Skip to main content

Check out this working iPhone that someone built inside of Minecraft

An ingenious German gamer has built a functioning imitation iPhone within the blocky confines of Mojang’s modern classic, Minecraft (via Touch Arcade).

The giant phone is operated by jumping onto and running across the pressure-sensitive touch screen and home button. It even features sliding and a password to unlock, and a selection of functional apps. The music app can play a Midi version of The Entertainer using the game’s musical blocks, for instance. It’s an impressive piece of work.

Recommended Videos

The video below shows off all of its features (though be forewarned that it’s entirely in German):

Related: Microsoft buys Minecraft, and the developer behind the blocks

A large part of the game’s appeal has always been the creativity it affords, and players have built an astounding variety of aesthetic and functional creations within its voxelated framework. Those range from a complete recreation of Westeros from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series to a working 16-bit computer. The iPhone sits somewhere between those two creations, as both a product of clever redstone engineering and faithful visual recreation.

Will Fulton
Former Staff Writer, Gaming
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
Assassin’s Creed Mirage comes to iPhones and iPads this June
Basim showing off his hidden blade in front of the Bagdad cityscape.

Ubisoft and Apple have confirmed that the iOS-native version of Assassin's Creed Mirage will launch on June 6.

We first learned that the latest Assassin's Creed would be making the jump from console to mobile alongside titles like Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4's remake, and Death Stranding: Director's Cut last year. Apple is now able to release quality ports of console games on iOS thanks to the new M1 chip in the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

Read more
Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding barely miss a step on iPhone and iPad
El Gigante raises its foot over Leon in Resident Evil 4.

Just two months ago, I had my mind blown when I saw Resident Evil Village running on an iPad. While I expected a very compromised experience, I was shocked when I saw how the horror game barely lost a step on the device. I pushed its settings to their limits and still came out with a fairly smooth experience capable of hitting high frame rates. Suddenly, the idea of playing a console quality game entirely on a mobile device didn’t seem like a far-fetched idea.

That was an impressive feat, but Resident Evil Village was built for the PS4 generation. The bigger test would come from more technically ambitious games that are either exclusive to new consoles or rebuilt with them in mind. I wouldn’t have to wait long to see that in action. At a recent Apple gaming showcase, I went hands-on with both Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and Resident Evil 4 running on a bevy of Apple devices, from the iPhone 15 Pro to a Mac Mini.

Read more
Get console-level experiences on the go with the best iPhone games in 2025
Walking through jungle in Resident Evil 4 on iPhone 15 Pro Max.

With the power of the best iPhone in your hands, you now have access to games on the same level as the best PS5 games and best Xbox Series X games. Sure, the iPhone may not be marketed as a gaming phone specifically, but it is still powerful enough to play console-level games like Assassin's Creed Mirage and the Resident Evil 4 remake. Sadly, the app store is still full of cheap cash-grab games that are a complete waste of time. While you could go digging through the store yourself, we went through the trouble for you by playtesing hundreds of games to create this curated list of the best iPhone games for 2025. Most of our picks here are also the best Android games, though that platform does have plenty of other options to check out.

Most, if not all, of the titles we are recommending will work on any iPhone that has iOS 17 on it, which goes as far back as the iPhone XS. If you're still on iOS 15 or 16, then you should also be fine with these titles.
Top 10 iPhone games free

Read more