Epic Games’ popular Fortnite hasn’t been available on iPhone and Android for over a year. The company engineered a crisis that forced Apple and Google to take action against the game. Epic then filed lawsuits against them. The verdict in the Apple trial dropped several months ago, as the judge sided with Apple on nine of the 10 counts in the trial. The legal fight isn’t over, but the initial verdict means that Fortnite won’t be available on iPhone anytime soon. It might be years before the two parties end their battle. Epic is also fighting Google in court, which means you can’t play Fortnite on Android devices either. Well, you can’t download it from the Google Play store anyway.
That said, there is now a way to play Fortnite on iPhone, iPad, and Android. But the only way to do so is to stream the game on NVIDIA’s GeForce Now streaming service.
Nvidia and Epic have just announced a limited beta that allows iPhone and Android users to test a Fortnite version with touch controls on their mobile devices. All they have to do is get a GeForce Now subscription, which is Nvidia’s cloud gaming service.
Adding support for touch controls to Fortnite for GeForce Now means you don’t need a controller to play the game on iPhone and Android. That’s probably how most gamers played Fortnite before Epic sued Apple and Google.
That’s the best chance you have playing Fortnite on a mobile device. You might not be able to install the game on your iPhone, iPad, or Android, but game streaming should do the trick.
How to play Fortnite on iPhone and Android
However, there’s one more tiny issue you need to be aware of. “Fortnite for iPhone and Android via GeForce Now” is only available as a limited beta. As 9to5Google explains, it’s also an invite-only beta. The goal of the program is to test the performance of touch controls and server capacity.
While you might have a hard time getting in, Fortnite will be available free of charge during the beta. You don’t need to pay anything, and the game is available via every GeForce Now subscription tier.
To get in, you’ll need to sign up for GeForce Now — check out this link to get started. If selected, you’ll receive access to the game later this month.
Once that’s done, you’ll need to download GeForce Now via the Play store on Android or load GeForce Now via Safari on iPhone or iPad.
That’s all you need to do to play Fortnite on iPhone and Android as fast as humanly possible. That’s assuming, of course, that you’re accepted into the beta program. The quicker you join, the higher your chances of getting a spot.
Streaming will remain the only way to play Fortnite on mobile devices for several years, so Nvidia and Epic will likely work diligently on making Fortnite streaming happen. The other option, of course, is to choose a different platform to play Fortnite on.
