How to play Fortnite for free on iPhone and iPad with GeForce NOW and Safari

You can now play the battle royale game Fortnite on iPhone and iPad in Apple’s Safari browser as long as you’re subscribed to Nvidia’s GeForce NOW game service.

Marketing image promoting Fortnite from Epic Games
Image credit: Epic Games
  • If you’re subscribed to the GeForce NOW service, you can play Fortnite with on-screen touch controls and game menus on your iPhone or iPad via Safari.
  • You don’t need to install anything. Patches and game updates are automatically applied and new seasons and new modes are instantly available.
  • GeForce NOW is a game-streaming service that delivers gameplay via the internet, with games being rendered on cloud PCs sporting Nvidia’s GPUs.

Nvidia unlocks Safari on iOS via GeForce NOW and Safari

Graphics giant Nvidia has announced in a blog post that Fortnite is now available to play on the iPhone and iPad via Apple’s Safari browser and the company’s game-streaming service, dubbed GeForce. There’s no waitlist, you can start playing Fortnite on iOS right away. For tips on gameplay mechanics or a refresher on playing the game with touch controls, check out Fortnite’s Getting Started page.

How to play Fortnite on iPhone and iPad via GeForce NOW

A screenshots showing a touch-optimized mobile version of Fortnite from Epic Games running on Nvidia's GeForce Now service
Image credit: Epic Games

To play a mobile-optimized Fortnite, simply visit your GeForce NOW membership page and select a performance level (there’s a Free membership option).

  1. Open the GeForce NOW membership page in your browser.
  2. Click “Join” next to the desired level of performance.
  3. Visit play.geforcenow.com in the Safari browser to start playing.

If you’d like GeForce NOW to automatically sign you into Fortnite upon game launch, you must link your Epic Games account from the Settings → Connections menu. Keep in mind that you can play Fortnite for free on GeForce NOW, but your experience will be limited to 1080p graphics and you’ll be disconnected from the server after just one hour unless you upgrade your account.

What is GeForce NOW? How much does it cost?

To play with high-resolution graphics, you’ll need to upgrade your account to a paid membership. Nvidia provides two paid tiers for GeForce NOW: Priority and RTX 3080. The Priority subscription is a $10/month value that brings gameplay action in 1080p at 60fps rendered. The graphics are rendered on a premium rig, with your client device getting priority server access. Your session length on the Priority tier is six hours. The highest performance is available with the RTX 3080 subscription. Priced at $20/month, it includes perks like 8-hour session length, up to 4K resolution, 120fps (on select Android devices) and exclusive access to Nvidia’s RTX 3080 servers. Read: How to create Windows-like app icons on your Mac desktop

For further pricing info, visit www.nvidia.com/geforce-now/memberships.

Nvidia launched GeForce Now on February 5, 2020, bringing a rich selection of PC games to Apple’s platforms for the first time, with support for cloud gaming through Safari on iOS and iPadOS. The service’s catalog now offers more than 1,300 quality games to stream across platforms, including titles like Fortnite, God of War, Dune: Spice Wars, Lost Ark, Deadcraft, Old World, Vampire: The Masquerade Swansong, Dolmen and Trigon: Space Story and more, all in exchange for a small monthly fee.

You can download the GeForce Now client for your system at the Nvidia website.