Apple’s Recreation Middle service helps you to compete with mates and unlock achievements within the video games you play. You possibly can see the place you rank amongst your pals — and globally. Achievements gives you an inventory of missions to perform to show your mastery of the sport. You possibly can even play dwell multiplayer video games on all of your separate units utilizing SharePlay.
Up till iOS 10, Recreation Middle existed as a separate app on iPhone and iPad, which made this all simpler to handle. And rumor has it that Apple will exchange Recreation Middle with the following main model of iOS, to be introduced subsequent week at WWDC25.
How do you handle your Recreation Middle account now, on iOS 18? What choices do you might have? How do you add mates?
Learn how to arrange and edit your Recreation Middle username and profile
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
To arrange Recreation Middle in your iPhone, go to Settings, then scroll down (fairly far) to faucet on Recreation Middle. You’ll have to sign up together with your Apple ID if you happen to haven’t already.
Faucet in your identify on the prime to see your profile.
Faucet Nickname to set a username. It needs to be distinctive, however you’ll be able to change it anytime.
Profile Privateness units how public your profile is. This contains not too long ago performed video games and your achievements. Though your total pal listing isn’t public, a few of them is likely to be proven. For instance, an achievement that claims, “You beat [a friend’s] rating” in a recreation you each play would possibly present up in your exercise with a hyperlink to your pal’s profile.
Should you don’t need your pals to be public data, it’s finest to play it protected and set Profile Privateness to Mates Solely. Should you don’t need anybody to know what video games you play, set it to Solely You.
Permit Discovering by Mates will let your contacts discover your profile and ship you an invite to attach if they’ve your matching cellphone quantity or electronic mail tackle in your Apple ID.
Requests from Contacts Solely will conceal pal requests from individuals who aren’t in your contacts. With each of those enabled, you’ll be able to solely obtain an invite if each of you might have the right contact data for one another. That is actually helpful if you happen to’re writing an article about Recreation Middle that’ll be learn by 1000’s of individuals for years to return and also you don’t wish to be spammed by requests from strangers.
Close by Gamers permits you to play native multiplayer video games with your pals. Join with Mates permits video games to make use of your pals listing.
Add mates
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
So as to add a pal, go to Settings > Recreation Middle (you’ll should scroll down fairly far) and faucet Invite Mates.
Sort in a reputation out of your contacts, or a cellphone quantity or electronic mail tackle. It’s a must to enter in the identical quantity or electronic mail the individual makes use of for his or her Apple ID. For most individuals, that’s their solely cellphone quantity, and an electronic mail tackle ending in @icloud.com or @gmail.com.
We initially printed this text about Recreation Middle on Might 31, 2023. We up to date it on June 3, 2025.
