Xbox Cloud Gaming: How to Play Xbox Games on Your Phone and PC

The Xbox Series X and Series S are expensive, so if you’d rather not spend several hundred dollars on a next-gen console, Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly known as xCloud) can bring top titles to your mobile device or computer, provided you meet a few requirements first. Here’s what you need to know before getting started.

Sign Up for Game Pass Ultimate

At this time, Xbox Cloud Gaming is not a standalone service. In order to stream Xbox games, you need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The Ultimate plan is $14.99 a month and gives you access to the console and PC game libraries, Xbox Live Gold, EA Play, free in-game content for select titles, and cloud gaming capabilities.

What Games Can I Play?

While Xbox Game Pass includes hundreds of titles, not all these games are compatible with Cloud Gaming. For instance, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare and Crysis can only be installed on a console or PC, not played over the internet. Some EA Play titles also require extra authentication that cannot be performed on Android.

Still, Xbox diehards will find first-party exclusives like Halo, Gears of War, and Forza well represented, with multiple titles ready to stream. Games affiliated with Xbox Game Studios are also on offer, including Doom Eternal, Fallout 76, Skyrim, The Outer Worlds, Sea of Thieves, Wasteland 3, and more.

This also says nothing of the numerous third-party titles you can stream while they’re on Game Pass. For example, games like Batman: Arkham Knight, Hades, Nier: Automata, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard can be played through cloud gaming.

Grab a Controller

Unless you plan to use touch controls on a select number of titles, a game pad is the only way to interact with the games, so make sure you have a game controller on hand. We have a few recommendations specific to Xbox Cloud Gaming that clip directly to your phone, but any Bluetooth or USB controller (with the right adapter) will do.

If you already have a gamepad for a different console, you can connect your Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, PS5 DualSense Controller, or Xbox Controller to a PC. If you still have a DualShock 4 lying around, that works too. These controllers can also be linked to your phone through the device’s Bluetooth settings.

Check Your Internet Connection

Microsoft’s game-streaming feature only requires a Wi-Fi or LTE data connection of at least 10Mbps down, which is not especially demanding. However, you probably want to go higher in order to get the most reliable performance possible. We have guides on how to measure your internet speed, as well as a few tricks on boosting your Wi-Fi signal. If you’re looking to upgrade your home internet, these are the best gaming ISPs for 2022.

How to Launch a Game on Android

To play games over the internet on your Android device, you must be running Android 6.0 or later and must download the Game Pass app from the Google Play Store. Make sure you grab the version with the green logo; the white logo is the beta version.

Open the app and select the Cloud tab on the homepage to see all the titles compatible with Xbox Cloud Gaming. From there, select a title and tap Play to start the game.

Look for games marked with a finger icon, indicating that the title is optimized for touch controls. Otherwise, you will need to connect a Bluetooth controller to the phone before play can start. Games with touch controls emulate an Xbox controller onto the screen so you can use simulated face buttons, triggers, and control sticks like you would with a traditional game controller.

Controls are made unique to each game, with icons sometimes depicting in-game actions, such as a fist in Banjo-Kazooie or a gas pedal in Dirt 5. If you prefer a simple button layout without the custom icons, tap the icon that looks like a controller and choose More Options to switch simplified controls on or off.

You may also find that onscreen controls can sometimes cover content on the screen. Tap the icon that looks like a controller to change the size and positioning of these buttons. It won’t always be the perfect solution, but touch-screen controls do work well when you have no other option.

The app connects seamlessly with your Xbox account, so any in-game progress you have made will be saved across multiple devices. That means, if you start playing on your new console, you can pick up where you left off in the app. Similarly, you can start a new game in the cloud, then pick it back up on a console or PC.

When it comes time to pick a game back up, you will find all save progress under the Jump back in section on the homepage. Just hit Play to instantly resume your game.

How to Launch a Game on iPhone

To get past Apple’s App Store fees, Microsoft created a workaround that requires a few steps to enable. First, head to the Xbox Cloud Gaming website on iOS; supported browsers include Chrome, Edge, and Safari.

On Safari, you won’t be able to play games directly from the website. Instead, tap a game you wish to play and tap Get Ready to Play. You will be instructed to add Xbox Cloud Gaming to your home screen. Tap the Share icon, then choose Add to Home Screen.

Let the web app download, then open it, choose a title, and tap Play. If the game is controller-only, you will need to connect a gamepad before it will launch. For games that use a touch screen, your phone screen will be too small when oriented vertically. You will either need to link a controller or change the orientation of the screen.

Do you have your phone’s orientation locked? Make the screen touch-friendly by opening the Control Center and tapping the lock icon. You should then be able to flip the phone horizontally and have the game change to match. An emulated controller will also appear automatically.

The iOS version of Chrome does not require this rigmarole to play games, but it does not seem to support touch controls at this time, so keep your controller close at hand.

How to Launch a Game on PC

Those with a PC running Windows 10 or Windows 11 can turn to the Xbox app (not the Xbox Console Companion app) in the Windows Store to play games via Xbox Cloud Gaming. With the Xbox app open, make sure Game Pass has been selected at the top of the screen. Click the Cloud Gaming tab to view all the titles you can stream through the app.

Before choosing a game, click Controller to open Bluetooth settings and connect a controller to the computer. Games will not play until you do this. You can also click Network to view the network status to make sure there is a strong connection and you are on the correct network. Click Settings to change options for audio, accessibility, and more.

Click on a title you wish to play, then select the Play button that appears next to the game. When you start streaming a game, save data is preserved under the Jump back in header. These saves are linked to your Xbox account, so in-game progress is preserved across devices. When it comes time to pick a game back up, click the title and hit Play to instantly resume your game.