Gamevice for iPhone
The iPhone’s Nintendo Switch
Let’s be honest: playing games on iOS can be a faff. It’s rare to find a game where your thumb doesn’t end up obscuring the action. Add in clumsy controls and you have a recipe for frustration. Gamevice circumvents this issue completely – it’s a controller housing for your iPhone with physical buttons and joysticks. At the time of writing it was compatible with 940 App Store games, including big names like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty, and the manufacturers promise to add more.
And it works very well. There’s no noticeable latency and it feels firm and sturdy. It transforms gaming on iOS into an experience not unlike the Nintendo Switch. You can adjust the fit for your phone, and there’s also a Lightning passthrough port and a headphone jack too. The Lightning adaptor is a two-sided coin. If you buy an Android phone (or Apple changes the connection in the future), you may find the Gamevice no longer fits. But the other option (Bluetooth) may have had its own set of issues, such as signal interference in busy areas, or high latency.
Gamevice is also a sizeable investment for a bit of fun, so you have to be sure it’s worth it for you before you shell out.