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How to Play Facebook Games on an iPad

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Last updated: 01/17/2012

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How to Play Facebook Games on an iPad - Workaround for not having Flash installed on iPad.

Are you wondering how to play Facebook games on an iPad? I sure was. When I got an iPad, I tried playing some of my favorite Facebook games, but they didn't work because they were flash games and iPads don't have a Flash Player installed.

Besides the Facebook games that have their own apps, there are a couple workarounds for playing Facebook / Flash games on the iPad, and they of course don't involve Flash running directly on the iPad.

Contents at a Glance

Facebook Game Apps for iPad
Using iSwifter to Play Facebook Games on...
Photon Flash Web Browser
Using a Remote Desktop App to Play Faceb...
Play Farmville on your iPad
Which Facebook Game do you want to play...
iPad Stuff
What Hapened to this iPad?
More iPad Pages

Facebook Game Apps for iPad

These apps are available in the US, not sure about other countries..

The best way to play a Facebook game on an iPad is with an app designed for that game. Unfortunately, there are only a few Facebook games that have their own iPad app.

HD Facebook Game Apps for iPad:

You can now get a standalone Bejeweled Blitz universal app for the iPad for free (with in-app purchases available.) No more having to use the iPhone version of Bejeweled 2 to play Bejeweled Blitz on an iPad (it wasn't full screen.)

There's now a Gardens of Time app for iPad. However, you'll have to start over as it isn't compatible with the one you can play on the Facebook website, though you can invite Facebook friends to play this version with you. If you want to play the version of Gardens of Time that you've been playing on Facebook (and not have to start over), then the best way is probably to play it on the iPad using iSWiFTER--more on iSwifter below.

FarmVille by Zynga - I hadn't played Farmville in some time, but started playing a little on the iPad because I thought it was awesome they made a Facebook app. The Farmville app for the iPad is free, and I hope that other Facebook game developers will follow suit!

SCRABBLE for iPad - the Scrabble game for the iPad lets you play Scrabble games with your Facebook friends but it costs money ($9.99 last time I checked. I have also seen it on sale for $4.99.) If you want to play Scrabble for free on the iPad against your Facebook friends, then you can install SCRABBLE Free that's made for the iPhone. It won't look as good but at least it's free!

Chess.com - the free chess.com app integrates with Facebook and Chess.com so you can play chess against your Facebook friends. I think I need to watch some of their chess videos first before I'm ready to play.

Non-HD Facebook Game Apps for iPad:
Note: Since it's an iPhone game, it's not full screen but you can click the 2X button to make it bigger.

Zynga Poker - This is a free app that you can connect with Facebook to play Zynga Poker on your iOS device. You can have it alert you when your Facebook friends sign on to play.

Using iSwifter to Play Facebook Games on an iPad

You can also use iSwifter to watch flash videos or play Google+ Games. iSwifter is available in the US, not sure about other countries.

iSWiFTER is an alternative browser app you can get for the iPad to play Flash content including Facebook games. It's currently my preferred way of playing Facebook games on an iPad (except for the few games that have their own app.) It streams flash content to your device from the cloud, so the Flash is running on the cloud and not on your iPad.

iSwifter Cost
You can install iSwifter for free to try it for 30 minutes, but it's not really a free app--there is an in-app purchase of $4.99 (don't quote me on that, it could change again by the time you read this...)

Getting to the Facebook Games in iSwifter
iSwifter now has a Facebook Games button when you open the app which then has some categories with games you can play. These of course aren't the only games you can play using iSwifter, but it makes it convenient to get to them... and of course I assume that these games work well on iSwifter or they wouldn't list them.

Pet Games:

Pet Society
Happy Pets
Petville
Wild Ones

Animal Games:

FishVille
Monster Galaxy
Happy Aquarium
Zoo World

Competitive Games:

Wasteland Empires

Farm Games

Country Life
Farmville - Farmville has it's own app for the iPad, but you can play it using iSwifter as well...
Farm Town
Country Story

City Games:

CityVille
Millionaire City
Hotel City
FrontierVille

What if your game isn't listed under Facebook Games in iSwifter? You can still play it, just go to Facebook and login, then find your game from within Facebook. You can bookmark it if you want as iSwifter saves bookmarks between sessions. Once I bookmark a game, I like to login to Facebook securely, then go to the bookmark for the game I want to play.

Games I've played on an iPad using iSwifter:

CastleVille
Cityville
Gardens of Time
Monopoly Millionaires
Farkle
Pet Society

These games didn't work so well:

Zuma Blitz - this is the #1 Facebook game I play and it doesn't work so well on the iPad using iSwifter or any other method. I think it's too fast paced... the frog will shoot balls in the wrong directions and I don't recommend wasting time trying to play Zuma Blitz on an iPad until Popcap makes a Zuma Blitz app for the iPad.... hey, they recently made a Bejeweled Blitz app that works on the iPad so there's hope, right?

A Couple Tips for Playing Games
When you are playing a game on your iPad such as Castleville using iSwifter, you can make your game go full screen from within the game (if it has that feature) which really helps! There's also a full screen button on the iSwifter toolbar which will make the toolbar go away so you can truly play the game in full screen.

When you are playing a game where you have a character to move around, use 2 fingers to pan to a different area and one finger when you want to move your character somewhere.

iSwifter has Room for Improvement:

No multitasking support - you can't close iSwifter and go to another app, then come back to iSwifter where you left off. Once you close iSwifter, even accidentally (happened to me a few times, Grrrrrr!), and come back to it, you have to start over again.
Doesn't save Facebook login details - once you login to Facebook, even if you click "Keep me logged in", the next time you open iSwifter you'll have to login again. I'm guessing that this is because cookies go bye-bye once you close iSwifter.
Only works on wi-fi - sorry, you can't use iSwifter to play Facebook games over 3G yet. Not an issue for me since I mostly use my iPad at home, but could be a deal breaker for some.

iSwifter Demo Video

Here's a video that shows iSwifter, though they aren't playing a Facebook game here, but a game from another site called Kongregate that has lots of Flash games. It also loooks like this video was made with an older version of iSwifter but hopefully you get the idea..

Photon Flash Web Browser

Available in the US, not sure about other countries..

Photon Flash Web Browser is another alternative browser like iSWiFTER that I recently tried out and so far for me it's not as good for playing Facebook games on my iPad 2. When I'm playing one of the games like Castleville where you move a character around, it seems choppier, and you have to click a button at the top when you want to pan around within the game, rather than using two fingers to pan around like in iSwifter. Also, the button to toggle full screen in Castleville didn't work in Photon Flash Web Browser like it did in iSwifter, which made it easier to click one of those annoying ads on the side.

I really want to like Photon Flash Web Browser because it has some features that iSwifter lacks such as multi-tasking support and tabbed browsing. It actually looks slicker than iSwifter and is great for browsing regular webpages, but at this time I just don't use it for playing Facebook games. I'll keep trying this browser for Facebook games when they make updates to it because I think it's one to watch and it has good potential.

Unfortunately, you can't try out Photon Flash Browser before you buy it for $4.99 to see how well it works for you and the Facebook games you want to play on your iPad.

Note: When you're using the Photon Flash Browser, you have to remember to click the lightening bolt icon when you want to use flash on a webpage, otherwise it won't work so if you see a notice on the page that your browser doesn't have flash then click the lightening bolt icon.

Using a Remote Desktop App to Play Facebook Games on an iPad

One other workaround that will let you play Facebook games on an iPad is using a remote desktop app. This way, you are remote controlling your desktop computer with your iPad, and the Flash is running on the computer not the iPad.

These are the Remote Desktop Apps I've tried so far: (only one so far--if I try other Remote Desktop apps, I'll update this.)
Splashtop Remote Desktop for iPad - This was easy to get up and running by installing a client on my PC, then my iPad found my computer on the local network and I was able to connect to it after putting in my password. I haven't tried connecting to it outside of the home, or using 3G yet.

I was able to play some Facebook games using Splashtop Remote Desktop, but it wasn't as smooth of an experience as using iSwifter. It could be because my computer is a few years old. I liked that with Gardens of Time (Hidden object game) I was able to zoom in by using two fingers to expand or pinch, as you can't zoom in using iSwifter.

Before buying the full version, try Splashtop Remote Desktop for iPad Free.

Play Farmville on your iPad

This is not the Farmville app for iPad--they are accessing their desktop remotely via Splashtop remote to play Farmville on their desktop, but controlling it from the iPad. You can do this with other games that don't have an iPad app.

Play FarmVille on Your iPad: by SplashtopInc | video info

3 ratings | 2,230 views

curated content from YouTube

Which Facebook Game do you want to play on the iPad?

You can click the up arrow next to the app below to vote it up. Scroll down to comments if the Facebook game you want isn't listed and I'll see about adding it.

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How to Play Facebook Games on an iPad