Casino app for iPhone: App Store, web app and why no APK

There are no APK files on the iPhone, and real-money casino apps appear in the German App Store only with a licence that is valid for Germany. For real money on the iPhone there are therefore three routes: a native app from the App Store, a web app on the Home Screen or the mobile website in Safari. The overview of the casino app puts Android, iPhone and web app side by side.

App Store: what Apple requires from real-money apps

Apple allows real-money apps in the App Store, but only under conditions. Under guideline 5.3.4, apps for sports betting, poker, casino games, horse racing and lotteries need the necessary licences and permissions in every location where they are used. They must be geo-restricted to exactly those locations and must be free on the App Store. Apple does not allow helper tools such as card counters in this area. Apple counts gambling among the most heavily regulated categories; such an app should be submitted by the legal entity that provides the service, not by an individual developer, and it has to expect a longer approval process.

A casino app in the App Store must also be more than a repackaged website. Under guideline 4.2, Apple does not accept apps that consist mainly of web clippings, marketing material or collections of links. Section 5.3, in the version of 08.06.2026, contains no explicit requirement for a native app, however.

The second rule concerns the money itself. Under guideline 5.3.3, apps may not use in-app purchase to buy credit or currency for real-money gaming. Deposits therefore go through the casino’s cashier, not through Apple billing. How a real-money casino app differs from a play-money app, in deposits, withdrawals and game selection, is explained on a separate page.

The GGL whitelist lists neither Frumzi, 5Gringos, 22Bet and Irwin nor their operating companies.

On Android the starting point is similar. Google Play does include Germany in its country list for gambling apps, but for Germany it names only sports betting, horse racing and lotteries. The route outside the store differs by brand: for 22Bet, according to goal.com, it is an APK file from the operator’s website; for Irwin the format is unknown, and Frumzi and 5Gringos run in the browser. The store rules page explains which rules Apple and Google set and why you usually find a casino app not in the Play Store.

In the EU, and therefore in Germany, there are now further routes on the iPhone besides the App Store. iPhone and iPad users can install alternative app marketplaces, download apps from them and install apps directly from a developer’s website. The requirements are an Apple Account region in the EU and being located in the EU. To distribute from a website, the developer needs authorisation from Apple (“Web Distribution”); notarised apps are then distributed from a website on file with Apple. At Apple, such apps only go through notarisation for integrity, malware and fraud; checking the content lies with the marketplace concerned, and Apple offers only limited help with problems involving these apps, purchases and payments. In the guidelines as of 08.06.2026, section 5.3 is not among the rules marked for the notarisation of alternatively distributed apps. No such route is known for any of the four brands.

APK on the iPhone?

In a German forum, someone asks word for word: “How do you download apps in the form of an APK on the iPhone? Does that work?” The answer in the same thread is short: “APK files are designed for Android devices and not for iPhones.” Another reply adds that APK files are “only suitable for Android and ChromeOS”. iOS installs apps in the .ipa format, either from the App Store or, in the EU, from the approved sources mentioned above.

On top of that, according to forum replies, apps that are not signed by Apple cannot simply be started on iOS.

Another user describes what happens if you try anyway: the APK ended up in iCloud after the download and could not be opened. His worry afterwards: “Now I’m afraid that I have viruses or something.”

Other reports show how much time this search can take. Someone who switched from Android to the iPhone asks for a way to install “APKs or IPAs”. Another user says he has been trying “for quite a while” to get APKs or the iOS version of an app onto an older iPad; the thread names no working solution. Apple devices need an iOS package from the provider or a web app.

Android is different. Source, file size and Android version are covered on the page about the casino app for Android with the values for 22Bet; for Irwin no source names a size or version.

The individual steps, from allowing unknown sources through the download to typical error messages, are shown in the guide on how to install a casino app on an Android device. These steps do not apply to the iPhone.

Web app on the Home Screen

Where no native app exists, the web app remains. Frumzi and 5Gringos have a web app manifest on their websites with “display: standalone”. A page set up this way opens from the Home Screen like a standalone app, without the Safari address bar. At Frumzi the manifest also contains a start address with the parameter “utm_medium=pwa”. Both websites also set “apple-mobile-web-app-capable”.

On the iPhone this is done in Safari: open the page, tap Share and choose “Add to Home Screen”. If the option is missing from the menu, it can be shown via “Edit Actions”. When adding, “Open as Web App” can be switched on; the web app can then send notifications and is closed like any other app. The icon then appears only on the device on which it was added.

The web app is not a download from the App Store, so neither the check under guideline 4.2 nor the one under 5.3 applies to it. Since 2018 Apple has supported the technologies to install PWAs in Safari on iPhone and iPad and to use them offline. A PWA is built with web technologies, uses one code base for many devices and can be installed. If the manifest has no “display” field, it opens like a normal website in the browser; the order of display modes is fullscreen, standalone, minimal-ui, browser. If a provider also lists its PWA in the App Store, all store rules apply to it again.

At 22Bet, according to goal.com, push notifications exist only in the app, not on the mobile website. How a web app (PWA) in the browser is built, how it differs from an installed app and where its limits are is described on the page about playing in the browser.

iOS offer by provider

For 22Bet the sources disagree. According to goal.com there is a native app in the Apple App Store; the instructions there are to search for “22bet” in the App Store and tap “Get”. These details come from the Indian edition of goal.com. A search through the iTunes interface for Germany and for the USA on 08.10.2026, by contrast, found no 22Bet app. A web app manifest for 22Bet: no data.

What this means for iPhone users in Germany and which mobile site remains as an alternative is collected on the page about 22Bet on iPhone with both sources side by side. Origin, size and installation of the 22Bet APK for Android are covered in a separate guide.

Irwin shows the same pattern. AskGamblers lists an app in the App Store (“Mobile Apps: IOS, Android”), LCB writes “App Available: Yes” without naming a platform. The search through the iTunes interface for Germany for “irwin casino” on 08.10.2026 came back empty.

According to AskGamblers, Frumzi and 5Gringos have no native app, and on iOS both casinos run only in the mobile browser.

iOS version and devices

The only specific version figure comes from goal.com and concerns 22Bet: iOS 12.0 or later, plus a processor from 1.2 GHz. For Irwin, Frumzi and 5Gringos no source names a minimum version, a device model or a storage requirement.

The region of your Apple Account decides which App Store is shown and whether the EU routes are open at all.

The rules for the App Store, alternative marketplaces and Web Distribution apply to iPhone and iPad alike. Anyone who leaves the EU can keep using previously installed apps and update them for up to 90 days; new installations work only inside the EU.