Games to Play with Family on Phone: 10 Free Games for One Phone or Everyone’s

The best games to play with family on a phone need one phone, no account and no reading speed. With a single phone, play Heads Up-style charades, 20 Questions, Would You Rather and Story Chain: pass it round, everyone from six to eighty-six joins in. If everyone has a phone, Kahoot quizzes, Gartic Phone, Words With Friends and UNO are free and work across the room or over a video call. Below are rules for ten games with players, time and what you need.

Games to play with family on one phone

One phone is the easiest setup for mixed ages: nobody downloads anything, and the phone is only a prompt card passed round the sofa.

1. Heads Up-style charades

Players: 4 or more. Time: 60 seconds a turn, 15 minutes a round. You need: the Heads Up! app (free with ads) or any charades word list on the web.

One person holds the phone to their forehead, screen facing out. Everyone else acts out or describes the word without saying it. Tilt down for a correct guess, tilt up to pass. Pick the animals or films deck for children. Grandparents are usually the best guessers, because the clues are acted, not read.

2. 20 Questions

Players: 2 to 10. Time: 5 minutes a round. You need: nothing, or the phone as a counter.

One person thinks of a person, place or thing and the rest ask yes-or-no questions, up to twenty. The phone only tallies questions and settles disputes. Works just as well in the car.

3. Would You Rather

Players: 3 or more. Time: 10 to 20 minutes. You need: a Would You Rather generator in the browser, filtered to kids or family.

Read the question aloud, everyone votes with a hand, then the minority explains themselves. The explanations are the game. Keep the phone with one reader so small children do not have to read fast; let them pick the next question instead.

4. Story Chain

Players: 3 to 8. Time: 10 minutes. You need: the Notes app.

The first person types one sentence of a story and passes the phone. Each player reads only the previous sentence, adds their own, then scrolls so the next player sees just that line. After two rounds, read the whole thing aloud.

Games to play with family on phone free (everyone on their own phone)

When everyone has a phone in their pocket, these four cost nothing and need at most a free account for the host.

5. Kahoot-style quiz

Players: 2 to 10 on the free plan. Time: 15 minutes. You need: one free host account; players only need a browser and the game PIN.

The host makes a quiz about the family (who was born where, the dog's name, the famous caravan holiday) or picks a ready-made one. Players type the PIN at kahoot.it and answer on their phones; the host's phone or the TV shows the questions. Let a grandparent write the history round.

6. Gartic Phone

Players: 4 to 15. Time: 15 to 20 minutes. You need: a browser, no account. The host shares a link.

The telephone game with drawing. Everyone writes a sentence, then draws the sentence they are handed, then describes the drawing they are handed. At the end you watch each chain fall apart. Nobody can draw well on a phone, which is the point, so a six-year-old's drawing is worth as much as anyone's.

7. Words With Friends

Players: 2 per board. Time: days, one move at a time. You need: the free app (with ads) and an account.

A Scrabble-style game at your own pace, so it suits a grandparent who likes to think about a move over a cup of tea. Start a board with each family member and keep them running between visits. No timer, which matters most for mixed ages.

8. UNO

Players: 2 to 4 a table. Time: 10 minutes a hand. You need: the free UNO! Mobile app, one account each.

Everyone already knows the rules. Create a private room, share the code and play across the sofa or across the world. Matching big coloured cards needs no reading, so it is one of the few phone games a five-year-old and a grandparent play as equals.

Trivia games to play with family on phone

9. Family trivia, two ways

Players: 3 or more. Time: 20 minutes. You need: one phone (quizmaster) or everyone's phone (Kahoot).

One-phone version: a quizmaster reads from a free trivia site, teams shout answers, score kept in Notes. Mix the rounds so each generation has home turf: music by decade, cartoons, geography, family history. The everyone-on-a-phone version is the Kahoot quiz above. Trivia Crack-style apps are built for one player against strangers, so they are weaker in a living room. Our group phone games guide has more picks for bigger crowds.

Games to play with family online on phone when apart

On a video call, the games that work use the call itself as the board. Three that need nothing else:

• Charades over video: the actor gets a word by private message, the rest guess on the call.
• Scavenger hunt: the caller names an object (something blue, something older than you, a holiday photo); first one back on camera holding it wins the point. Grandparents win the "older than you" round every time.
• Two truths and a lie: each person says three statements about themselves; everyone votes on the lie. Good for finding out what grandad did in 1974.

Gartic Phone, Kahoot and UNO all work over a call too, since every player is already on their own phone. For games that need only a voice call, see games to play over the phone.

Games for kids and grandparents: big text, no reading speed

Mixed-age games fail for two reasons: small text and timers. Grandparents cannot read a 12-point prompt in a dim room, and six-year-olds cannot read it fast. So pick games where one adult reads aloud (Would You Rather, 20 Questions, trivia), where the game is acted (charades, scavenger hunt), or where there is no clock (Words With Friends, UNO). Turn the font size up first, and cast the phone to the TV if you can so the whole room sees the prompt.

10. Spoken Story Chain

Players: 3 or more. Time: 10 minutes. You need: one phone.

Story Chain for the youngest players: the adult holding the phone types, everyone else says their sentence aloud in turn. The children get the plot twists, the grandparents get the endings, nobody types on a tiny keyboard.

When the kids are in bed

Spin-the-wheel games are a different evening and, to be clear, they are for the adults. Party Roulette is our 18+ spin-the-wheel party app: add names, spin, and the wheel picks who answers or does the dare, with 14 modes and 700+ prompts. If the grown-ups want it after the children are asleep, stick to the modes without drinking or adult content: Warm-Up (free: light truths and soft dares), Most Likely To, Hot Seat, Karaoke Roulette and Your Mode, where you write your own prompts (those four come with Party Roulette Plus). The browser version at partyroulette.riekapps.com gives 10 free spins per session, and any "drink" penalty can be swapped for a push-up or a true story. The rest of the app is for a house party, not a family one; we cover those nights in best party games on phone.

Common questions

What games can a family play on one phone?

Heads Up-style charades, 20 Questions, Would You Rather, Story Chain and a read-aloud trivia quiz.

What are free games to play with family on your phones?

Kahoot (free host account, players need none), Gartic Phone (browser, no account), Words With Friends and UNO! Mobile (free with ads).

Which phone games are good for grandparents?

Anything read aloud, acted, or without a timer: charades, Would You Rather, Words With Friends, UNO in a private room.

What games can kids and adults play together on a phone?

UNO and Gartic Phone are the fairest: matching colours and drawing badly need no reading or general knowledge.

How do we play games with family far away on a phone?

Put everyone on a video call and run charades, a scavenger hunt or two truths and a lie on the call, or open Gartic Phone or Kahoot alongside it.

Is Party Roulette suitable for families?

No, it is an 18+ app. Adults can use the Warm-Up, Most Likely To, Hot Seat, Karaoke Roulette or custom modes after bedtime; the rest is for adult parties.

The short version

One phone on the sofa: charades, 20 Questions, Would You Rather, Story Chain. Everyone on a phone, free: Kahoot, Gartic Phone, Words With Friends, UNO. Far apart: the same games on a video call, plus a scavenger hunt. For grandparents and small children, pick games that are read aloud or acted with no timer, and turn the text size up. Spin-the-wheel games wait for bedtime.