Saeid Sakkaki
Review
2024/12/05

Apple Arcade vs. Play Pass: Pick up the best gaming service

Nowadays, mobile games are getting special attention. Mobile gamers also have access to more features. Both iOS and Android have their own dedicated gaming platforms; Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass. Now the question is, what is the difference between Google Play Pass and Apple Arcade? Do they offer the same games? What are the key differences between Apple Arcade and Play Pass? In this post, we are going to compare Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass and see what features each one has and which one is more worth buying. So keep reading.


Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass? Which one worth it?

Both Apple Arcade and Play Pass do the same work, which is to provide games for free as you subscribe their service. So if you are planning to buy a mobile phone to play games and are not sure to decide between iPhone and Android devices, you should know right from the start that both of these devices have their own gaming platforms. These two services have not undergone many changes over the years, but there are still differences in each one that distinguish them from each other. Buying a gaming mobile phone (whether iPhone or Android) can give you the opportunity to review the games available on each gaming platform and examine their differences. Let's start comparing these two services with a few simple questions:


Can we run Apple Arcade on Android?

No! Apple Arcade is an Apple-exclusive service that is only available on Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision. Apple Arcade is not available on Android devices.


Can we run Google Play Pass on iOS?

Again No! Google Play Pass is only set to run on Android devices and some Windows computers, but cannot be used on Apple devices.


Advantages of Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass

Regardless of any differences between these two platforms, the biggest advantage that both services offer is the elimination of in-app purchases and advertisements for games.


Which gaming platform is more worthy?

Below is the list of the features and statistics of each of the Apple Arcade and Google Play services:

Apple Arcade:

  • Price: $4.99 monthly - $49.99 annually
  • Number of games: >250
  • Family Sharing: Up to 6 devices
  • Content type: Only games
  • Exclusive titles: Included
  • Minimum system requirements: iPhones with iOS +13 - iPads with iPadOS +13 - Apple TV with tvOS +13 - Mac with MacOS +Catalina and Vision Pro with VisionOS +1


Google Play Pass:

  • Price: $4.99 monthly - $29.99 annually
  • Number of games: ~1000 (including apps)
  • Family Sharing: Up to 5 devices
  • Content type: Games and apps
  • Exclusive titles: No
  • Minimum system requirements: All Android devices with Android +4.0 and some Windows PCs with compatible hardware


At first glance, it seems that Google Play is better than Apple Arcade in all respects. Lower price, more games, no ads and in-game purchases, etc. But users who are familiar with Apple services and have experience working with this company's products know that Apple offers a more valuable and high-quality list. Despite the lower price of Play Pass compared to Apple Arcade, many users entire the world have expressed regret over purchasing Play Pass subscription! Of course, Apple Arcade price is also high if purchased alone. If you use Apple One to activate Apple Arcade, you can subscribe to Apple Arcade with only a third of this price!


Play Pass looks better on paper, but it has nothing to say versus Apple Arcade in action! Because if you separate Play Pass apps from its games, there will be only about 250 games left!

Yes! Google's decided that Play Pass, along with games that are sometimes famous and viral titles, also offers miscellaneous apps, which can make your experience of a gaming platform unpleasant. Because users subscribe to Play Pass for finding a game, but they are faced with a multitude of different apps. This has made finding a game in Play Pass a time-consuming and annoying process!

Apple Arcade, on the other hand, is dedicated solely to games. Like Play Pass, Apple Arcade has a lot of popular titles, but it also has a number of exclusive titles. Apple Arcade exclusive games are only available on Apple Arcade and you can't find them anywhere else. Apple Arcade's game growth rate has been faster than Play Pass.


The presence of hundreds of apps among the games on Play Pass may be acceptable anyway, but it certainly creates expectations for users regarding the removal of ads. When the "No Ads" label is on the Play Pass name, users do not expect any ads, but to their dismay, Play Pass has not completely removed the ads from the games!!! We found this out when we were testing the JapaneseOfficeSimulator game on Play Pass. After numerous searches, we found out that there are other games on Play Pass that display ads! In addition to creating an undesirable user experience, this is also considered a kind of breach of promise and abuse of user trust, and we do not know why Google does this.

But on the other side, there is no trace of advertising in Apple Arcade games. Even the best Apple Arcade games are free of ads and in-app purchases. Apple has also kept the quality of the games on this platform high by its efficient review and supervision of Arcade. So that it is not easy to compare Arcade and Play Pass games in terms of quality. Access to 250 quality games without ads and free of charge is definitely better than access to about 1000 low-quality and ordinary titles and - worse - with ads!


Unlike Apple Arcade, in Play Pass you will see games that charge you to level-up, even though Google has promised to remove in-game purchases. It seems that there is not much oversight over the release of games on Play Pass.

Of course, this oversight weakness can be useful in some ways. For example, if you have downloaded a specific game from Play Pass and then cancel your Play Pass subscription, you will still have access to your downloaded games :)))

While Apple Arcade only allows you to play if your subscription is active. Of course, Arcade allows you to play offline, which is a big advantage in itself.


Conclusion: Which one is better finally?

Plenty of websites have described the experience of browsing Play Pass as being like walking through a retail store. On the contrary, Apple Arcade has often been described as a specialized game store. Regardless of the differences in operating systems and terms of use, considering the above and all the cases available across the web, Apple Arcade is the best choice if you are looking for a good and complete gaming experience. But if you plan to use some specific games that are on Play Pass and also do not have a problem with cumbersome applications in your gaming environment, you can choose Play Pass. The best way to buy Apple Arcade subscription is to use Apple One. Like all Apple subscriptions, buying Apple One is also easy. You can get your Apple One subscription right here from Apple 98 with fast delivery and 7/24 online support.

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