Play Fortnite on iOS with new touch screen controls: GeForce NOW Closed Beta signups live

This new development from Nvidia may be the closest Apple users come to a full Fortnite mobile experience.

Fortnite Battle Royale has not been available on the App Store since August 2020. The infamous showdown between Epic Games and Apple led to monumental legal proceedings, lost money on both sides, and iOS gamers being left in Chapter 2 Season 3.

A few months after the initial ban, fans were alerted to an exciting potential workaround that would allow them to keep playing on Apple devices. Nvidia’s cloud-based game streaming service, GeForce NOW, was coming to iOS.

This did turn out to be a partial solution. However, there are often performance issues with streaming, and you also needed to use a controller to play.

While it won’t help anyone suffering severe lag, Nvidia announced today that they have developed a “touch-friendly” version of Fortnite for GeForce NOW. This means that anyone on either iOS or Android will be able to enjoy the full Fortnite mobile experience, even without a gamepad.

You can register here to take part in a limited time closed beta of this new Fortnite with touch controls. Spaces are not guaranteed, but they will begin rolling out next week.

To play the beta, or the full version once it releases, you will need an active GeForce NOW subscription. Free memberships are available, though they do limit you to 1-Hour session lengths.

Again, this is still not a perfect substitute for the standard mobile app. Streaming gameplay will put strain on your mobile connection, which may well be patchy to begin with.

But, if you’ve been longing for a way to play on mobile with just your fingers and the screen, this is your chance. At this point, it seems very possible that Fortnite never returns to the iOS App Store.