Alternatives to Xbox
By App Store Tracker Editorial · Updated — live App Store data verified
The short version
The PlayStation App is the closest Xbox alternative, mirroring the friends, chat, and store features for the rival console. OneCast is the pick if you want to stream and play your Xbox remotely from your phone. For tracking Game Pass and store deals, XB Deals and Game Pass Ratings cover what to buy and play. Each shares parts of Xbox's core: connect with friends, manage your library, and stay tied to your console on the go.
The app you searched for
Microsoft Corporation
People look for Xbox app alternatives when they want remote play away from the TV, deeper deal tracking, or tools that round out the official app's gaps. The apps below share parts of Xbox's core: chat with gaming friends, browse and buy games, track achievements, and control or stream your console. Some are rival console companions, others are remote-play streamers, and a few are deal trackers or game-rating guides. We ranked them using embedding similarity against the Xbox app's companion model, then weighed live App Store ratings and how many people use each one. The top picks mirror the connect-and-manage experience most closely, while a couple lower entries serve narrower jobs. Pricing and ratings beside each app come straight from the live store.
Why it's similar
Remote Control For Xbox ties directly to the Xbox ecosystem, letting you navigate console menus and control media playback from your phone over Wi-Fi.
How it differs
It's a focused remote, not a full companion, so it skips friends, chat, store, and achievements that the Xbox app handles. With a modest rating and small base, it's a handy add-on rather than a replacement for the official app.
Why it's similar
OneCast extends the Xbox experience by streaming your actual console to your iPhone or iPad, letting you keep playing from another room or away from home.
How it differs
It's an independent remote-play app focused on gameplay streaming rather than the Xbox app's social and store features. With a solid rating and large base, it's the top pick for actually playing Xbox on your phone.
Why it's similar
The PlayStation App is the most direct rival to the Xbox app: see who's online, voice chat, message friends, and browse store deals for your console. The social-and-store layout closely mirrors Xbox.
How it differs
It's tied to PlayStation rather than Xbox, so it's the companion for the competing platform. Reviewers note navigation quirks and update bugs, but its rating and large base make it the clearest cross-platform equivalent.
Why it's similar
XB Deals connects to the official Xbox store, tracking game prices with instant drop alerts and price history, complementing the buying you'd do in the Xbox app.
How it differs
It's a price-tracking tool, not a social or remote-play companion, so it focuses purely on saving money on games. With a strong rating and decent base, it's a deal-hunting add-on for Xbox owners.
Why it's similar
Portal: Remote Play overlaps with the Xbox app's console-connection idea, letting you connect to consoles and play remotely, including Xbox accounts via iCloud.
How it differs
It's an all-in-one remote-play app spanning PlayStation, Xbox, and cloud gaming rather than Xbox's official companion features. With a low rating and tiny base, it's an experimental streaming alternative.
Why it's similar
Gaming News and Reviews shares the discovery side of the Xbox app, surfacing new games, trailers, and reviews for players deciding what to play.
How it differs
It's a news and media app, not a console companion, so it can't chat with friends or manage your library. With a modest rating and small base, it's an information source rather than an Xbox app substitute.
Why it's similar
X shares only the surface idea of staying connected and sharing gaming clips to a social network, something the Xbox app supports.
How it differs
It's the general-purpose X social platform, not a gaming companion, so it has no console controls, library, or achievements. With a massive base, it's where you might share clips, but it isn't an Xbox app alternative.
Why it's similar
MyNBA2K Companion ties into the gaming ecosystem like the Xbox app, connecting to a console game for extra features.
How it differs
It's a single-game companion for NBA 2K, not a platform-wide tool, and its very low rating signals heavy frustration. It's unrelated to the Xbox app's broad console features, useful only to NBA 2K players.
Why it's similar
Warframe Companion lets you log in with your Xbox Live account and stay connected to a game's news, alerts, and activity, echoing the Xbox app's stay-connected angle.
How it differs
It's a companion for one game, Warframe, rather than the whole Xbox platform, so it manages that title's content only. With a high rating and large base among its players, it's a game-specific tool, not an Xbox app replacement.
Why it's similar
Game Pass Ratings focuses on the Game Pass catalog the Xbox app exposes, gathering critic scores, reviews, and trailers so you know what's worth downloading.
How it differs
It's a curation and ratings guide, not a social or remote-play companion, so it complements rather than replaces the Xbox app. With a good rating and small base, it's a helpful pick for Game Pass subscribers choosing games.
Every app in our database carries a dense vector embedding derived from its title, subtitle, full description, and category metadata. To find apps similar to Xbox, we compute cosine distance against every other app and surface the closest 60 candidates. The similarity score shown on each pick is 1 - distance/2 clamped to [0,1] — 100% means the embedding spaces are identical, 0% means orthogonal.
We then re-rank the candidate set using current App Store rating and review-count signals so a 4.8-star app with 100,000 reviews ranks above a 4.5-star app with 200 reviews even when their embedding distance is similar. Apps that haven't shipped an update in 12 months are filtered out before re-ranking.
The similarity cache is recomputed weekly. Live App Store data (rating, review count) is verified every 6 hours.
No paid placements. No affiliate links. No sponsored picks. Read our full methodology.
More popular iPhone apps with curated alternative lists, each ranked by embedding similarity, rating, and category fit.
