A long flight is the one time most people genuinely need offline games, and the worst time to discover one does not work. This guide from Maxio Fun Studio covers what to install, how to prepare the phone, and how to make the battery last the whole flight.

Install Two Games, Not Six

The most common mistake is loading up the phone at the gate with everything that looks interesting, then playing none of them because nothing holds attention.

Two is the right number, and they should do different jobs.

One long game for the hours in the middle, where you settle in and lose track of time. A farming sim, an RPG or a driving game.

One short game for the broken moments: taxiing, turbulence, waiting for the trolley. A puzzle or an arcade title you can put down in five seconds.

The Long Games

Stardew Valley. Farming, fishing, mining and a story underneath it all. Hundreds of hours, no adverts, no connection. Paid, and the best single purchase on this list for a long haul.

Farming Simulator 23 Mobile. Proper machinery, crops and an economy. Paid, works offline.

Truckers of Europe 3. Long-haul driving where a single delivery fills half an hour. Free.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. A complete console RPG on a phone. Paid, enormous, entirely offline.

TheoTown. A pixel-art city builder that swallows time quietly. Free.

The Short Games

Alto's Odyssey. A snowboarding endless runner that is genuinely beautiful and needs no concentration to pick up. Free with adverts.

Monument Valley. Short, perfect optical illusion puzzles. Paid, no adverts.

Mini Metro. Design a subway network as the city grows. Calm, paid.

BitLife. A text-based life simulator. Almost no storage, endlessly repeatable, free.

Royal Smash! Knock Out Fest. Ours. Fire a cannon at block towers, rounds under a minute. Free and fully offline.

Arrow Escape Puzzle. Also ours. Clear a grid of arrows in the right order. Free, offline, good for the moments when you want something quiet.

Do This the Day Before, Not at the Airport

Airport WiFi is slow and the gate is the wrong place to find out a game needs a two gigabyte download.

1. Install everything at home. On your own WiFi, with time to spare.

2. Open each game once and play a few minutes. Many games download level or map data only on first launch. This is the step people skip.

3. Test in airplane mode. Switch it on, close each game completely by swiping it out of recent apps, reopen it and play. If it works, it will work at 30,000 feet.

4. Check your storage. A failed install on a full phone is a bad start. Our guide to freeing up storage on Android covers how to clear space properly.

5. Charge to 100% and bring a power bank. Not every seat has a working socket, and the ones that do are often slow.

Making the Battery Last the Flight

Airplane mode is not just a rule, it is the single biggest battery saving available to you. With the radios off, your phone stops hunting for a signal it cannot find, which on the ground is one of the largest drains there is. At altitude, with no towers in range, a phone left searching will empty itself remarkably fast.

Then the two settings that matter most. Drop the screen brightness, since the display is usually the biggest consumer of power on a phone, and turn off auto-brightness so a bright cabin does not push it back up. And if your phone has a 120Hz display, drop it to 60Hz in display settings. In a puzzle or a farming game you will not see the difference.

If your phone has a Game Mode, pick the battery option rather than the performance one. We explain the trade in why mobile games drain your battery.

Headphones are worth a thought too. Wired headphones use no battery on your phone's side and there is no pairing to lose, which on a plane is one less thing to go wrong.

Games to Avoid for a Flight

Anything with an energy or lives system that refills on a timer, because that timer is usually checked against a server. Anything with daily rewards or live events. Anything that asks you to sign in before you reach the menu. And any multiplayer game, obviously, though people still try.

The warning signs are visible on the store listing before you install. Our guide to the best no WiFi games for Android goes through all four patterns in detail.

Flying With Children

Different problem, same preparation. Download everything in advance, test it in airplane mode, and prefer single player games with no chat and no purchases reachable mid-flight.

Turn on purchase authentication before you hand the phone over, in the Play Store under your profile icon, then Settings, then Authentication. A child tapping through a gem pack at altitude is a genuinely common story. Our parents guide to safe mobile games covers the rest of the checks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best games to play on a plane? One long game and one short one. Stardew Valley, Truckers of Europe 3 or Knights of the Old Republic for the long stretches, and Alto's Odyssey, Monument Valley or BitLife for the broken moments.

Can you play games on a plane in airplane mode? Yes, any game that does not need a connection. Airplane mode only switches off the radios, the phone and its games work normally. It is also the best thing you can do for battery life.

Do mobile games work without WiFi on a plane? Offline games do. Online games, and games with energy timers, daily rewards or sign-in screens, do not. Test each game in airplane mode at home before you fly.

How do I stop my phone dying on a long flight? Airplane mode first, since a phone hunting for a signal at altitude drains very fast. Then lower the brightness, turn off auto-brightness, drop a 120Hz display to 60Hz, and bring a power bank.

Should I download games at the airport? No. Airport WiFi is slow and many games pull a large data pack on first launch. Install and open everything at home the day before.

The Short Version

Install one long game and one short game, at home, the day before. Open each one once on WiFi so any first-launch download finishes, then test them in airplane mode with the app fully closed and reopened. On the day, fly in airplane mode with low brightness and a 60Hz refresh rate, and carry a power bank. Avoid anything with energy timers, daily rewards or a login screen.