Found phone games for iPhone

Mysteries where the whole game is someone else's phone. You read their messages, scroll their photos, open their notes and maps, and work out what happened to them.

Updated November 2026

We make Unsealed, so it's first on this list. Everything after it is the rest of the genre on the App Store, described from what each game sets out to do.

At a glance
GameDeveloperPriceIn GermanFormat
Unsealed: Cold Case DetectiveUnsealedFreeYesWhole phone
SIMULACRA seriesKaigan GamesPaidNoWhole phone
Duskwood - Detective StoryEverbyteFreeYesChat
ColdTrace: Cold Case MysterySaclic StudioFreeYesWhole phone
Stalkie · Mobile DetectiveGregoire CollinFreeYesWhole phone
Peek a PhoneFaintLinesFreeNoWhole phone
Suspects: Mobile DetectiveBonus RoundFreeNoChat
Sara is MissingKaigan GamesFreeNoWhole phone
An Elmwood TrailSparsh TyagiFreeNoChat
Her StorySam BarlowPaidNoVideo database
The list

  1. Unsealed: Cold Case Detective

    Seven cases, 8 to 75 minutesIn 9 languages, German includedFree, hints with keys, no ads

    Each case is a leaked phone with up to 21 apps: messages, gallery, mail, notes, maps, taxi rides, wallet and more. A client texts you for help, asks questions as you go and replies in character when you guess wrong. Spot a detail in a photo and it's pinned to your evidence board.

    Download on the App StoreSee all cases

  2. SIMULACRA series

    by Kaigan GamesPaidIn German: NoWhole phone

    The series that defined found-phone horror. The first game opens on a missing woman's phone and a video of her begging for help, and the phone itself starts acting strangely. In SIMULACRA 2 you work through the wiped phone of an influencer who has died, unofficially, for a detective who doesn't buy the official story. SIMULACRA 3 moves to a town where people keep vanishing, with a missing investigator's phone and his videos as your only lead.

    SIMULACRA SIMULACRA 2 SIMULACRA 3

  3. Duskwood - Detective Story

    by EverbyteFreeIn German: YesChat

    Hannah has been missing for 72 hours when her friends get a message from her phone. It contains only one number: yours. You investigate through chats with her friends, with images, voicemails, videos and mini-games along the way, and your choices change what happens.

    View on the App Store

  4. ColdTrace: Cold Case Mystery

    by Saclic StudioFreeIn German: YesWhole phone

    A stranger's phone and a death that was written off as an accident. You go through messages, photos, notes and voicemails, rebuild the timeline and decide whether it really was one. Released in 2026 and already one of the most-rated games in the genre.

    View on the App Store

  5. Stalkie · Mobile Detective

    by Gregoire CollinFreeIn German: YesWhole phone

    Each case is a made-up phone that you comb through app by app: chats, social feeds, notes, the photo roll and the calendar, plus content that stays locked until you find the way in. Several separate cases, each with its own owner.

    View on the App Store

  6. Peek a Phone

    by FaintLinesFreeIn German: NoWhole phone

    Short missions rather than one long story, each on a different character's phone: a suspected affair, a police chief who has gone missing, a murder solved from the victim's own phone. Made for quick sessions, with chats, calls and texting puzzles.

    View on the App Store

  7. Suspects: Mobile Detective

    by Bonus RoundFreeIn German: NoChat

    Crime and murder stories told through the characters' chat messages, photos, live videos, voice notes and social posts. One of the oldest games in the genre, out since 2018.

    View on the App Store

  8. Sara is Missing

    by Kaigan GamesFreeIn German: NoWhole phone

    The free game that came before SIMULACRA. Sara has disappeared and her phone is your only lead: messages, notes, mail, photos and videos, plus password-protected files to unlock. Short, and it shows its age next to the series it started.

    View on the App Store

  9. An Elmwood Trail

    by Sparsh TyagiFreeIn German: NoChat

    A text-message mystery rather than a whole phone: 18-year-old Zoey Leonard has been missing for three weeks and the police have called her a runaway. You help a detective work the case in the town of Riverstone, mostly through chat.

    View on the App Store

  10. Her Story

    by Sam BarlowPaidIn German: NoVideo database

    Not a phone, but the same itch: you search an old police database of video interviews with a woman whose husband went missing, typing keywords to pull up clips. Won three BAFTAs and Best Narrative at The Game Awards 2015.

    View on the App Store
Questions
What is a found phone game?

A mystery game where the screen is a stranger's phone. Instead of walking around a crime scene you read their messages, look through their photos, notes, mail and maps, and piece together what happened from what they left behind.

Which found phone games are free?

Unsealed, Duskwood, ColdTrace, Stalkie, Peek a Phone, Suspects: Mobile Detective, Sara is Missing and An Elmwood Trail are free to download, most of them with in-app purchases. The SIMULACRA games and Her Story are paid.

Which found phone games are in German?

Unsealed, Duskwood, ColdTrace and Stalkie are available in German. SIMULACRA, Her Story, Suspects and An Elmwood Trail are English only.

What should I play after SIMULACRA?

See games like SIMULACRA and Her Story: the same list from a SIMULACRA player's point of view.

Start with a phone nobody was supposed to see.

Unsealed is free to download. Your first case takes about ten minutes.

Download on the App Store