If you own an iPhone or iPad, you've secretly got a whole collection of over 100 games available to play right at your fingertips.

They're all available via iMessage, yes, the app you normally use to text your friends.

Apple added this new feature way back with iOS 10 some years ago, but you might not have realised they even existed.

With the UK now in a state of "national emergency" and lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak, there's no better time to reconnect with friends over a game of Pool or even Air Hockey.

It's all played within the same section of your phone where you normally text your friends. So when your texting your friends you could always challenge them on iMessage to a game of Connect Four at the same time.

There's also a massive list of games available. Words with Friends, Chess, Uno, Mini Golf – there's loads!

We'll be pulling together a list of our favourite free iMessage games in due course, but for now, you probably want to know how to actually play them.

So for now, here's a quick step by step guide to helping you access iMessage Games and downloading any that take your fancy.

How to play iMessage games on iPhone/iPad?

To play iMessage Games, you need to access the 'app drawer' within messages. To see your app drawer follow these steps:

1. Open Messages.
2. Tap the pen icon to start a new message, or alternatively go to an existing conversation with one of your friends or family.
3. Swipe left or right over the app drawer to find the app that you want to use.

How to download iMessage games and apps?

You can find games to download for iMessage in the App Store for iMessage. This is the same process you might use for downloading new stickers if you've done that before. Here's how for those who dont know:

1. Within the app drawer for iMessage you'll spot an 'App Store for iMessage' icon, hit this to browse the store and the available games.
2. When browsing simply tap the get button next to your chosen game to install. You might need to enter your Apple ID password to complete the purchase.
3. Return to your imessage and the game should be available in your app drawer ready to play.

After the app downloads, you can find it in your app drawer and it's ready to start playing with friends – that's it!

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