The Pokémon Company has released some of the most popular titles to ever grace the gaming community. These epic games date back to 1996 and have shaped many of our childhoods. But you don't have to stop playing Pokémon just because you don't own a Game Boy anymore.
In fact, there are plenty of ways to play Pokémon on your iPhone, whether you're looking for the latest iOS games or classic adventures like Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. We'll explain all your options below—emulators, browser apps, and App Store games—so you'll be able to catch 'em all in no time.
Key Takeaways
- Play classic Pokémon games on your iPhone with emulators, like Delta. The best way to install these is through the AltStore.
- After installing an emulator on your iPhone, you'll need to get a Pokémon ROM to play on it. These are widely available for free online.
- Alternatively, there are lots of new Pokémon games available for download on the App Store, like Pokémon GO or Pokémon UNITE.
Emulate Classic Pokémon Games on Your iPhone
The best way to play classic Pokémon games on your iPhone is to download and install an emulator. This is a type of app that mimics a computer system, like an old video game console. With the best emulators for iPhone, you can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games on your iPhone. Newer consoles, like the Nintendo Switch, aren't usually available to emulate because your iPhone doesn't have enough processing power.
How to Install an Emulator on Your iPhone
Unfortunately, Apple doesn't allow emulators on the App Store. But there are plenty of alternative methods you can use to install an emulator on your iPhone instead. And none of them require you to jailbreak your device first.
For playing Pokémon on iOS, the best emulator to use is Delta, iNDS, or the browser-based Eclipse emulator. All of these are free, and together they let you play Pokémon games from all the following consoles:
- Game Boy or Game Boy Color
- Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo 64
- Nintendo DS
Most emulators are open source, which means they're free and legal to use, even if Apple doesn't like it. The most reliable way to get an emulator on your iPhone is to install the AltStore on a paired computer. Don't worry—it's simpler than it sounds. In fact, we have another post explaining exactly how to install emulators on your iPhone.
Where to Get Pokémon ROMs for Your iPhone
After you install an emulator on your iPhone, you still need a software version of the game you want to play. These are called ROMs. While emulators are free and legal to use, ROMs aren't so straightforward. If you already own a game legally, in some cases you're allowed to create your own ROM version of it for backup purposes. However, Nintendo's legal FAQ implies that even this archival use is illegal.
No matter how you obtained them, since video games are copyrighted, it's a crime for you to share ROMs with anyone else. Still, all it takes is a Google search to find whatever ROMs you're looking for, shared by other people.
Play Pokémon in Safari With Game Play Color
If installing an emulator on your iPhone sounds too complicated, you might prefer to use a web-based emulator instead. Game Play Color is the best option for this.
You still need to download ROMs for the Pokémon games you want to play. But you don't need to jump through as many hoops to get that emulator working on your iPhone.
Game Play Color is the simplest way to start playing Pokémon on your iPhone, Here's how to get set up:
- Download whatever ROMs you want to play and save them to Google Drive.
- Open Safari on your iPhone and load the Game Play Color website.
- Tap Play Now, then tap the Share button and choose to Add to Home Screen > Add.
- You should see a Game Play app icon appear on your Home Screen.
- Launch the Game Play app, then sign in to your Google Drive account. You'll need to copy the access code it gives you to sync your account.
- Game Play searches your Google Drive for compatible ROMs and shows them on the screen. Tap the game you want to play to boot it up.
Pokémon Games on the App Store
Most of you are probably looking to revisit the classic Pokémon games above. But we also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge some of the other Pokémon games you can download directly from the iOS App Store.
Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO exploded onto the scene in 2016, snatching news headlines and reigniting a worldwide love for the Pokémon franchise. It's an augmented reality game that uses the camera on your iPhone to let you find Pokémon in the real world. You can collect over 900 Pokémon, compete in gym battles, and go head-to-head against Team Rocket grunts.
And best of all, Pokémon GO incentivizes you to get outside and explore your local surroundings in search of the best Pokémon.
Download: Pokémon GO (Free, in-app purchases available)
Pokémon Masters EX
This game takes a fresh approach to the Pokémon experience by having you collect various Pokémon trainers, rather than the Pokémon themselves. Because each trainer is paired with a particular Pokémon already, you get a bit of both.
Pokémon Masters is more episodic than the classic games, with a series of chapters to complete and occasional game-wide events. This makes it easy to pick up and put down, but it certainly lacks the sense of adventure you probably expect from Pokémon games.
Download: Pokémon Masters EX (Free, in-app purchases available)
Pokémon Quest
This cube-style Pokémon game encourages you to build the perfect team, carefully choosing the best moves and abilities to round out your squad. It's a different kind of game than what you're probably used to with Pokémon, but that doesn't make it any less addictive.
Collect a variety of items, decorate your base camp, and try to catch all 150 original Pokémon. It isn't difficult to sink a lot of hours into this game.
Download: Pokémon Quest (Free, in-app purchases available)
Pokémon UNITE
Pokémon UNITE is all about the battles, allowing you to take part in team arena battles with four other trainers. You can battle wild Pokémon or opposing teams in a quest to level up, evolve, and score points.
Each match runs on a 10-minute timer, during which time you need to gather energy from defeating Pokémon and which you then bank by taking it to an enemy base.
Download: Pokémon UNITE (Free, in-app purchases available)
Pokémon Sleep
Pokémon Sleep isn't so much a game as it's a way to gamify sleeping. By placing your iPhone on your pillow while you sleep, Pokémon Sleep will track all kinds of metrics about your slumber and put it into a report for you. When you awake in the morning, you'll even find that you've gathered some Pokémon around you in the app.
The game will pair you up with Pokémon who are a similar sleep type to you. Then you can train them up throughout the day or research your Pokémon to fill out the new Sleep Dex.
Download: Pokémon Sleep (Free, in-app purchases available)
Mix Up Your Gaming With Some Pokémon Challenges
Now you know how to enjoy Pokémon on your iPhone. Whether you install an emulator or try out a modern Pokémon title, there's lots of fun to have on your iOS device. As you probably know, the Pokémon games aren't particularly difficult to beat. Most of the joy comes from exploring the world and discovering new creatures to add to your team. But if that doesn't sound like enough, you could add a challenge to spice up the game.
Of course, we all know the greatest challenge is to catch every Pokémon. But did you know about the Nuzlocke challenge or the Monotype challenge? There are loads of exciting Pokémon challenges you can impose on yourself to prove your mastery over the classic games. Each challenge promises to change the way you play and injects a whole new level of fun.