Fortnite iPhone Workaround May Bypass Apple Thanks To NVIDIA

For months now, Fortnite has been missing from iOS devices as a legal dispute between Apple and Epic Games slowly plays out. At this point, it's safe to say that Fortnite won't be returning to the iOS App Store anytime soon, but we could still see Fortnite return to Apple devices through other means. One of those methods could potentially be through an iPhone and iPad version of NVIDIA's GeForce Now game streaming service.

GeForce Now isn't available on Apple mobile devices yet, but it is available for Mac. However, the BBC reports today that NVIDIA could be looking to launch a browser-based version of GeForce Now for iPhone and iPad at some point in the near future.

Should it do that, then suddenly Fortnite would be playable on iOS again, albeit in a less elegant way than simply downloading a dedicated Fortnite app from the App Store. GeForce Now, of course, is a game streaming service, so there may be some concerns about latency especially when you consider that Fortnite is a competitive battle royale game. Still, for iOS Fortnite players left out in the cold when Apple and Epic went to war, streaming the game through a mobile browser might be preferable to not having access to the game at all.

For now, NVIDIA hasn't announced a browser-based iOS version of GeForce Now, but BBC's report today says that the company plans to do just that "before the winter holidays." Whether or not that means we'll see GeForce Now launch on iOS and iPad before the end of the year is up in the air, but it seems safe to assume that NVIDIA would like to have the service ready to go by the holidays to drive sign ups from those who are gifted an iPhone or iPad.

Offering some kind of mobile browser-based solution seems to be the way to go for streaming services that want to be on iOS, whether that's Google Stadia, Microsoft's Project xCloud, or GeForce Now. We'll see what happens from here, but if NVIDIA really is planning to launch a browser-based version of GeForce Now on iPhone and iPad, it might not be long before Fortnite fans are able to play their game of choice on iPhone and iPad again.