No Man's Sky is coming to iPhone and iPad on October 28, 2026, with a free trial and a one-time $19.99 full-game unlock in the US. Hello Games says the port runs on iPhone 11 and third-generation iPad Air or newer, but it launches without multiplayer and reserves Planetary Settlements for higher-end hardware.
The date comes from Hello Games' announcement. The US App Store listing currently shows an expected date of October 29 instead. The two dates do not match; the studio has not explained the difference in its announcement. Pre-orders are open.
Check the OS as well as the device
The App Store requires iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 and an A12 Bionic chip or later. Meeting the chip requirement alone is not enough: the device also needs the required operating system. The listing puts the download at 3.8GB, consistent with Hello Games' claim that it comes in under 4GB.
Planetary Settlements have a separate limit. Hello Games specifies iPhone 15 Pro and above, so basic compatibility does not guarantee access to that feature. Its announcement does not give an equivalent iPad settlement requirement.
Touch controls have been rebuilt for the mobile version, including inventory and crafting interactions. Controllers and TV casting are supported, while iPad players can also use a mouse and keyboard. The studio says it has worked on battery life and heat management, though it provides no specific battery-life figures.
Ten years of updates, without multiplayer
The mobile port includes more than 40 major updates to the space exploration and survival game. Those include Voyagers, which added custom-built large starships, and September's Cosmos update, which introduced space station ownership, orbital bases and salvageable space hulks.
That content does not mean feature parity with every other version. Multiplayer is not supported at launch. Sean Murray compares the release to the original Switch version and says future iOS support will depend on feedback and player numbers; he does not commit to adding multiplayer.
The release also follows a long wait for iPad. As Mobilegamer.biz notes, Apple first announced Mac and iPad versions at WWDC in 2022, and the Mac version arrived in June 2023. On iPhone and iPad, players will be able to try the beginning of the game before paying to unlock the rest.