘Nuff said, really.

Bubble Witch Saga
By King – download for iPhone and iPad

A match-three puzzle game in which you’re tasked with popping similarly coloured bubbles in order to fend off the dark spirits that are tormenting your country’s inhabitants.
(Check out the Official Pocket Gamer Guide to Bubble Witch Saga.)

Crimson: Steam Pirates
By Harebrained Schemes – download for iPad

Sea-based combat like you’ve never seen it before. Battle foes using lasers, swivel cannons, and extremely powerful lightning guns.

The Blockheads
By Majic Jungle Software – download for iPhone and iPad

Like in Minecraft, you can forge craft tools and create almost anything your imagination is capable of conjuring in this 2D build-’em-up.

Snuggle Truck HD
By Owlchemy Labs – download for iPad

Avoid TNT and other obstacles, and race your cuddly cargo to your nearest zoo. Just be careful you don’t lose them as you barrel off cliffs and over hills.

Tiny Tower
By NimbleBit- download for iPhone and iPad

Your main objective in Tiny Tower is to build a large tower complex filled to the brim with apartments, restaurants, cinemas, and other fun-filled attractions that will attract little pixel-art patrons to your establishment.

Fairway Solitaire HD
By Big Fish Games – download for iPad

Birdie your way across multiple golf courses and more than 350 hand-crafted holes by clearing increasingly difficult arrangements of cards.

Rinth Island
By Zynga Eugene – download for iPhone and iPad

Navigate more than 60 fully 3D stages that are filled with ladders, platforms, multiple paths, and hidden collectibles in this platformer.

Pocket Planes
By NimbleBit – download for iPhone and iPad

Ferry passengers and cargo to Germany, North America, and Japan as you expand your airline empire and construct airports around the world.

Letterpress
By atebits – download for iPhone and iPad

A mixture of Boggle and Risk, Letterpress is an innovative word game in which your aim is to find words and steal tiles before your opponent has the chance to do the same.

Hero Academy
By Robot Entertainment – download for iPhone and iPad

Take control of Dark Elves and a fantasy team of warriors, and take the fight to computer-controlled and real-world opponents in this turn-based strategy title.

Into the Dead
By PikPok – download for iPhone and iPad

A pretty unique endless-runner viewed through the eyes of its protagonist. The aim of the game is to avoid waves of zombies and stay alive for as long as possible.

RAD Soldiers
By Splash Damage – download for iPhone and iPad

A colourful cartoon shooter. Your aim – surprise, surprise – is to fill your opponents full of hot lead. Or hot steel. You can use rockets, if you like.