Endless runner games are arcade games where your character keeps moving forward on its own through a level that never ends. Your job is to dodge obstacles with simple taps or swipes and survive as long as you can. The game gets harder as you go, and your score usually comes from distance, coins or points.
Wikipedia describes the endless runner, also called an infinite runner or auto runner, as a subgenre of platform game in which the character can potentially run forever while avoiding obstacles. The level seems to build itself as you go, which is a form of procedural generation, so no two runs are quite the same.
The genre took off on phones. Wikipedia traces its roots to vertically scrolling racing games of the 1970s, starting with Taito's Speed Race in 1974, and notes that touchscreens made the simple controls of the modern genre possible. A few milestones:
2009: Canabalt limited the player to leaping and dodging obstacles by touching the screen, with distance as the score. Doodle Jump was another early endless mobile game.
2010: Gravity Guy, from Miniclip, had players tap the screen to switch gravity and run as far as possible while avoiding obstacles.
2011: Temple Run brought an over-the-shoulder 3D view, and Jetpack Joyride and Tiny Wings were popular 2D runners.
2012: Subway Surfers, which went on to become one of the most successful mobile games of the decade.
Most runners mix a handful of these ideas:
One-tap jumping. The simplest version: tap to jump over gaps and obstacles. Timing is everything.
Lanes and swipes. In 3D runners, you usually swipe left or right to change lanes and swipe up or down to jump or slide.
Gravity flip. A tap flips gravity, so you run along the floor or the ceiling. Instead of asking "when do I jump?", it asks "which side do I need to be on next?"
Hold to rise. Hold your finger down to climb and let go to drop, like steering a jetpack.
Near misses and combos. Some runners reward close dodges with bonus points or a temporary boost, which tempts you to take risks.
Collectibles and power-ups. Coins, orbs, magnets, shields and dashes give you something to chase besides distance.
Rising speed. The game gradually gets faster or adds harder patterns, so every run eventually ends.
Missions and daily challenges. Short goals, and sometimes a fixed daily course, give you a reason to play differently from your usual run.
Look ahead, not at your character. Your character's position is predictable. Watch the part of the screen where new obstacles appear, so you have time to react.
Tap with intent. Spamming taps feels safe but usually puts you in the wrong place. Make one clean input per obstacle.
Learn patterns in a practice mode. If the game has a practice or no-fail mode, use it to learn tricky sections without losing your run.
Survive first, collect second. Early in a run, skip coins that need a risky move. A longer run usually pays more than one greedy grab.
Chase near misses only when it's safe. Close dodges can multiply your score, but only if you live through them. Save them for patterns you know well.
Save power-ups for hard stretches. If you can choose when to use a dash or shield, keep it for the part of the run where you usually crash.
Notice where you crash. If you keep failing at the same kind of obstacle, play a few runs focusing only on that.
Take a break when you're tilted. After a few frustrating crashes in a row, your timing gets worse, not better. Step away for a few minutes.
One-tap runners in portrait mode are some of the easiest games to play with one hand. A few iPhone settings help:
Reachability. Apple says Reachability lowers the top half of the screen so it's within easy reach of your thumb when you use iPhone with one hand in portrait. Turn it on in Settings, then Accessibility, then Touch. On an iPhone with Face ID, swipe down on the bottom edge of the screen. On an iPhone with a Home button, lightly double-tap the Home button. It's handy for pause buttons at the top of the screen.
Lock Rotation. If the screen flips when you play lying down, open Control Center and tap Lock Rotation. Apple says the button is red when the orientation is locked.
For more ideas, see our guide to one-handed iPhone games.
Many runners don't need an internet connection to play, though extras like leaderboards, purchases and ads may. To check, turn on Airplane Mode and start a run before your trip. Our guide to offline iPhone games has more tips for playing with no Wi-Fi.
Fast scrolling and screen shake don't suit everyone. Apple's Reduce Motion setting, in Settings, then Accessibility, then Motion, reduces movement in parts of the iPhone interface, such as screen transitions and motion effects. Games may not follow it, so also look for comfort options like reduced effects or less screen shake in the game's own settings.
Wikipedia traces the genre to vertically scrolling racing games of the 1970s, with Taito's Speed Race (1974) as the first. On phones, Canabalt and Doodle Jump (both 2009) were early examples.
Not by design. The level keeps going, but it gets harder, so each run ends when you crash. The goal is to beat your best score.
One-tap runners in portrait mode usually are. Runners that need swipes in several directions or two thumbs at once are harder with one hand.
Many can. Turn on Airplane Mode and try a run to find out. Leaderboards, purchases and some daily features may still need a connection.
Fluxo: Gravity Runner is a one-tap gravity-flip runner for iPhone: a tap reverses gravity so you run on the floor or the ceiling, and chaining three near-miss dodges triggers FEVER, with temporary double gold and an orb magnet. It has Classic, Hyper and Zen modes, where Zen lets you practice with no wipeouts, plus a Daily Challenge course that's the same for every player on the same version. It needs no account, no login and no internet, and it's free to download and shows ads, with a Remove Ads purchase and an optional one-time Premium Unlock, never a subscription.
Get Fluxo free on the App Store