Asphalt 8, CarX Drift Racing 3 & Galaxy on Fire 2
Five games arrived in the catalogue this week, and the only thing they have in common is that they’re new here. One is a 2013 arcade racer that never stopped shipping updates, one is a drift sim from December 2024, one is a space opera from 2011, one is a dystopian train job, and one is a police chase. What they share is the part you’d normally pay for — in these builds it’s already open. Download any of them as an IPA and install on your iPhone in one tap, no PC and no developer account of your own.
Asphalt 8
Gameloft put this out on 22 August 2013 and then kept feeding it for a decade: 21 locations, 65 tracks and a garage that has grown to 343 vehicles — 327 cars and 16 bikes, sorted into classes D through S. Apple’s store page puts the player count around 470 million. The catch is the same one it shipped with: the cars you actually want sit in the top classes, Mastery missions gate themselves behind rank, and decals and ProKits run on credits you earn slowly or buy.
What’s unlocked: every car, every season including Tag Season, and Mastery available at any level with no rank required for its missions. Nitro doesn’t run out, decals and ProKits cost zero coins, store items come free, and the speed limiter and car crashes are off. Anti-ban support is included.
CarX Drift Racing 3
CarX Technologies brought the third Drift Racing to iOS and Android on 5 December 2024, free to play, with the tuning depth the series is known for — suspension, tyre pressure, gearing — and tandem racing against other drivers. Free to play means the build-a-car part runs on cash, and cash is what the game meters out.
What’s unlocked: a cash farming tool built into Free Ride mode. Land a trick, finish the run, and you collect roughly 2,000 to 9,000 cash per attempt. There’s no button to press and nothing to configure — drive, and the money shows up.
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
Fishlabs launched the HD version on the App Store on 8 October 2011, and it still reads as one of the best space sims phones have had: you fly as Keith T. Maxwell through trading, bounty work and a long campaign against raiders and pirates. Its two expansions — Valkyrie and Supernova — were sold separately as in-app purchases; Supernova alone adds a storyline of ten-plus hours, eight ships and seven star systems.
What’s unlocked: all DLC, meaning both expansion packs, plus unlimited currencies for ships, weapons and upgrades. That’s the whole galaxy, including the parts that were behind a separate purchase.
Beholder: Conductor
The Beholder series moved from the apartment block to the rails. You’re the senior conductor on the Determination Bringer, checking passengers, searching baggage, filing reports on the ones who don’t fit, and running errands for the Ministry — with every call costing somebody something. On the App Store it’s free to download, and the full game sits behind a single $6.99 purchase.
What’s unlocked: that purchase. The complete story is open from the first run, so the game plays to its end rather than stopping at the point where it asks.
Reckless Getaway 2
Pixelbite’s chase game, out since 7 June 2017 and still one of the cleanest arcade drivers on the platform: free-roaming levels, cop cars, SUVs, SWAT vans, helicopters and eventually tanks, and a garage you open up by surviving longer than you did last time.
What’s unlocked: free in-app purchases, through the tap-buy-then-cancel flow. Cars and unlocks that normally sit behind the store go through without charging you.
How to install
All five install from builds.io the way a normal App Store download does — tap GET, install, play. No PC, and no developer account of your own to keep alive. The first time you add a device, Apple runs a one-time “processing” step: most devices are ready within a day, some take up to three while Apple works through the queue. It happens once, and every install after it is instant.
Last week’s pair of runners — Subway Surfers and Subway City — is still worth a look. For everything else on the shelf, see the hacked games list for iPhone.