Tips and accessories to improve your mobile gaming experience

In 2022, smartphone gaming accounted for approximately 45% of the gaming market worldwide. The prevalence of mobile gaming is driven by many factors — most notably convenience. Many people carry a smartphone throughout their daily lives — and massive libraries of online games are available to smartphone users. 

Furthermore, many popular mobile games, such as Candy Crush, are easy to pick up and put down throughout the day during idle periods. This creates a highly convenient pastime throughout the day for many mobile phone users. Given the popularity of these games, many accessories and options have been developed to support the user base. 

Phone settings for mobile gaming

There are multiple ways your phone settings can support or personalize your mobile gaming experience. Furthermore, these settings can support personal goals such as maximizing personal security. While the specifics of settings depend on the individual device, there are some standard settings that mobile users can use to optimize their experience. 

Game booster apps

Game booster apps are mobile apps that optimize the gaming experience for mobile phone users. These apps improve the user experience in many ways, such as limiting notifications, optimizing available storage space and pausing background operations. While in some cases you will need to download them, many phones come equipped with these apps or comparable settings. Similar programs are also available for PC gaming.

Phone display settings

Phone display settings are various adjustments that users can make to their mobile phones’ operations. You can use these settings in various ways to personalize your experience. You could also try many of these settings to support your mobile gaming and personalize the mobile gaming experience. 

For example, if your phone supports it, adjusting the screen refresh rate can help to provide a clearer, smoother picture. Similarly, adjusting the screen brightness to an appropriate level may ensure gameplay is visible while preserving your phone’s battery life. In general, you can use these settings to optimize the UX of the mobile device that you use to access and experience gaming outside of the gaming software itself. 

Screen mirroring to a larger device

Screen mirroring is the process of wirelessly duplicating a video or image from one device onto another. Essentially it is the modern version of a projector. This can be used to great effect for people who primarily use mobile devices as a gaming platform. 

While much of the convenience of mobile devices is derived from their handheld capabilities and portability, the ability to utilize screen mirroring actually enhances the versatility of mobile devices. Because screen mirroring is typically a very simple process, mobile gamers can quickly transition from handheld gameplay to gameplay on a larger screen — which may make the experience more clearly visible and immersive. 

Mobile gaming controllers

As the gaming industry has advanced, so too have the various peripherals that support gaming activities — including controllers. In the past, there was a very limited number of simple controllers that were typically proprietary to big names in the industry of gaming consoles. However, as the platforms on which gamers experience play have expanded, the options for controllers have expanded along with them. 

In fact, some companies such as Nintendo have anticipated consumer demand for platform versatility, creating controllers that can adjust to accommodate handheld or big-screen play as needed. Meanwhile, many controllers and other accessories have been developed to support mobile gameplay specifically. 

Cloud gaming services

Cloud computing has changed the technological landscape in many ways — improving efforts related to data organization and security in particular. And these innovations also extend to mobile gaming. 

Software such as Amazon Luna and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass streamline many processes related to gaming, such as downloads. They also support gaming on devices that are not as powerful as gaming-specific devices and may not be as powerful in terms of data storage and processing power. 

This is extremely valuable for gamers, as it expands their access to games, in terms of programs their mobile devices can support. It also can reduce the burden on your local network and thus improve your internet speed for gaming. 

Freemium games and hidden charges

Freemium games are games that are free upon initial download but feature in-game products, upgrades and activities that cost money. These “free” games are still profitable because they’re easy to access initially but are difficult to advance through without paying various fees. 

It’s important for mobile gamers to be aware of this pressure to spend on in-game features before they download these games. Furthermore, if you do spend money on in-app features, you should carefully review your credit card statement on a regular basis to ensure there are no surprise charges. 

Virtual reality gaming

Virtual reality (VR) games and applications are one of the most revolutionary types of gaming. VR games are an immersive experience that creates the illusion of digital, animated objects, characters and realities existing and interacting with you (and each other) as you play. 

While many may think of bulky console setups when it comes to VR gaming, VR devices and software have also been developed to support mobile gaming. These include devices such as mobile headsets, controllers that go with specific games (such as the DeadEye VR Drivr golf club handle), and applications with augmented reality (AR) glasses that project a 3D image onto your surroundings.

With exciting innovations like VR and AR entering the arena, the world of mobile gaming is just getting started. The games, tech and accessories will only get better as the future unfolds.