Is GTA 6 on mobile? No, and the 'GTA 6' phone apps and APKs are fakes

No. Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and Rockstar Games hasn't announced a version for Android phones, iPhones or tablets. There's no PC version announced either. So any app, APK file or download that calls itself GTA 6 for a phone is fake, and some of them are worse than a waste of time.

There is one real way to play GTA 6 on a phone: stream it from your own PS5.

The fake GTA 6 apps

Scammers have been using the game's name for months. In a report in May, NordVPN's threat intelligence team described a fake Android app with no game in it that used GTA 6 branding to show full-screen ads and send people to pages pushing subscriptions or more malware, Decrypt reported. The researchers traced one fake GTA 6 app to a web domain with a history of spreading banking trojans, ransomware and programs that steal passwords.

The same report found:

• Fake beta keys. Sites promising early access to GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox, one of which asked visitors to pay for subscriptions or download software.
• Fake PC downloads. Copies of well-known piracy sites handing out malware dressed up as GTA 6 game files for Windows.
• Fake sign-in pages. Hundreds of phishing pages made to steal Rockstar Social Club logins, which can then be resold.

NordVPN's chief technology officer, Marijus Briedis, explained why it works: "When people are desperate to get early access to something, their guard comes down."

How to spot a fake

• GTA 6 isn't made for phones. Rockstar hasn't announced a mobile version, so an app store listing or APK called GTA 6 is not the game.
• There's no beta or early access. Rockstar has never announced a GTA 6 beta, and no edition unlocks early.
• Buy it only from real stores. GTA 6 is sold through the PlayStation Store, the Xbox Store, the Rockstar Store and game retailers. Our guide to pre-ordering GTA 6 lists them.
• Don't install files from links. An APK or setup file shared on Discord, YouTube or social media is never the way Rockstar delivers a game.
• Sign in to Rockstar only on Rockstar's own site. If a page asks for your Social Club password in exchange for GTA 6, it's after your account.

The real way to play GTA 6 on a phone

The PlayStation Store lists GTA 6 as Remote Play supported. Sony's free PS Remote Play app streams games from a PS5 you own to an iPhone, an iPad or an Android phone or tablet, and the PlayStation Portal does the same. The game still runs on your console at home, so the PS5 has to be on and connected, and you need a good connection on both ends. Sony's app also works with a PlayStation controller paired to the phone.

On Xbox, nothing about phones has been announced. Xbox's Matthew Ball has said GTA 6 won't stream exclusively or to PC, and neither Microsoft nor Rockstar has said whether it will be on Xbox Cloud Gaming. Our guide to streaming GTA 6 covers cloud gaming, Remote Play and the PlayStation Portal, and our platforms guide covers PS4, PC and Switch 2.