Questions — Gaelic Star

Is there a Gaelic football game for iPhone?

Yes. Gaelic Star is a Gaelic football game for iPhone and it is free.

It came out on 4 September 2026 and it needs iOS 15.0 or later. You take charge of a county side, you pick the fifteen every week, and then you play the match yourself in 3D, fifteen a side on a full pitch.

Is Gaelic Star free?

Yes. It is free to download and there is nothing in it to buy.

There are no in-app purchases, no subscription and no ads. All thirty-two counties are available the first time you open it, and so are all five save slots. Nothing is locked behind money and nothing is locked behind hours played.

Is there a GAA manager game?

Yes. Gaelic Star is a Gaelic football management game for iPhone and it is free.

You take a county, you run the panel, and you answer to a county board whose patience runs out if the results do not come. Scouting, training, injuries, transfers, awards nights, retirements and the split season are all in it. What makes it different from most management games is that you play the matches as well. It is not connected to the Gaelic Athletic Association in any way. There is more on that further down.

Is Gaelic Football Laochra on iPhone or Android?

No. Gaelic Football Laochra is on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam, and there is no mobile version of it.

It is made by Buck Eejit Games in Belfast and it came out on 28 May 2026. It is a paid game on those platforms. No iPhone or Android version has been announced. Gaelic Star is a separate game by a different developer, and it is the one on the App Store.

How is Gaelic Star different from other Gaelic football games?

It is on the phone, it is free, and the career is the point of it.

There are very few Gaelic football games at all, and the others are on consoles and PC. Gaelic Star runs on an iPhone, it costs nothing, and most of the time you spend in it goes on running the county rather than on the match itself. It does not claim to play better football than anybody else.

Do you play the matches or just manage?

Both. You manage the county and you play the matches yourself.

A match is a full fifteen a side game in 3D. You control whichever player has the ball and the thumb moves on to the next man as the ball does. If you are short of time you can simulate a week instead, and the result counts the same. You are the manager the whole way through. You never play as one named footballer.

Is it on Android?

Not yet. It is on iPhone today and the Android version is in closed testing.

Google will not let a game go public on Play until twelve testers have stayed opted in for fourteen unbroken days. That is where it is, so there is no release date to give.

Are all thirty-two counties in it?

Yes. All thirty-two counties are in the game and any one of them can be picked the first time you open it.

Each county has its own colours and its own standing, so taking a weaker county is a harder career than taking a strong one. Nothing has to be unlocked and nothing has to be bought.

Is it licensed by the GAA?

No. Gaelic Star is not licensed by, affiliated with or endorsed by the Gaelic Athletic Association.

County names and county colours are used descriptively, the way a newspaper uses them. Everything identifying in the game is invented, including the crests, the sponsor names on the jerseys, the clubs, the grounds and every player in it. There are no real players and no real badges anywhere in the app.

Does it work without a connection?

Yes. Everything in the game works with no connection at all.

There is no account and no sign-in, and nothing has to be registered before you play. The career sits on your phone, so it plays the same on a bus, on a train or in the middle of nowhere.

Are there ads or in-app purchases?

No. There are no ads of any kind and there is nothing to buy.

There are no energy timers, no loot boxes, no gacha, no second currency and no countdowns built to pull you back. Betting and gambling advertising is ruled out permanently, because children play this game.

What are the 2025 rules and does the game use them?

Yes. The 2025 rules are the Football Review Committee changes that brought in the two-pointer, and Gaelic Star plays them, along with the further set that came into force on 1 January 2026.

The 2025 changes are the ones that altered how the sport looks. A point kicked over the bar from outside the 40 metre arc is worth two. A kick-out is taken from the 20 metre line and has to travel past that arc, with every other player standing 13 metres back. Each team has to keep three outfield players inside each half at all times. A fouled player can take the free himself straight away with a solo. All of that is in the match engine, along with the four step limit, the hop, the solo, the hand pass and the high catch in the middle.

What phone do I need?

An iPhone running iOS 15.0 or later.

The game is landscape only, so the phone goes sideways to play it. It is built for iPhone, and there is no separate iPad or Mac version.

Who made it?

One person, in Ireland.

There is no studio behind it and no publisher. The football, the career, the artwork and the words are one person's work. If something in it is broken, the mail goes to gaelicstar@proton.me and it reaches the man who wrote it.

Is there hurling?

No. Gaelic Star is Gaelic football only.

There is no hurling in it and none has been promised. Hurling is a different game with different rules, and it would take its own build to do properly.