Best poker apps for real money: which one to install on your phone

The best poker app for real money depends on where you live and which phone you use, because no single app is available everywhere. For most players outside the US, GGPoker has the most tables and games on a phone, PokerStars has the strongest licensing and tournament schedule, and WPT Global suits players who want softer games and Omaha. CoinPoker and ACR Poker work differently: neither is in the App Store, and ACR runs as a web app you add to your home screen.

Below we compare the five apps, show how each one installs on iPhone and Android, what you give up compared with a computer, and which apps are legal for players in the US, the UK and Canada. App sizes, system requirements and store ratings were taken from the official store listings during our check in November 2026.

Best poker apps at a glance

Here’s the short version. “Store” means the App Store or Google Play; “site” means you download the app from the poker site itself.

None of these is available in every country. GGPoker, PokerStars.com and WPT Global don’t accept players from the US, and WPT Global is also closed to the UK. ACR accepts most US states but isn’t regulated by any of them. Check where you can play before you install anything; our guide to the best poker sites sorts them by country.

We chose these five because each runs a real-money client on phones, accepts players from a wide range of countries, and has a full review on this site. For each app we checked the official store listing (size, system requirements, rating and developer), the site’s own download page and its rules on third-party software. Store figures depend on the country of the store, so each one is labelled with it.

What we didn’t do is rank them by bonuses. Welcome offers change every few months and are the same on the app as on a computer; our bonus guides cover them separately.

The five apps worth installing

All five are full real-money clients connected to the same account and balance as the site’s desktop software. Where they differ is in what you can play on a phone, how they install and who they accept.

GGPoker

GGPoker built its app for one-handed play: tables open in portrait mode, and the main formats are all there. That includes cash games, Rush & Cash fast-fold tables, tournaments, Spin & Gold, All-in or Fold and Battle Royale, plus No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha up to six cards, and Short Deck. You can run a few tables at once, switching between them with a tap.

How you get it depends on the country. The main app, “GGPoker – Real Online Poker” by NSUS, is in the App Store in places such as Canada, Ireland and Germany. The UK and Ontario have their own apps tied to GGPoker.co.uk and GGPoker.ca. Elsewhere you download it from your GG site, which on iPhone means trusting the NSUS developer profile after installing. The full steps are in our GGPoker app guide, and the countries are listed in where GGPoker is available.

The trade-off is tracking software: since October 2026 GG bans all third-party poker tools, so your statistics come from its own PokerCraft, which works in the app in a lighter form. Best for players who want the widest choice of games on a phone. More in our GGPoker review.

PokerStars

The PokerStars app carries cash games, Zoom fast-fold tables, Spin & Go and tournaments, and the same account as the desktop client. PokerStars.com runs under a Malta Gaming Authority licence, and in many regulated countries the app is tied to a local site, so you install the version for your country. In Canada’s App Store, for example, the app was 298.6 MB and needed iOS 14 or later during our check.

The desktop client stays the more complete version, with table tiling, notes and a hand replayer, and the app offers fewer tables at once. PokerStars still allows approved trackers and HUDs, but only on a computer. In the US, PokerStars is now a different product, covered in the US section below. Best for players who want a heavily licensed site and a deep tournament schedule. See our PokerStars review.

WPT Global

WPT Global has no browser version, so on a phone you need the app. It’s in the App Store (619.5 MB, iOS 13 or later in Canada during our check), and on Android you get it from Google Play where it’s listed or from wptglobal.com. The app carries cash games, tournaments and Global Spins, with the same account and balance as the desktop client.

HUDs and trackers are banned for everyone, and the client checks what’s running on your device. The US and the UK are among the 83 territories WPT Global doesn’t accept. Best for players who like Pot-Limit Omaha and want a site where recreational players make up much of the field. Our WPT Global review has the details.

CoinPoker

CoinPoker is the crypto option. Its download page lists a Windows and Mac client, an Android app installed as an APK file from CoinPoker’s site, and an iPhone version for iOS 15 or later that also installs from CoinPoker’s own page rather than the App Store. You can also play in a phone browser without installing anything. For Android, CoinPoker recommends Android 10 or later and at least 500 MB of free space.

Since June 2026 CoinPoker allows only its own built-in HUD and study tools. Deposits and withdrawals run mostly in crypto, which makes the app quick to fund but means you handle wallet addresses on your phone; double-check every address before you send. Best for players who already use crypto. Our CoinPoker review covers payments and safety.

ACR Poker

ACR has no app in the App Store or Google Play. On a phone you open ACR’s site, install its web app and add it to your home screen, where it behaves much like a regular app and supports up to four tables. It uses the same account and balance as the desktop client for Windows and Mac.

ACR is the offshore choice for US players: it accepts 41 states and DC, but not Washington, Kentucky, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada or New Jersey. It’s licensed in Anjouan, and no US state regulator covers your account. Best for players in states without a legal poker site who accept that risk. See our ACR Poker review.

Which app suits which player

If you can play on more than one of these sites, the choice comes down to what you play and how. A quick guide by type of player:

• New to real-money poker: GGPoker or PokerStars. Both have micro stakes, play-money or freeroll options, and large pools, so tables are always running. GG’s Daily Freebie gives a free Spin & Gold or Battle Royale ticket most days; see our guide to poker freerolls.
• Spins and quick games: GGPoker’s Spin & Gold and PokerStars’ Spin & Go both play well in portrait mode. Our guide to Spin & Gold explains the multipliers.
• Tournament players: PokerStars and GGPoker run the deepest schedules. Late registration and long sessions still suit a computer better; use the app to keep an eye on a deep run or to play a table while away from home.
• Omaha players: GGPoker for the most PLO tables, WPT Global for softer games.
• Crypto users: CoinPoker, with the caveat that you manage wallet addresses on a small screen.
• US players: a state-licensed app if you’re in one of the states that license poker; otherwise ACR, accepting that no state regulator covers it.

Rewards and rake are the same on the app as on the desktop client, so they don’t change the choice between phone and computer. They do change the choice between sites; our guide to poker rakeback compares what each one returns.

Poker apps for US players

In the US, online poker is legal only in states that license it, and each legal app checks that you’re physically inside one of those states before you can play. A visitor from another state can play while there; a resident who travels out can’t. All of the apps below require you to be 21 or older.

• FanDuel Poker: PokerStars. Since April 1, 2026, PokerStars in the US runs only through FanDuel, as a new product with a FanDuel account. The app works in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and players from all three share one pool. In the US App Store it was 217.3 MB and needed iOS 15.1 during our check.
• WSOP. The World Series of Poker’s online site runs separate apps for Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania (“WSOP Real Money Poker – NJ” and so on), with one shared player pool across the four states. It’s the only legal poker site in Nevada.
• BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker. One network in New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania; Borgata’s app covers New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
• BetRivers Poker. Apps for iPhone and Android in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware and West Virginia, with one pool across all four.
• ACR Poker (offshore). A web app rather than a store app, open to most states, without state regulation.

The location check is stricter than on international sites. The app reads your position from the phone’s location services, and some sites also look at nearby Wi-Fi networks. If you’re close to a state border, the check can fail even when you’re inside the state; moving a little further in, or switching from mobile data to Wi-Fi, often fixes it. On a computer the same sites ask you to install a small location plugin instead.

Can I use a US poker app while travelling? Only inside a state where that app is licensed. A New Jersey player visiting Pennsylvania can play on the Pennsylvania version of the same site; in a state without legal online poker, the tables won’t open, even with an existing account and balance.

Which of these you can use, the legal background, and the rules for sweepstakes poker in each state are in our guide to online poker in the USA.

Poker apps in the UK, Canada and elsewhere

Regulated countries often get their own versions of the big apps, tied to a local site and licence.

• United Kingdom: “GGPoker UK” for GGPoker.co.uk accounts, licensed by the UK Gambling Commission, and the PokerStars app for its UK site. WPT Global doesn’t accept UK players.
• Ontario: GG’s Ontario app for GGPoker.ca, which asks for your location while you play. PokerStars in Ontario moved to FanDuel in June 2026.
• Rest of Canada: the main GGPoker app, PokerStars and WPT Global are all in the Canadian App Store.
• Other countries: PokerStars runs local apps in several European markets, and where GG’s app isn’t in the store, you install it from your GG site.

If the app you want isn’t in your store, that’s usually a licensing question, not a technical one. Installing it from elsewhere doesn’t make your country eligible. Our best poker sites guide lists which sites accept which countries.

App Store, APK or web app: how each one installs

There are four ways a poker app gets onto your phone, and the five apps use all of them. The diagram shows which app uses which route.

iPhone and iPad

The App Store is the simplest route: search the app, check the developer name (NSUS for GGPoker, Stars Mobile Limited for PokerStars, FanDuel for FanDuel Poker), and tap Get. Apple only lists real-money gambling apps in countries where they’re licensed, which is why the same app can be missing in your store and present in another.

Where an app isn’t listed, some sites offer a download from their own page instead. GGPoker is the main example, and CoinPoker’s iPhone version also installs this way. After installing, iOS refuses to open the app until you trust its developer: open Settings, then General, then VPN & Device Management, tap the developer profile and tap Trust. The “untrusted developer” message before that step is normal, not an error.

Android

Google Play lists some real-money poker apps in some countries, so look there first and check the developer. Elsewhere, Android apps come as APK files from the poker site. You download the file in your browser, allow that browser to install apps when Android asks, and tap Install. Once the app is installed, switch that permission off again; the app updates itself from inside.

When an app won’t install or open, the cause is almost always one of a few things:

• “Untrusted developer” on iPhone: trust the profile under VPN & Device Management, as above.
• App missing from the store: it isn’t licensed in your country; use the site’s own download if the site accepts your country.
• “App not installed” on Android: free up space, delete an older version, and check that your browser may install apps.
• Tables won’t open: location access is off, you’re on the wrong site for your country, or, in the US, you’re outside a licensed state.

Web apps you add to the home screen

ACR uses this route on both systems, and CoinPoker offers it as an option. You open the site in your phone’s browser and add it to the home screen: on iPhone, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen; on Android, use the browser menu or the site’s install button. The icon opens the poker client full-screen, like an app. Updates arrive automatically each time you open it, and there’s nothing to download from a store.

Install an APK, a developer profile or a web app only from the poker site’s own domain, which you type yourself or reach from a link you trust. Pages offering “hacked”, “modded” or “mirror” versions of poker apps are a common way to steal logins and balances, and no genuine version gives you an edge.

Phone specs: size and minimum OS

Most phones from the last several years run all of these apps. The figures below come from the App Store listings and the sites’ own download pages during our check in November 2026; the store country is in brackets, because sizes and ratings differ by country.

Leave room beyond the download size. GG asks for 500 MB of free space at minimum and recommends 1 GB, because updates and game data take space; CoinPoker recommends 500 MB to 2 GB. A phone that’s almost full is the most common reason an update fails.

Sizes, version numbers and ratings change with every update, and the same app can show a different rating in each country’s store. Use the table to compare the apps, and check your own store for the current figure.

What you give up on a phone

A phone is fine for a quick session, a Spin or a single cash table. It’s not a full replacement for a computer, and it helps to know where the limits are before you play for serious money on one.

• Fewer tables. Apps show one table on the screen at a time and let you switch between a few; ACR’s web app allows up to four. On a computer you can tile many more side by side.
• No HUD or tracker. Third-party trackers don’t run on phones at all. On GGPoker, WPT Global and CoinPoker they’re banned everywhere anyway; on PokerStars and ACR they’re a desktop-only tool.
• Lighter study tools. GG’s app shows hand history and PokerCraft graphs, but the full PokerCraft view, like most hand reviews, is easier on a big screen. Our guide to PokerCraft covers what’s in it.
• More misclicks. Bet sliders and preset buttons are small. Slow down on big decisions, especially in Omaha.
• Connection risk. Mobile data drops in lifts and tunnels. Every site has disconnect rules, but a lost connection in a big pot still costs you options; Wi-Fi is safer for long sessions.

Many players use both: the phone for a quick game on the go, the computer for planned sessions. Your account and balance are the same on both, so moving between them costs nothing. Our GGPoker desktop client guide shows the computer side for GG.

Set up a poker app before your first session

A few minutes in the settings saves trouble later. Do these before you sit at a real-money table on your phone:

1. Lock the phone. Face ID, a fingerprint or a PIN matters more for a poker app than for most apps, because anyone holding your unlocked phone can reach your balance.
2. Turn on two-step login if the site offers it, and use a password you don’t use anywhere else.
3. Set deposit limits and session reminders in the account section now, not in the middle of a bad night.
4. Check the bet buttons. Most apps let you choose the preset sizes; set them to the sizes you actually use, such as a third, a half and three quarters of the pot.
5. Choose notifications. Tournament start alerts are useful; nightly promotion pushes may not be.
6. Play a few hands at the lowest stakes to get used to the slider before the stakes matter.

Tablets work too. GG’s iPhone app runs on iPads with iPadOS 15 or later, and WPT Global’s App Store listing also covers iPads and Macs. A bigger screen makes reading the board and sizing bets easier, especially in Omaha.

Are real-money poker apps safe and legal?

The app on your phone is as safe as the site behind it. Your money sits in your account with the operator, not on the phone, so losing a phone doesn’t mean losing your balance. What matters is who licenses the site and whether you’re allowed to play there.

• Licence. PokerStars.com is licensed in Malta, GGPoker.co.uk by the UK Gambling Commission, the US apps by their state regulators. WPT Global holds a Tobique Gaming Commission licence and ACR one from Anjouan, both offering much less recourse in a dispute. Each of our reviews explains what the licence means in practice.
• Location. Regulated apps check where you are with the phone’s location services. Allow location access while you play, or the tables won’t open.
• Identity checks. Most sites ask for documents before your first withdrawal. You can usually photograph them with the phone and upload them in the app.
• Age. 18 or older in most countries, 21 in the US states and some other places.

Using a VPN to reach a poker app from a country or state where it isn’t allowed breaks every site’s terms. Sites detect it, and the usual result is a closed account and, often, a frozen balance.

Set your limits while you’re calm. Every regulated app has deposit limits, session reminders and time-outs in the account settings, and a poker app is always in your pocket, which makes “one more game” easier than on a computer. If poker stops being fun, our responsible gambling page lists where to find help.

Free poker apps vs real money

Many of the same brands also run play-money apps. PokerStars has a separate play-money app, and WSOP has a free social app that’s a different product from its real-money one. They’re a fine way to learn the rules or test an interface, but play-money games don’t teach much strategy: nobody folds when the chips are free.

In the US you’ll also find sweepstakes poker sites, which use a free currency plus a second one that can be redeemed for prizes. They operate outside state gaming licences, and a growing list of states has banned them since 2025. Which states and from when is covered in our US online poker guide. If you’re new to playing for money, start with how to play poker online.

Poker apps FAQ