Grand Theft Auto 3 picks up iPhone XS, iPad Pro support

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GTA III iPhone XS
One of the best GTA games is now even better.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Grand Theft Auto 3 is 18 years old in October, and yet it remains one of the most iconic games in the series. Revisit it today on iOS and enjoy full support for the larger screens on iPhone XS and iPad Pro.

GTA 3 finally got the update treatment this week and now looks better than ever on Apple’s latest devices.

Rockstar has been slowly but surely updating all its titles for the edge-to-edge screens on iPhone and iPad. Its more recent releases were optimized first, starting with GTA: San Andreas in May of last year.

Vice City got the same optimizations back in February, and now GTA 3 is getting big improvements.

Grand Theft Auto 3 looks better than ever

The game will now fill the entire screen on edge-to-edge devices — including iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and iPad Pro. Some performance issues on more modern hardware have also been addressed, so it should be snappier.

GTA 3 is one of the most beloved Grand Theft Auto titles. It got its original release on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and it was the first GTA game set in a 3D world. It has now sold more than 14.5 million copies.

Despite the controversy surrounding the game at launch, GTA 3 received glowing reviews from fans and critics. It was even ranked one of the greatest video games of all time and won a whole host of awards.

If you haven’t already played it several times, we urge you to check it out on iOS — which is now the best version of the game. It’s priced at $4.99, and that’s an absolute steal for a game this good.

What will Rockstar bring to iOS next?

Most of the games Rockstar offers on iOS hit the App Store around the tenth anniversary of their original debut. It has now been 11 years since Grand Theft Auto IV launched on PlayStation 3, but we’re yet to see any sign of that.

Given that this was a title developed for much better hardware, it might be a while before it can be ported to iPhone and iPad. It’s more likely we’ll see Vice City Stories, the final GTA game from the PS2 era, first.

Having said that, it’s been a very long time since Rockstar was rumored to be developing anything for mobile. So don’t hold your breath for another game just yet.

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