How to use Apple Arcade on your Mac

Apple Arcade, which was first introduced not so long ago in 2019, is a video game subscription service available across several Apple platforms, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. It offers more than 180 games with no ads and/or in-app purchases.

A subscription to Apple Arcade is available both separately or as part of a subscription to Apple One. Both of these options include access for members of Apple Family Sharing.

Signing up 

1. If you are not already a subscriber of Apple Arcade, you can become one in the Mac App Store app. To subscribe, click on the Mac App Store app on your computer’s app store, then choose ‘Arcade’ from the sidebar.
2. Click on the ‘Try for Free’ option, then follow the additional directions on the screen, which include signing into your Apple ID.

Keep note that not every game that is available on Apple Arcade game is available on Mac, but a majority of them are. New games and content updates are constantly being added to Apple Arcade each week. You will be able to preview all of these upcoming releases under the Coming Soon section that can be found across the various platforms.

Apple also keeps an updated list of all the games that are exclusive to iPhones and iPads on its website. You can find the list here.

Several Apple Arcade games are inclusive of controller support. These games feature a controller icon on their product page and thumbnail on the Mac App Store.

Finding Apple Arcade content on Mac

1. In order to find new content to play on Apple Arcade on Mac, head to the Mac App Store app, and then choose ‘Arcade’ from the sidebar.
2. The section is further divided into different subsections. These include categories such as ‘New Games’, ‘Most Popular’, ‘Categories’, ‘Must-Play Games’, ‘Collections’, and ‘Recently Updated’. At the bottom of the Apple Arcade page, you should be able to find a link to every current game available on Mac.  Alternatively, if you want, you can also use the Mac App Store search bar to find some games.
3. To read and know more about a game on Apple Arcade, click on it. If you want to download a game, click on ‘Get,’ which is written next to the title of the game.

Playing games on Apple Arcade 

1. Like other applications on your computer, the downloaded games are can be found in the Applications folder. To open the app, click app ‘Finder’ on the dock.
2. Click on ‘Go’ from the menu bar, and then choose ‘Applications’.
3. Click on the game that you would like to begin playing.
4. The directions will appear on the screen. Follow them to begin the gameplay.

Keep in mind that games on Apple Arcade can be played even without an active Internet or data connection, and you can delete the downloaded games from your Mac at any time you want.