Best Offline Shooting Games for iPhone

Cover Fire is our pick for a campaign on an iPhone with no signal, and Dead Target for zombies. Both developers say in plain words on the App Store that the game plays with no connection.

All eight are free to download, sell in-app purchases you can leave alone, and run on iPad. Where part of a game still needs a connection, we name the part. The App Store rates every one 18+ except Major Mayhem 2, and flags advertising on every one except Cover Fire.

A campaign with a squad

Cover Fire has a story mode and a squad to manage, and Viva Games puts offline play at the top of its feature list. The listing recommends Wi-Fi for the download of about 970MB, and says you do not need Wi-Fi after that.

You lead mercenaries against an enemy called Tetracorp, switching between soldiers such as a sniper and a hacker in the middle of a fight. There is a timed sniper mode where every hit adds three seconds to the clock, and a zombie event on the side. The online tournaments are the one part that needs a connection. Its listing carries no advertising flag, but it does not promise an ad-free game either.

Three zombie shooters

Dead Target, a first-person shooter from VNGGames set in 2040, suits a phone that is nearly full, at about 640MB. The listing says you can kill zombies anywhere without an internet connection, and it repeats the point several times in case you missed it. You work through missions in places like oil fields and military bases, unlocking and upgrading guns as you go. There is a battle pass, and a lucky-wheel game for bonus items.

Into the Dead 2, from PikPok, has the most story of anything here: seven chapters, 60 stages and more than one ending, in a race to save your family. Dogs fight beside you, and there are side stories tied to Night of the Living Dead and Ghostbusters. The listing says no internet connection is required. At 2.1GB it is the biggest download on this page, so fetch it at home. The listing also offers a VIP subscription at $9.99 a month in the US, which you can ignore.

Zombeast, from AKPublish, calls itself an offline survival shooter in the first line of the listing. It is first-person, with campaign missions, an endless mode and levels that make the zombies faster and tougher. You shoot from behind cars and barricades with pistols, shotguns, miniguns and explosives. The download is 1.1GB.

Picking off targets through a scope

Sniper 3D and Pure Sniper are close, and Sniper 3D gets the nod because its listing is the more specific about offline play: an offline mode in which you complete missions with neither Wi-Fi nor mobile data. Wildlife Studios sends you around the world to take out targets, with more than 180 weapons to unlock and upgrade. The other half of the game is real-time matches against other players, and that half is online. It is about 450MB.

Pure Sniper, from Miniclip, says its campaign can be played offline, with the player-against-player mode kept separate for when you have a connection. The campaign mixes straight sniping with hostage rescues, police shoot-outs and missions fired from a helicopter. It is about 460MB. It sells a VIP Club subscription at $6.99 a week in the US. A weekly charge of that size comes to about $363 over a year, so be careful what you tap.

Running around a map against bots

Bullet Force is a multiplayer shooter first, with matches of up to 20 players. It earns its place because Blayze Games’ listing says you can still play without a connection, against bots, in a skirmish mode and a campaign. It is a 1.4GB download. Take it if you like running around with a rifle and not picking off targets.

The one rated 13+

Major Mayhem 2 is the odd one out, in a good way, and it works for a younger teenager. Rocket Jump’s game is a light-hearted arcade shooter in which you fire from behind cover and rescue hostages. There are hats. At about 360MB it is the smallest of the eight. The listing has an offline mode that it says plays anywhere, and the survival mode’s leaderboards are the online part. The first Major Mayhem is still on the App Store too, at about 250MB, and its listing says it plays fully offline.

Sniper Fury, Dead Trigger and the ones that have gone

Sniper Fury is still on the App Store, but Gameloft’s listing says an internet connection is required to play. It is also a 3.9GB download. Dead Trigger and Dead Trigger 2 are both there under Deca Games, and neither listing says the game plays offline, so we cannot promise it.

Gun War: Shooting Games is listed, and the listing says offline. It also still asks for iOS 6 and carries a 2017 copyright line, which suggests nobody has maintained it for years, so we would leave it alone. We could not find Battle of Bullet, Modern Critical Warfare, Death Race, Blazing Sniper or Mega Killing Squad on the App Store.

Loading up before a trip

Download the game and open it once while you still have Wi-Fi, in case it wants to fetch more data on first launch. Expect less of the game with no connection: in-app purchases cannot go through, and anything played against other people is off the table until you are back online. Our list of offline car racing games covers iPhone as well.