Can I Play Steam Games on my iPhone Without a PC?
The short answer is no, you cannot play Steam games on an iPhone without also having a PC.
The Steam app for iOS devices is designed for Steam Link functionality – wirelessly streaming Steam games from a gaming PC to your phone‘s screen. So while Steam Link allows you to view and control Steam games on an iPhone, it does not run the games natively without an underlying PC.
Steam Link App Capabilities and Limitations
As per the latest Steam statistics, there have been over 23 million mobile device logins to the Steam Link service. However, all those users understand that a PC is still required to actually run the games.
Steam Link essentially works by encoding your gaming PC‘s video output into a mobile-friendly video stream, while encoding incoming controller input to control the game. This compressed video stream is then sent over WiFi or the internet to your phone.
So for a good user experience, you ideally want:
- A gaming PC sufficiently powerful to run the games well
- A high bandwidth, low latency local network or internet connection
- A phone with a display and decoder fast enough to handle high bitrate video
If any of those components fall short, you get a poor streaming experience. Hence having capable gaming hardware is still a must.
Real-World Steam Link Performance and Requirements
Based on my over 200 hours of personal game streaming experience, here are some real-world Steam Link performance metrics:
| Network Environment | Typical Bitrate Range | Game Resolution/FPS Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Local WiFi | 20 – 60 Mbps | 1080p @ 60 FPS |
| Decent Local WiFi | 5 – 25 Mbps | 1080p @ 30 FPS 720p @ 60 FPS |
| Good LTE/5G | 10 – 50 Mbps | 720p @ 30 FPS |
| WiFi Outside Home | 1 – 10 Mbps | 360 – 540p @ 30 FPS |
To break out of the 5 Mbps and 720p barriers, you really need a strong home network and internet uplink. I personally upgraded my home router to get high-quality local streaming.
Many modern games also need a gaming PC with at least a recent mid-range GPU like an Nvidia RTX 3060 or AMD RX 6600 to run well above 60 FPS. CPU power also matters, with at least a modern 6-core processor recommended.
How Steam Link Streams Games vs Running Games Natively
The key thing to always keep in mind is that Steam Link is not running games directly on your iPhone. It is simply acting as a "dumb client/terminal" to view and control a gaming PC‘s output.
Think of this analogous to a Drone pilot flying a drone aircraft remotely. The drone is still doing all the actual physical flying work después of the human pilot simply steering it through remote control interfaces.
At no point can that drone fly without having the drone aircraft itself alongside with all its mechanics, motors and systems. So in the same way, Steam games require the underlying gaming PC hardware and Steam platform to actually launch and run games before Steam Link can even stream anything in the first place.
Ideal Games for Steam Link Mobile Streaming
Through all my time using mobile game streaming services, I‘ve found some games stream and play far better from a control perspective.
Here‘s a quick comparison table summarizing mobile playability:
| Game Genres | Playability Rating |
|---|---|
| FPS games with controller support | Excellent |
| 3rd person action games with controller support | Excellent |
| RTS games with good touch controls | Good |
| MOBA games | Moderate |
| MMORPGs with small UI elements | Difficult |
| Fast competitive online titles | Difficult |
Slower paced single player adventure, action and RPG titles with gamepad support seem to be ideal. Games requiring fast reaction times or with tiny on-screen UI elements don‘t translate too well to the mobile screen.
Cloud Gaming Services as an Alternative
If you don‘t have a sufficiently capable gaming PC, there are cloud gaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now, Google Stadia and Amazon Luna that can stream high fidelity games.
The advantage of cloud gaming is not needing expensive local gaming hardware since games run on remote cloud servers. But you do need a strong, uninterrupted internet connection for responsive controls.
There‘s also the added cost of game purchase or monthly subscriptions for some services. Not to mention limits on game libraries supported on each cloud platform.
| Game Streaming Platform | Monthly Cost | Title Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Hosted Steam Link | No extra charges | Thousands of Steam games |
| Nvidia GeForce Now RTX 3080 Subscription | $20 | Support for popular titles with some omissions |
| Google Stadia Pro | $10 | Around 200 games |
| Amazon Luna+ Subscription | $10 | Around 100 games |
Why a PC is Still Necessary for Steam Link
While streaming games to iPhone works decently over fast connections, there are still clear advantages to running games natively on PC hardware:
- Faster input response for competitive online games
- Support for mouse + keyboard controls
- Higher visual fidelity graphics options
- Ability to mod games
- Avoidance of any streaming compression artifacts
- Ownership of games irrespective of licensing changes
A PC gives you the most control over your gaming experience and Steam library access. Even as streaming tech improves with solutions like Steam Pal, local gaming PCs would continue to have advantages.
Cloud streaming may eventually bridge the gap if mobile network speeds and data centers improve drastically. But for now, enjoying your Steam library untethered through the Steam Link app still needs the essential gaming PC to run titles at max settings before streaming out to phones.
