Choose your own adventure apps for iPhone

Updated October 2026 · By Reno Labs

The best choose your own adventure apps for iPhone are Choice of Games and Hosted Games for long text novels, Fighting Fantasy Classics and Sorcery! for gamebooks with dice and combat, and Lifeline for one short story told in real-time messages. In all of them you read a passage, pick a written choice, and the story branches. Plot Twister, which we make, works differently: an AI writes each scene, and you steer the characters instead of picking a branch.

How we chose

Choose Your Own Adventure started as a gamebook series written in the second person, where the reader plays the hero and makes the choices that decide the plot. We looked for iPhone apps that keep that format: written passages, a choice at the end of each, and many endings. Every app here is live on the US App Store, and we read its listing and in-app purchase list in October 2026. They are ranked by how closely they match the format, not by quality. Ratings are the US App Store average and count on the day we checked.

Comparison table

1. Choice of Games

Best for: long, text-only interactive novels. The listing describes a library of more than 100 interactive novels across action, drama, history, the supernatural and humor, with no graphics or sound effects. You create your own character, including gender and sexual orientation, and your choices control the story. The app is a free download, and each game is an in-app purchase: Choice of Magics and A Blade for the Emperor are $7.99 each, and Vampire — Night Road is $11.99. It is rated 4.6 from 1,337 ratings (October 2026). Its website has Play Online links for its featured games. choiceofgames.com

2. Hosted Games

Best for: stories by independent writers. The listing describes text-only interactive novels written by authors “like you” in ChoiceScript, a simple language for writing multiple-choice games. Its site says authors get a share of the revenue their game makes. Titles named in the listing include Zombie Exodus, Fallen Hero and Wayhaven Chronicles. Games are sold one by one as in-app purchases; Wayhaven Chronicles: Book One, for example, is $7.99. It is rated 4.7 from 1,011 ratings. hostedgames.org

3. Fighting Fantasy Classics

Best for: the original 1980s gamebooks, with dice. Tin Man Games remastered the Fighting Fantasy series, first presented by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone in the 1980s and 1990s. An automated adventure sheet tracks your stats, equipment and inventory, an auto-map shows where you have been, and you can shake the phone to roll the dice. The listing says Bloodbones comes free with the download. Other books, such as Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Deathtrap Dungeon, are $3.99 each. It is rated 4.7 from 425 ratings.

4. Delight Games Premium Library

Best for: gamebooks with RPG stats. The listing describes more than 80 interactive volumes, over a million words in total, all written by people, in fantasy, noir, horror and sci-fi. You manage Life, Mana, Sanity and Cool, and a bad choice in a dungeon can end your run. The listing says choices never cost gems or diamonds, the app works without Wi-Fi, and it supports VoiceOver and Apple Watch. In-app purchases include Premium Access at $29.99, Remove Ads at $9.99, and coin and luck packs. It is rated 4.7 from 1,432 ratings.

5. Sorcery!

Best for: a gamebook with a map, spells and sword fights. inkle adapted Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! gamebooks into a four-part fantasy adventure. The listing describes a hand-drawn 3D world map, thousands of choices, a story that rewrites itself around how you play, 48 spells and touch-based sword duels. Part 1 costs $4.99, and parts 2 to 4 are separate apps at $4.99 each. The listing was last updated in 2019, so check that it supports your iPhone before you buy. inklestudios.com/sorcery

6. Choices That Matter

Best for: very long branching stories. Also from Tin Man Games, its listing calls it a collection of text adventures like the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books. It has three adventures. The first, And The Sun Went Out, is about 600,000 words with 2,400 choices, according to the listing. When you finish a story arc, it shows how many other players reached the same place. Story passes cost $3.99 to $4.99, and 100 Choice Tokens cost $0.99. The listing was last updated in September 2024.

7. Lifeline

Best for: one short story told in messages. You help Taylor, stranded on an alien moon after a crash, by answering messages. The story plays out in real time: notifications bring new messages through your day, and you can reply from the lock screen or an Apple Watch. After you finish one path, you can jump back and try another choice. It is $2.99, lists no in-app purchases and needs no internet connection. Sequels such as Lifeline: Whiteout are separate apps. The listing was last updated in 2022.

8. Plot Twister

Best for: a story that is not written in advance. Plot Twister is our app, and it is not a classic choose your own adventure. There is no list of branches. Each episode has a fixed setup and cast, and the AI writes each scene as you go. You whisper a thought into a character’s head, from presets or typed up to 500 characters, or you inject an event, and the story bends. You can rewind to an earlier point and branch, reach different endings, and share a Plot Twist Score card.

It has 10 hand-built episodes, including The Haunting at Mariner’s Point, a lighthouse weekend that goes wrong, and Kepler Station, a research station that has lost contact with Earth. It is rated 16+, episodes carry content warnings, and stories are labeled AI-generated.

Not best for: reading a fixed, human-written branching book. Pick Choice of Games or Fighting Fantasy Classics for that. See the Plot Twister page.

Plot Twister: whisper into characters' heads and watch the story bend. Ten hand-built episodes in pixel art. Rated 16+.

On the web

If you want to read in a browser instead, ChooseYourStory.com is a community site built around choose-your-own-adventure storygames. Members write and publish their own, and others rate and comment on them. It is a website, not an app. chooseyourstory.com

Related reading

Want stories with art, characters and romance? See games like Episode. Want the wider picture, from Life Is Strange to Reigns? See interactive story games. Curious about stories written by AI? See best AI story games.

Frequently asked questions

What is a choose your own adventure game?

It is a story told in the second person where you play the main character and pick what happens next. Each passage ends in a few written choices, and each choice leads to a different part of the story and a different ending. The name comes from the Choose Your Own Adventure gamebook series.

Can I play choose your own adventure games online?

Yes. ChooseYourStory.com is a community site where members write and publish storygames you read in a browser, and the Choice of Games website has Play Online links for its featured games.

Which choose your own adventure apps have no in-app purchases?

On the US App Store in October 2026, Lifeline ($2.99) and Sorcery! ($4.99) are paid upfront and list no in-app purchases. Choice of Games, Hosted Games and Fighting Fantasy Classics are free downloads that sell each story separately.

Is Plot Twister a choose your own adventure game?

Not in the classic sense. There is no list of written branches. Each episode has a fixed setup and cast, the AI writes each scene, and you steer the characters by whispering thoughts or injecting events. You can rewind and branch to try another path.