{"slug": "apple-arcade", "name": "Apple Arcade", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 3.614, "rising": -1.64, "first": "2026-01-02", "latest": "2026-05-13", "why": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 3, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.apple.com/apple-arcade/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Apple Arcade"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 757117348, "item_id": 47319834, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319834", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Many of the 'plus' versions of games have the ad/loot box features stripped or set to \"free.\"", "excerpt": "This list is a little old, but found some gems: https://web.archive.org/web/20191114220720if_/http://lazerwalker.com/ios-games-list/ I recall I enjoyed Hoplite, Data Wing, Mini Metro, Super Mario Run, and a few others. --- You probably already know Apple arcade curates a set of games. Many of the 'plus' versions of games have the ad/loot box features stripped or set to \"free.\"", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free curated iPhone games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Favorite Non-Spammy iPhone Games?"}, {"id": 750714993, "item_id": 46919687, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919687", "by": "eek2121", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So does Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness", "excerpt": "Taste is subjective. I get it. There are Triple A games on Arcade. Things like Civilization 7, for example. I don't know what the current standalone price is because we use Apple One Family, however, it used to cost $5/mo. Apple one is a steal IMO. Apple TV, Fitness+, 2TB, Arcade, and other smaller perks like News+ make it an easy sell. Compared to something like Netflix? Netflix is $25/mo for their top tier streamin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 744415840, "item_id": 46525990, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46525990", "by": "baxtr", "date": "2026-01-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids.", "excerpt": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids. All games included in Arcade are ad free. They have a big enough collection.", "context": "", "use_case": "Ad-free kids games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds"}, {"id": 744284176, "item_id": 46517761, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46517761", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-01-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot recommend Apple Arcade enough.", "excerpt": "As a fellow parent, I cannot recommend Apple Arcade enough. My son is only allowed to play games that come from AA. These games aren't allowed to have any ads or in-app purchase. In return, you pay seven measly bucks a month (though I have it included as part of a package since we use iCloud and Apple Music and Apple TV+ anyway). The games in AA are either made for Apple Arcade (some great indie type games) or, very ", "context": "parent", "use_case": "kids' ad-free games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds"}, {"id": 743460386, "item_id": 46466274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466274", "by": "lotsofpulp", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "thank god for Apple Arcade", "excerpt": "> That seems fine to me. What I'm referring to above is that the kid literally just has an iPhone with, as far as I can see, virtually no restriction. I imagine you would not let your kids use their device to scroll through Youtube Shorts for an unsupervised 2 hours, for example. Yes, they aren\u2019t allowed to watch youtube shorts at all (nor do either of the parents), but we\u2019ll look up nature or physics videos, and if ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 750603348, "item_id": 46912709, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912709", "by": "ksec", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "None of these are of any quality of what Apple used to be.", "excerpt": "Ever since Apple moved to Services Strategy in 2014 it has been like this. Services were not there so they could provide a better experience for its \"customers\". I use the word \"customer\" here which is what Apple / Steve Jobs used to call their loyal fans, and not user. But to further growth their Revenue pie because they foresee iPhone one day will stagnant. You now have Apple Fitness+, Apple TV, News, Music, Arcade", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}]}], "who": [{"by": "xp84", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46517761", "date": "2026-01-06"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["mobile game subscription", "ad-free curated iphone games", "ad-free kids games", "kids' ad-free games"], "compared": [{"slug": "apple-tv", "name": "Apple TV", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46911901", "title": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46514677", "title": "Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48087887", "title": "Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318405", "title": "Ask HN: Favorite Non-Spammy iPhone Games?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46464652", "title": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 770070672, "item_id": 48129417, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129417", "by": "MBCook", "date": "2026-05-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it because it\u2019s about all that\u2019s left.", "excerpt": "They don\u2019t care about iPhone/iPad gaming either. They stumbled into the perfect spot with the iPhone, then IAP sweetened it. Since they found money they support it. But in the process they\u2019ve really destroyed gaming on the platform unless you want casino games or candy crush/clash of clans things designed to extract money and show another ad every 12 seconds. Yeah they show Resident Evil VIII and Assassins Creed What", "context": "", "use_case": "Mobile game subscription", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features"}, {"id": 757117348, "item_id": 47319834, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47319834", "by": "Leftium", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Many of the 'plus' versions of games have the ad/loot box features stripped or set to \"free.\"", "excerpt": "This list is a little old, but found some gems: https://web.archive.org/web/20191114220720if_/http://lazerwalker.com/ios-games-list/ I recall I enjoyed Hoplite, Data Wing, Mini Metro, Super Mario Run, and a few others. --- You probably already know Apple arcade curates a set of games. Many of the 'plus' versions of games have the ad/loot box features stripped or set to \"free.\"", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free curated iPhone games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Favorite Non-Spammy iPhone Games?"}, {"id": 750714993, "item_id": 46919687, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919687", "by": "eek2121", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So does Apple Arcade and Apple Fitness", "excerpt": "Taste is subjective. I get it. There are Triple A games on Arcade. Things like Civilization 7, for example. I don't know what the current standalone price is because we use Apple One Family, however, it used to cost $5/mo. Apple one is a steal IMO. Apple TV, Fitness+, 2TB, Arcade, and other smaller perks like News+ make it an easy sell. Compared to something like Netflix? Netflix is $25/mo for their top tier streamin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 750603348, "item_id": 46912709, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46912709", "by": "ksec", "date": "2026-02-06", "stance": "warn", "quote": "None of these are of any quality of what Apple used to be.", "excerpt": "Ever since Apple moved to Services Strategy in 2014 it has been like this. Services were not there so they could provide a better experience for its \"customers\". I use the word \"customer\" here which is what Apple / Steve Jobs used to call their loyal fans, and not user. But to further growth their Revenue pie because they foresee iPhone one day will stagnant. You now have Apple Fitness+, Apple TV, News, Music, Arcade", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Now Assume That All Ads on Apple News Are Scams"}, {"id": 744415840, "item_id": 46525990, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46525990", "by": "baxtr", "date": "2026-01-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids.", "excerpt": "For people with iPhones I recommend an \"Apple Arcade\" subscription, especially if you have kids. All games included in Arcade are ad free. They have a big enough collection.", "context": "", "use_case": "Ad-free kids games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds"}, {"id": 744284176, "item_id": 46517761, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46517761", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-01-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot recommend Apple Arcade enough.", "excerpt": "As a fellow parent, I cannot recommend Apple Arcade enough. My son is only allowed to play games that come from AA. These games aren't allowed to have any ads or in-app purchase. In return, you pay seven measly bucks a month (though I have it included as part of a package since we use iCloud and Apple Music and Apple TV+ anyway). The games in AA are either made for Apple Arcade (some great indie type games) or, very ", "context": "parent", "use_case": "kids' ad-free games", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds"}, {"id": 743460386, "item_id": 46466274, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466274", "by": "lotsofpulp", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "thank god for Apple Arcade", "excerpt": "> That seems fine to me. What I'm referring to above is that the kid literally just has an iPhone with, as far as I can see, virtually no restriction. I imagine you would not let your kids use their device to scroll through Youtube Shorts for an unsupervised 2 hours, for example. Yes, they aren\u2019t allowed to watch youtube shorts at all (nor do either of the parents), but we\u2019ll look up nature or physics videos, and if ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Parental Controls Aren't for Parents"}]}