With improvements in technology and faster and faster Internet speeds, people playing on mobile bingo sites on their phones and tablets – whether they be iPhone, iPad or Android-powered devices – are quickly becoming the norm.
And new bingo sites are popping up all the time. If you’ve never played mobile bingo before, you can now absolutely forget having to be sat behind a big old desktop computer to get your rounds of online bingo in – you just need your mobile phone or tablet and you’re ready to go.
With more than half of online gamblers using mobile devices over desktops and laptops, online bingo operators are now developing games with a mobile first approach. It’s then safe to believe that all bingo sites will be mobile and tablet friendly in some way – either with a responsive website or dedicated mobile app. So let’s take a look at a list of some of the best bingo sites to play on your smartphone or tablet, as well as what you should consider as you go in search of which site to play on.
New Mobile Bingo Sites
We’re all mobile bingo players ourselves and only promote bingo sites that we would play on ourselves. All of the above mobile bingo sites meet the criteria that we set out below.
What Makes a Good Mobile Bingo Site?
So you may be wondering what you should actually be looking for in a good mobile bingo site – a lot more than just the best bonus should be going through your mind when you’re picking one! The following features should be the first thing you should look at when thinking about joining any. The best mobile sites will easily meet these criteria.
Top-notch mobile security
This should always be number one in your search. Security is always the most important aspect of choosing a site to play bingo on since you always want your personal details and financial details to be safe. There are two big risks when it comes to security at these kinds of bingo sites:
- Playing on a dodgy site. With the rise in popularity of bingo and especially playing mobile bingo, there has unfortunately been a rise in fraudulent sites. They have a big bonus to get you all excited to play, you deposit your money in, play a few games… and then have problems getting your money out. Not what you want! Some of these mobile bingo sites also have unfairly weighted games which aren’t honest and so are just a money sponge, waiting to absorb all of your hard-earned cash.
- The second big risk is from hackers. These unscrupulous people will try to hack into the mobile bingo site and steal all of the customers’ data, either to sell on or to exploit to their own advantage.
To combat these two measures, you simply want to be playing mobile bingo on a site that has the most up-to-date SSL security and is verified by the UKGC (United Kingdom Gambling Commission). This is one of the strictest and hardest authorities to get authorised by. The SSL security certificate is shown by a little padlock in the top left of your address bar, and the UKGC logo is usually shown at the very bottom of the mobile site.
Any site we recommend will be secure, with an up-to-date SSL certificate and licensing from the UKGC – so you can rest assured when you play on them.
Another recommendation is to make sure that the software and operating system on your tablet or phone is up-to-date, making sure that your device itself is secure.
Mobile Site Speed and App Use
With 5G becoming the norm, this is becoming less and less of an issue. But playing on a slow loading site is probably one of the number one reasons people don’t like playing mobile bingo. Making sure you’re always on Wi-Fi will help a lot in regards to the playing speed, but a poorly designed one and poor game software is a problem that is out of your hands.
The best way around this is to check previous reviews and see what other people are saying and playing on sites with well-respected bingo software creators – such as the giant software creator Cassava. You can find out about the site design and speed in our review that we’ve linked to above.
Wide choice of game types
With mobile bingo being the main focus, you obviously want a nice spread of different bingo game types. With 75 ball and 90 ball and 80 ball being the three main types there’s also a 52 ball version you can find. You’ll be able to play on different themed bingo rooms around these types with differing jackpots and wager amounts. They also usually have slots to play if you get bored with online bingo, and so a nice selection of slots is a plus. A new trend is the new ‘Slingo’ type of game, which is a mixture of both slots and mobile bingo.
One thing to note is the mobile bingo versions have the exact same games as the desktop versions, just on a smaller screen – there’s no need to worry about not being able to play a bingo version you like the look of on your phone or tablet.
All of the places we recommend in the list above have loads of choice – including different ticket prices all the way down to a penny and up to £2+ per ticket on different scheduled bingo rooms and special come and go as you please games. You can enjoy a wide range of different jackpots and special prizes – no matter what you prefer, we’ve got you covered.
Great Customer Service
Next on the list is making sure the customer service on the mobile site is up to scratch: being able to get hold of customer service in case you have any problems or need help with anything is very important – especially if it’s something that involves your account safety or real money.
The options you want to find at any mobile site are an in-depth and thorough FAQ section, a quick email response, helpful live chat operators and phone support from operators who speak good English. You want to have at least three of these covered at minimum, if not all four.
All the best mobile bingo sites in the list above have at least three of the above methods for reaching out and getting in contact with customer support if you should ever need them.
Good Selection of Deposit and Withdrawal Options
An often overlooked point to look out for is you want a wide choice of different banking alternatives at your disposal. As a UK punter seeking to play mobile bingo, you should have a wide range of payment methods available and the best sites meet this demand.
Gateways that should be on the site include such popular e-wallets as PayPal, Skrill and Neteller, prepaid cards such as Paysafecard and even pay by phone options like Payforit. Debit cards and bank/wire transfer are also a must-have on the site, along with some of the more obscure payment methods such as Apple Pay and Bitcoin.
This is something we’ve taken into account on our list of the best bingo sites at the top of the page, with all of them having varied ways for you to pay real money into your account and withdraw your winnings.
Big Bonuses
Finally, we’re onto the bonuses. This is usually what most people looking to join a site to play the best mobile bingo take into consideration first. A great bonus can make or break your experience with online bingo, as a great bonus will set up your experience and encourage you to play more.
There are loads of different types of welcome bonuses you can claim, from ‘spend £10 to get a £60 bonus’, to free bingo tickets and more. Also, a great range of promotions from the site is a must, as you don’t want to get bored whilst playing and having a weekly or monthly special set bonus gives you something to look forward to as a mobile bingo player!
Free Bingo Apps
There are countless free mobile bingo apps you can download to play on. If you’ve got an iPhone, visit the Apple App Store and search for the site. Alternatively, if you’ve got an Android device, visit the Google Play Store and search for the site there. In downloading your favourite site’s free bingo app, you have superior gameplay on your smartphone versus playing bingo at the site on your mobile web browser.
There are free bingo apps that are purely there for fun – if you’re not interested in winning money or joining in with the community aspect. What is often the case is these good bingo apps are free to use, though certain features may be limited, for example amount of tickets per day. There also may be things like paid power-ups.
iOS Bingo Apps
iOS devices were in fact the first to offer mobile bingo apps to their customers. These official bingo apps can be downloaded for free via the iOS App Store. Apple have always been excellent in this aspect and offer a range of top mobile bingo apps to their customers. Apple products have great software and this platform allows bingo games to run smoothly in high quality, making it very enjoyable for customers. iOS bingo apps can be played on iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.
Android Bingo Apps
Android users are able to download mobile bingo apps from the Google Play Store. Good bingo apps have been well optimised to comply with the setup of Android devices and run efficiently on their platform.
Android were quite slow to release these types of apps onto their platform, but with a bit of patience, they have now opened up a huge bingo market on the Google Play Store. Players can now download free bingo games for Android easily and achieve a great gaming experience.
Bingo App Bonuses
The same bonuses that you can claim on a bingo site, can be claimed on the site’s mobile bingo app. As long as you follow the same steps and abide by the terms and conditions that are in place, you can claim the bonuses and play the latest bingo games with your tickets.
Whether it be a deposit bonus, free spin bonus or even a no deposit bonus, you can claim these offers through your mobile device. Start playing your favourite progressive jackpots, bingo games, top slots, and casino games now.
Bingo Apps vs. Mobile Browser-Based Bingo
You might have known that playing bingo games and slots from your mobile browser or a dedicated bingo app has become increasingly popular, but which is better? Gone are the days when you had to be sat in front of your PC monitor and now significantly more bingo rooms are played in from the smaller screen.
There are a lot of deciding factors as to which method of mobile bingo is better and there are arguments for and against playing bingo via an app or from your mobile browser.
Apps & Browser
The biggest and best mobile bingo sites we recommend will offer their players the option of choosing both. Downloading the bingo app is always free, whether you’re team Android or iOS. If you’ve ever been on a mobile casino site, you’ll be familiar with how browser-based bingo works as the two are very similar.
Do web-based bingo games offer the same features?
Playing the top bingo and slots games from an app is a superb experience and once upon a time is was barely comparable, due to how well optimised the software was. Nowadays, people are more reluctant to download additional software to play and enjoy the game through their phone browser is enough? This is something that top mobile bingo sites recognise and they’ve been putting a lot more effort and resources into making their browser platform much slicker.
One up and coming feature we’re starting to see is seamless switching between browser from your phone and computer or laptop. Android and iOS are starting to roll out a feature where players can swipe a tab which is open on their phone and it immediately appear on their laptop/PC browser. If you were playing on a bingo app, you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this.
Android vs. iPhone Bingo Apps
The process for downloading and installing a mobile bingo site’s app is quite straightforward. You’ll find that most of the best bingo brands will provide apps which run on either iOS or Android. Once upon a time, Google took a stern stance on gambling apps and wouldn’t feature them on the Google Play store. This meant that if you wanted to find a safe and secure bingo app to play on, you’d need to find it on the Apple App store. This led to iPhone having total control over the market and left Android players having to jump through hoops to find the bingo app they wanted on a page somewhere on the site, or left only being able to play from their mobile browser. Nowadays, you can easily download free bingo games for Android and iPhone.
iPhone and iPad pros and cons
Pros
- Due to being in development for longer, iOS bingo apps tend to be better (more fully-featured) than their Android counterparts
- You can play mobile bingo on an iPod Touch if you download the bingo app on there
Cons
- Apple’s Safari web browser isn’t the best for online gaming if you log-in for a browser-based bingo game
- iPad bingo apps are typically just scaled up iPhone apps
Android phones and tablets pros and cons
Pros
- Google Chrome browser offers a better gaming experience
- Huge range of brands and devices to pick from
Cons
- Some Andoid bingo apps are not as slick as their iOS counterparts
- More limited selection of Android bingo apps
The future of mobile bingo sites
With mobile bingo on the rise and more and more people playing the game – more than in its ‘heyday’ back in the 1960s – here are a few things we think you’ll see more of in the future with new mobile bingo sites:
New sites will be more mobile and app focussed
It’s official – we’re a nation of smartphone lovers here in the UK. According to official stats, a whopping 94% of us own a mobile phone and 78% use that phone to access the Internet. Almost 20% also only have mobile phones in the house and use that exclusively to go on the Internet.
The Internet is getting faster, with better coverage, and all of the facts point towards bingo sites and apps becoming more heavily focussed on the mobile aspects and making all of their software play at peak performance on smartphone and tablet devices.
More slots with mobile bingo
Another thing we think you’ll see is the appearance of more slots on these new mobile bingo sites and apps. This is because the creators can keep players on the bingo sites then, making sure all of the players are more engaged – if they get bored of mobile bingo and want something a bit more thrilling, then they can easily go onto the slots without having to join another site. The switch to HTML5 has also made it relatively easy for bingo sites to increase the capability and amount of games they have on mobile.
The chat rooms will become more popular
One of the big drivers for real-life, land-based casinos is the social aspect players get. The online representation of this on mobile bingo sites and apps is the chat rooms feature, with players being able to chat amongst themselves, find friends and congratulate each other on wins.
This is a big element to playing bingo in general and one we think you’ll see becoming more and more integrated into mobile bingo. With advances in technology and graphics options – especially with virtual reality and augmented reality technologies getting more and more advanced, the future is very promising!
Mobile Bingo FAQs
Depending on which method suits your playing style, there are both advantages and disadvantages for using desktops, smartphones or tablets. If you prefer being able to play from anywhere you like, the mobile version is going to benefit you more.
You will still find all the same bonuses on the mobile site and bingo apps that are found on the regular desktop bingo sites.
This is down to what type of player you are and which version you find more fun. A lot of players stick to bingo rooms like 75-ball or 90-ball bingo. If you’re up for new experiences, you might want to consider playing some of the other types. Check the site has the version you’re interested in before you start playing.
All the bingo sites we’ve recommended to our players are completely safe to play at. They are all licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission and we’ve also personally tested them to make sure they meet our strict standards.
A few of the mobile bingo sites you can find out there have free bingo nights, with a few of them actually offering a daily free spot where they have a few free bingo rooms for members.
A bingo app is something you download and install onto your phone or tablet. A web-based site means you access your bingo games through your browser as you would any other site. All bingo brands that offer mobile apps usually offer a web-based site to play on too.
A mobile app is a standalone application that connects to the Internet and allows you to login as you would from a browser. You could equally, instead of downloading the mobile app, just create bookmark link from your mobile browser and add to your home or apps screen. Features available and speed may vary, though one thing remains the same: the app should be licensed and regulated if the bingo site is.
Yes. The iOS app will only work for iPhone, iPad and some iPod Touch devices. The Android app of your favourite bingo site will only work on Android-based devices such as a Huawei tablet or Samsung Galaxy smartphone, for example.
iOS bingo apps can be downloaded straight from the Apple App Store. Not all Android bingo apps can be downloaded from the Play Store – sometimes, to get the app on your Android device, you will need to download it from the site you want to play at. Upon visiting the site, you will be given the option to download the app as an apk file, which you then unpack and install on your device.
If you scroll up to the top of the page, you’ll find our full list mobile bingo sites UK. All these have great features, including big bonuses, bingo apps, online slots and table games for you to enjoy.