How To Play PC Games On Android Phone
With an increasing number of mobile gamers and Android dominating the category, more people want to know how to play PC games on their Android phones. While the PC gaming experience is still superior to that of gaming on Android, it can be handy when you have no access to your PC.
Playing games is not just a passion for some but a great stress reliever too. However, not everyone knows how to play PC games on an Android phone. So, whether you want to play your favorite series GTA 5, or the Carmaggedon on Android, we will guide you through.
Before you play PC games on your Android phone, there are a few basic prerequisites for this. You should own an Android phone version 6.0 and above with Wi-Fi, and high-speed internet connectivity (7Mbps and above). The higher the version and the internet speed, the better the gaming experience. Besides, connecting an Android-compatible gamepad to your device, for example, a Bluetooth gamer controller. You can pair it with your Android phone via the Bluetooth settings as usual. Or, you can use a wired controller like an Xbox Cloud gaming controller, connect it to a Micro USB or USB-C cable, and plug it into your phone.
1] Use a Steam LinkThe Steam Link app not just allows you to stream PC games on NVIDIA Shield TV, but also allows you to stream games from your PC to your Android device. You can also connect a game controller for an enhanced experience. Before you download the app, make sure you have installed the Steam app on your PC, and that your PC and Android device are on the same network.
Now, go to Google Play Store and download the Steam Link app for free. When you launch the app for the first time, it will automatically scan your network for the computers running Steam and auto-populate the list. You can also select the navigation method, such as the Steam controller, Bluetooth controller, or Touch Control, from the screen options.
Next, tap on the correct PC name on your phone and it will generate an access code. Enter this code into the Authorize Device prompt on the Steam app on your PC to start syncing.
Once you have done that, press the Start Playing button on the left side of the screen to play your PC Steam games on your phone. Next, you can either start playing the games from the Recent Games section or select your game from the Steam Library. Tap on the Steam logo > navigate to Library > select game. You are now ready to play your favorite PC game from Steam on your Android phone using either an external controller or the touchscreen controls.
Read: Steam Link not recognizing controllers in-game
2] Cloud GamingAnother great way to play PC games on the phone is through Cloud Gaming. The cloud servers provide dedicated resources for the online game, thereby allowing you to play games remotely from any location. Best of all, you would experience smooth gameplay without any interruption. Some of the cloud gaming services are Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, NVIDIA GE Force NOW, etc.
Nvidia GeForce NOW offers three subscriptions, of which one is the free plan and the other two are paid subscriptions. However, it's supported in only these locations for now.
Download GeForce NOW APK on your Android device. You can then log in using your NVIDIA/Google, connect, and link your store account with the GeForce account to start playing. But, before you set up GeForce NOW on your Android phone, make sure your Windows PC and Android device meet the basic system requirements.
To play PC games on an Android device using the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you must have the Ultimate subscription out of its three paid plans.
Download the Game Pass app and sign in using your Microsoft account related to the subscription. However, currently, only these countries have access to cloud gaming via Game Pass. Also, please refer to the Minimum system requirements on the official support page for Xbox.
Read: Fix NVIDIA GeForce Now Error 0xc192000e
3] Start Streaming PC games to AndroidTo stream games on your Android device, ensure you are close to the PC. Also, in the case of streaming, the entire load of the game is borne by the PC. However, you must download a streaming app like Moonlight, Parsec, AMD Link, etc.
Moonlight is an open-source NVIDIA GameStream client that lets you easily stream games to your Android device. For this, you would need the latest version of NVIDIA GeForce Experience installed on your PC. Check the minimum system requirements for Moonlight on a host PC, download Moonlight for PC from moonlight-stream.Org, and complete the Setup. The app is now ready to stream PC games on your Android phone.
Alternatively, you can use Parsec to play PC games on your Android phone. At the same time, Parsec can also stream games from your PC. The program is a game server and can stream games at 60 FPS. Check the minimum system requirements for hosting Parsec on a PC, Download Parsec for PC, and connect an Android-compatible gamepad to your device. Now, create a Parsec account on your PC > install Parsec on Android through Google Play Store and sign in.
Next, make the necessary configurations, launch the game on your PC, open the Parsec app on your Android device, and tap on Connect. You are now ready to play the PC games on your phone using a controller, for example, an Xbox cloud gaming controller.
Read: Fix NVIDIA GameStream not working on Windows
4] Use EmulatorsWhile Android emulators can help you run the phone apps on your Windows PC, you can also use emulators to play PC games on your Android phone. However, the emulators would be different for the latter. While you can access or transfer files remotely between your computer & smartphone using TeamViewer, it can also help you play PC games on your device.
Alternatively, you can use DOSBox to play classic PC games on your Android phone. If you have those old floppy disks or CD-ROMS lying around, load them to your PC, copy the files to the SD card, install the emulator and you are ready to play the games. You may need an app like the Magic DOSBox for this purpose.
Alternatively, you can use official ports by the game developer, for example, Infinity Ward, Bluehole, RIO Games, or Ubisoft. With the ports, you can play PC games like Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, League of Legends, Assassin's Creed, or Valorant on your Android phone.
Read: Fix Unable to load library dbdata.Dll in Ubisoft games
Besides, you can also use dedicated Android phone links like the PlayGalaxy by Samsung to play PC games on your mobile phone.
For strategy games, you can use RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) or some other Android apps to remotely control your PC from your phone.
Can I play PC games on Android without PC?While it may sound complicated, all thanks to cloud gaming services, you can now play PC games on Android on the go. As discussed above Steam Link is a great way to connect your Android to the Steam app on your PC and have fun playing the games actually without a PC. Some such other apps that can help you play PC games on your Android phone are Loudplay, Netboom, Mogul cloud game, etc.
How to play GTA 5 on Android?GTA 5 (Grand Theft Auto V) is one of the most popular car racing games from the action-adventure category. So, if you are a fan of this game and want to drive your supercar on your Android phone, do not worry. While the game is not available to download on your Android device, you can stream the game via cloud gaming. For example, you can use the Steam Link, PlayStation Remote Play, or the Xbox Game Pass as suggested above.
Amazon Echo Auto (2nd Gen) - The Perfect Solution To A Specific Problem
My car doesn't have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. In fact, the whole area of in-car smart gadgetry is a bit of a glaring blank spot in my CV of tech know-how.
I think this is down to two main factors; because my car was made in 2014, it was probably right on the cusp of when automakers really started doubling down on introducing smart features into the mix. The explosion in EV manufacturing to follow shortly after only accelerated the demand for more and more IoT interaction and of course nowadays many vehicles feature what is effectively a full-sized tablet built into the middle of their dashboards.
The second reason my car has remained relatively 20th-century in terms of tech toys is that I drive like a nana. Call me old-fashioned but I tend to think if we all just followed the speed limits, showed each other a bit of courtesy and above all else, kept driver distraction to a minimum, perhaps there'd be a lot less carnage, mayhem and general frustration on the roads.
That said, bluetooth connectivity was actually one of my primary concerns when I bought my car. I really couldn't have cared less how long it took to get from 0-100 - as long as I could listen to podcasts on my phone while I drove to work.
This doesn't mean I'm averse to the idea of using a virtual assistant while driving - quite the contrary. If we had one that was reliable and actually did what it was asked, it would probably make driving even more distraction-free. No more fiddling with the stereo or sneaky taps and swipes on your phone, hoping a passing cop won't catch you and fine you.
For example, if you've been enjoying using Alexa on your smart speakers around the house, wouldn't it be great to take that same hands-free experience onto the road?
The truth is, Amazon gave us this functionality three or four years ago, with the original Echo Auto. If you haven't heard of it, or haven't got round to trying it, the good news is there's a new Exho Auto. It's smaller and works even better.
The Echo Auto (2nd gen) follows the same theory as the original; it's basically just the microphone part of an Echo smart speaker paired with your car's sound system, giving you instant access to all of Alexa's skills and routines while you're out and about.
To be strictly accurate - there is still a speaker component but this is primarily used for setup purposes and on the new Echo Auto has been physically separated from the mic and is now located at the other end of the power cable. This plugs into the included fast car charger or directly into the USB port on your car's console (if it has one like mine does).
The inclusion of the fast car charger brings you the added bonus of a second USB-C port so you can charge another device (ie: your phone) simultaneously.
The box also includes a long AUX cable and a small magnetic mount for the mic. This mount has an adhesive backing so it can be located pretty much anywhere around your dashboard - preferably somewhere you can easily see it and perhaps operate its two physical buttons if required - more on that shortly.
Once you have the Echo Auto mounted and plugged in, setup is a fairly straightforward process which begins with Alexa voice prompts from the device itself the moment you power on your car. You'll need to have downloaded and logged into the Alexa app on your phone and you can decide to connect to your car's sound system via bluetooth or using the included AUX cable if your stereo has a 3.5mm aux-in port.
To me, this second option has always been the real beauty of the Echo Auto idea - even if your car doesn't have bluetooth, if it has an AUX-in, you can now do all the things those other fancy-pancy bluetooth people can do. And thanks to Alexa, probably more. Funnily enough, although my car does have bluetooth, it's not very good. It seems to take ages to start up when I turn on my car and every now and again will forget it's supposed to auto-connect with my phone and I'll have to go through the pairing process all over again.
Thanks to Echo Auto, I no longer have to suffer this frustration. It connects to my phone without fail about five seconds after I turn my car on and because I have it hard-wried into the AUX input I can start playing audio immediately.
Admittedly, most of what the Echo Auto brings to the table is similar to what you would achieve if you were using a different voice assistant on your phone connected via bluetooth - although I've often been frustrated with inconsistent results using my phone this way - especially trying to get around my phone's lock screen. Although I swear I've set things up for my virtual assistant to control my phone, even when the screen is locked, it's amazing how often this just doesn't work when I need it to the most.
The Echo Auto simply doesn't seem to run into these issues. Whether making or taking phone calls, asking for directions, querying the weather conditions at my destination or just controlling Spotify, all these things seem to work - although admittedly there can be a delay of a few seconds while Alexa processes my request.
The new, much smaller mic module seems to be just as sensitive if not more so than any other Echo smart speaker I've used. Alexa doesn't seem to have any issue hearing my commands over road noise and automatically fades down whatever's playing on my stereo as soon as I use the "Alexa" wake word.
As I mentioned, there are in fact two small buttons on the mic module, a mute button and an action button (instead of saying, "Alexa) but I don't know why you'd use either of these as it kind of defeats the whole point of a hands-free virtual assistant in the first place.
What the Echo Auto offers that other in-car audio systems don't is access to your wider Alexa ecosystem. This means your smart home devices, skills and routines are now linked to your car as well. A prime example is my preferred podcast app, Pocket Casts. Until now I've never been able to control this app using a voice assistant - sure I can play and pause but if I'm listening to Spotify then want to swap to Pocket Casts neither Siri or Google Assistant seem to have any idea what I'm talking about.
Alexa, on the other hand, knows exactly what I mean when I say, "Play Pocket Casts" because I've linked the Pocket Casts skill in the Alexa app. In fact, she'll then ask me if I want to continue the Episode I was previously listening to or I can choose something different instead.
The fact is, either you're an Alexa person or you aren't. If you are, the Echo Auto (2nd gen) is an easy, affordable, reliable way to take her into your car with you. I get there are plenty of you out there with other, flasher, more integrated smart car audio systems and this device is probably not for you.
However, for those of us driving a nice, reliable, economical Hyundai i20 from 2014, this is a pretty efficient way to make our cars quite a bit smarter.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Auto (2nd gen).
Best Portable Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Units For 2023
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto infotainment integration in a vehicle is expected now, especially for vehicles manufactured within the last decade. Ever since Apple CarPlay's introduction in 2014 and Android's equivalent in 2015, most new cars adopted the technology to sync with a smartphone using either operating system.
Though it really didn't become commonplace until a few years later—you either had to own a fancy luxury car (a Ferrari FF to be a first adopter of CarPlay) or an owner of the 2015 Hyundai Sonata for Android Auto. Even then, it wasn't until a few years ago that automakers started offering compatibility for both devices. Either way, you need a newer vehicle with a modern infotainment system to reap the benefits of this in-car connectivity.
While older cars are out of luck with integrated connectivity, thankfully there are some options for portable infotainment units that bring all of the benefits of wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to older vehicles. These standalone units are like portable GPS units, consisting of a high-definition touchscreen with extras like wireless Bluetooth or wired USB connectivity, audio processing and output and some even have built-in dash cameras. All bring the modern in-car infotainment system setup to vehicles not new enough to feature the technology.
The best part about these standalone units is that there's no need to replace the car's head unit or perform serious modifications, as they mount either on the windscreen or dashboard. All you need is a traditional 12-volt cigarette lighter power socket and a smartphone.
We've rounded up a list of some of the best-selling portable Apple CarPlay and Android Auto units to buy and connect your smartphone.
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