I installed Fallout on my Android phone with this free app—and I'm amazed at how good it is

Playing Fallout on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Android phone
(Image credit: Future)

As a PC gamer who doesn't have a Steam Deck, playing my games on the move is a no-go presently. But after discovering this ace free app on Google Play Store, I've been able to take my most recent reinstall of the original Fallout on the go, playing the game on my Android phone. And the experience is actually really good.

This is no janky, slow, buggy mess of an experience by any means. Indeed, it's remarkable that the fo2.exe app by developer 360deg not only enables the option to play Fallout and Fallout 2 on your Android mobile phone, but comes with a suite of really welcome tools and options that make the experience a surprisingly strong one, with features such as save game importing and exporting, support for the game's HiRes mod, framerate and touchscreen control, among others.

Man, I could really do with a Mr. Handy in my own home. (Image credit: Future)

What takes the app to an even higher level, though, is that it also allows you to play the free fan-made total conversion mod Fallout: Senora, which is a standalone adventure, as well as Fallout: Nevada, which is a fan-made prequel to the original Fallout. After using the app myself, I can confirm that it's a great way to play these RPG classics from the portable screen of your mobile phone.

The game's display can be customised as you see fit, with a handy UI letting you access options at any time. (Image credit: Future)

How to install Fallout on your Android phone today

Here's how to play: Firstly, grab the fo2.exe app from the Google Play Store. Once you've got it, feel free to open it, as its top menu will then very clearly give instructions on how to get playing. It's super easy to do, though, and simply includes downloading the original Fallout or Fallout 2 game folder that you legally own (I had been playing the game on my PC, so just grabbed the folder from the GOG games installation directory), then transferring the main game folder to your mobile device (I used a USB cable).

Everything works as it should, including selecting to shoot enemies repeatedly in the groin. (Image credit: Future)

Once the game folder has been transferred to your Android phone, simply browse to the game tab in the app that you want to install, navigate to the folder's location, and then click the continue button. This will then make the fo2.exe app install the game to work on your phone. If everything is done correctly, you'll then be presented with a 'installation successful' screen. Congratulations, you can now play your game.

Copying the Fallout folder to my Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Android phone via USB cable. (Image credit: Future)

Simply select the game's tab in the app and it will immediately load it up. Now, while you can just jump straight into a new game, or pick up from your PC saves (which are ported over in the transfer process) I'd suggest familiarising yourself with the app's UI. This will let you turn on any available HiRes mode if desired, as well as setting resolution and framerate among other things, and also tweak control options, like inverted inputs.

Interacting with menus is no problem at all, either via finger inputs or by stylus. (Image credit: Future)

Playing classic Fallout on my Android phone in 2024

My experience so far playing Fallout on my Android phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, has been remarkably good using the fo2.exe app. The app is totally usable with just touchscreen finger inputs, even if navigation does take a little bit getting used to at first (like, 5 minutes, tops), but as my phone features a stylus, I've been using that to play. Somehow interacting with the game by hand/stylus feels very fitting to me, being reminiscent of characters in-game using their Pip-Boys.

Playing Fallout on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Android phone

The Bloody Mess perk is always a strong choice. Guess we're eating Brahmin tonight! (Image credit: Future)

My phone is now almost 5 years old, too, but that has no bearing on the game running well. Indeed, I've got the game's HiRes mod turned on, and I'm running the app at a resolution of 2026x960, meaning that the classic Fallout sprite art appears really crisp on the screen. I've had no crashes, either, and have been able to save my game and load without issue.

Obviously, the size of your Android phone's screen absolutely will be a factor in what it's like to play to some degree (my phone has a relatively large 6.8-inch display), and playing these classic games with mouse and keyboard is still obviously the optimal way to play, but overall I'm incredibly impressed with this app, which seems to have done something unofficially that no official app has managed to date—make playing classic Fallout games on your phone easy.

Playing Fallout on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus Android phone

These guys wanted to take my character's copy of PC Gamer magazine. (Image credit: Future)

As such, if you're a fan of the original Fallout games and like the idea of playing them on your mobile phone, then I can't recommend this app highly enough. Chapeau 360deg, chapeau.

Print Editor

Rob is editor of PC Gamer magazine and has been PC gaming since the early 1990s, an experience that has left him with a life-long passion for first person shooters, isometric RPGs and point and click adventures. Professionally Rob has written about games, gaming hardware and consumer technology for almost twenty years, and before joining the PC Gamer team was deputy editor of T3.com, where he oversaw the website's gaming and tech content as well its news and ecommerce teams. You can also find Rob's words in a series of other gaming magazines and books such as Future Publishing's own Retro Gamer magazine and numerous titles from Bitmap Books. In addition, he is the author of Super Red Green Blue, a semi-autobiographical novel about games and gaming culture. Recreationally, Rob loves motorbikes, skiing and snowboarding, as well as team sports such as football and cricket.

Read more
Katarina from League of Legends
The best laptop games
Aerith
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is technically functional on Steam Deck, but it's a terrible way to play
Skyblivion evil character
With the next Elder Scrolls and Fallout games still years away, here are 6 upcoming total conversion mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4 to get excited about
Vampire Survivors on the Steam Deck outside
The best Steam Deck games
Valve Steam Deck with GeForce Now app overlaid on screen.
Nvidia announces dedicated GeForce Now app for Steam Decks and more, streamlining cloud gaming for mixed-reality headset wearers too
Official Doom Guy art superimposed over Vault 666 Fallout-themed background.
Fallout-themed Doom mod Vault 666 has multiple endings, an OP Dogmeat companion, and a Ron Perlman-impersonating narrator so good, I was worried it was AI-generated at first
Latest in RPG
Alligator skull with glowing eyes on human body and cords coming out sitting at piano with "The Norwood Etudes" ready to play
My new most anticipated RPG let me be a kleptomaniac gourmand set loose in a noir city on a quest to make 'the perfect sandwich'
Rise of the Ronin review
Rise of the Ronin review
Wyrdsong concept art
Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'
A lolporrit squeals in excitement while being driven in a moon buggie in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, patch 7.2.
Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.2's trailer has me finally hyped to get stuck back in—and to go to the moon and pilot some mechs, because why not
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 barbers change hairstyle - Henry sitting on a horse wearing armour.
How to find a barber and change hairstyle in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Latest in Features
Geralt, two swords on his back, in the wilderness
2011 was an amazing comeback year for PC gaming
Alligator skull with glowing eyes on human body and cords coming out sitting at piano with "The Norwood Etudes" ready to play
My new most anticipated RPG let me be a kleptomaniac gourmand set loose in a noir city on a quest to make 'the perfect sandwich'
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
Monster Hunter Wilds' new gyro controls are a fantastic option for disabled and able-bodied players alike
Manhunt 2
I played the notoriously ratings-board-ravaged Manhunt 2 and was quite glad for the censorship actually
Wyrdsong concept art
Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'
A busy marketplace in The Bazaar.
The Bazaar could be the future of autobattlers, if it stops strangling itself to death with its own microtransactions