Last updated on July 3rd, 2023 at 08:00 pm
Dwarf Fortress Remote
Step into the gaming world with Dwarf Fortress Remote, one of the top $3.99 games in the App Store! Crafted with creativity and innovation by mifki Limited, this captivating Strategy game is bound to grab your attention. With its content rating of 9+, it caters to a wide audience. Ever since its release on 14th January 2016, it has been constantly updated, with the latest version rolled out on 6th April 2023.
Whether you have a liking for Strategy, Simulation, games, Dwarf Fortress Remote is sure to keep you hooked!
User Ratings
Join the crowd of 121 gamers who have given their verdict on Dwarf Fortress Remote.
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Dive into Dwarf Fortress Remote
Dwarf Fortress is a famous fantasy world simulation/management game from Bay 12 Games. This app allows you to play Fortress Mode remotely on your mobile device.
Dwarf Fortress is an open-ended fantasy world simulation/management game from Bay 12 Games, which is in constant development since 2002. In Fortress mode, player indirectly controls a group of dwarves, attempting to construct a successful and wealthy fortress. The game features a highly detailed procedurally generated fantasy world with multiple civilizations and wildlife, realistic geology, weather effects. You will have dozens of different building and items to construct, hundreds of materials, advanced military system, agriculture, sieges and underground monsters, diplomacy and trading.
ATTENTION: Internet connection is required to play. The original game with a plugin (both free) running at your home or on a cloud server will be required, visit mifki.com/df/setup for details. Alternatively, you can purchase a server subscription from within the app, in which case we will manage a server for you, visit mifki.com/df/subscription for details.
Visit bay12games.com/dwarves for full information about Dwarf Fortress. However, please report any issues with this application to mifki.com/df/support and NOT to the original game authors.
What’s Fresh in the Latest Update?
Discover what’s new in the recent update of Dwarf Fortress Remote on 6th April 2023:
This update fixes a few issues, including missing designation dimensions display and changes to shadow density setting not applied right away. We also added a small border around rough-hewn walls to help them stand out from the surrounding floor in certain situations. The border opacity can be adjusted in settings. Lastly, we made some fixes and improvements to the tileset.
Hear from the Players – Dwarf Fortress Remote Reviews
Find out what gamers are saying about Dwarf Fortress Remote:
We’ve been trying to play this on our iPhone the last few days and its not really playable. The UI is the biggest problem, its clunky but there are a lot of options that are missing. To give a few examples; you cant create bedroom zones, when you create a storage yard there is no select all so you have to select everything manually every time, and you have to manually check your status and announcements.
We had to uninstall and reinstall the client to get rid of the tileset issue. We really enjoyed the iPad interface before, and while we love the Steam release (especially Steam Deck support), we like the iPad experience a lot. Thanks, Mifki!
If youre familiar with DF, you know its a great game and not only how rich and deep it is, but also how influential it has been on gaming, essentially spawning multiple genres of computer games. This app allows you to access that rich, deep gaming experience on your freaking phone, which is another level of amazing. The app is actively supported and updated and the developer was very responsive to us reaching out to report issues. He was very patient and helpful in resolving an issue with the server subscription, which he fixed in a couple of days after reporting it. Overall, while this is not the steam premium version on your iOS device, it is a very, very good UI for touch screens and is the only way to get access to DF on your ios device directly (ie not screen sharing). A lot of thought and effort has clearly gone into how to access game features from a remote client UI and Im loving it!
We dont ever leave reviews but we feel this one deserves it, the ability to play dwarf fortress on your phone is amazing! The server was a bit hard to set up but it was very rewarding once we got it.
Great solution to playing dwarf fortress remotely on iPad and phone. Extremely simple setup on our PC and the easiest way to experience DF for the first time. Saved us so much time with the preloaded tilesets and mods on PC. Super awesome and intuitive interface.
We were surprised how well this app works. The UI and controls actually make the game even more accessible than playing on pc. We haven’t tried connecting to our own server running on our own local computer, but the hosted server subscription has been great and we have had no issues at all. Worth the app purchase price and worth the subscription if you are frequently mobile or just don’t want to bother song things up yourself. We hope the app continues to get updated and improved!
Hey, this app is amazing! Being able to commit dwarven warcrimes on mobile is amazing as all other reviews state, only problem is that this is 2 years outdated and still has a few bugs. We cant seem to find any updates past 2019, do you plan to continue development?
Im so impressed with this app. The creator has managed to improve on the famously rough user interface of the regular game. We’ve bounced off of this game before but now Im making progress. Having it in our pocket whenever we have a few minutes to play is a game changer. Nice graphics and good user interface make this a very pleasant experience. Keep up the great work!
We cant believe we hadnt heard of this app til last week. This has easily become our favorite way to play DF! It fixes all the gripes that we have with the original controls and UI, and even adds extra ways to manage things that you cant use in Vanilla! Cant wait for this to update after the Steam Release! P.S. A lot of people are saying you need to pay for a subscription on this. You dont, thats only if you want them to host your game. You can easily set up a server that runs in the background on your laptop/PC (by following the instructions on their website) and connect to it instead.
First of all, Thank you! Secondly, please please please update to version 0.47.
We broke our computer a while back and we were not able to play df. However we found this app! For $5 month we can play df without a computer! Now… If you already have a computer then you can just use your computer for free… But for us we need an alternative…. Considering the fact tht we dont have $1000 to spend on a computer. The only reason why this app is rated bad is because people clearly dont read the description. However we would like to point out a few things 1. The app cost money, after the app purchase you can setup a server on your computer to play df on your phone within your WiFi, however you have the option to pay the app developer $5 a month to essentially be able to play df anywere without owning a computer 2. Considering tht df was made for the computer… The app developer had to make a new GUI… Witch is great! 3. Certain features arent in the app for example, you can only play fortress mode, no rogue like mode, also cant change loadout(however you can start the game on your computer first then start the server to be able to have custom load outs), and finally no world map…. So when you gen your world you cant see it however theres still a search option in the GUI…. Overall 100% recommend this app if you are unable to access a computer and want to play df anywere for a small fee.
The server hosting is amazing. Thank you for creating this.
Not only is this an amazing idea AND implementation but the developer is extremely responsive. We absolutely love this… It has been a staple for us and we hope the developer keeps this going. Incredible work! Dwarf Fortress is an oasis in the modern desert of gaming, and this developer brought this ray of hope to iPad. Game changer, thank you thank you thank you.
When we saw this app that can be used on an iPhone or iPad to play a game of Dwarf Fortress running on our PC we thought naaaaa, can’t look good, how can it be playable on an iPhone screen…. It’s amazing! It works as well if not better than playing on a PC. We thought it would be to small to see on our iPhone. It’s not. We keep a game of Dwarf Fortress running on our desktop and use this app to to connect to it and play Dwarf Fortress so we can get our fix anytime. This is well worth the cost. We just read the bad reviews and most of them didn’t understand what they were getting into. You need to have Dwarf Fortress running on a PC or you can rent a server to remotely run the game from this apps author. If this doesn’t make sense to you then this may not be for you. It takes a bit of setup that requires a little technical knowledge but this does not make it a bad app.
We just learned the dev could be releasing an update sometime in the near future according to Twitter. Thats very exciting, as this really is a functional way to play DF on Mobile, and it is clearly a labor of love. Our 5 star review is predicated on the fact that this will undergo continued support, as we were under the impression this had sort of become abandonware. It does have a few oddities, but with such a huge game, and it being essentially free if you have a computer, any small gripes are not worth mentioning. This app has single-handedly allowed us to ply more DF than ever before. And that is worth some kudos in our book. Excellent work! Excited for updates!
We are one of those people that has been trying to play DF for YEARS, occasionally downloading the latest version, but always inevitably bouncing off of the obtuse interface. Eventually, we just ended up settling for reading the hilarious stories of other peoples games, most notably the Boatmurdered saga. But frustrating UI be damned! Lo and behold we stumble across this app, and we are now gleefully playing DF with ease. This app is incredible because it does two things that we previously thought impossible: 1. It allows you to play DF on the go which is awesome enough, but also, 2. You play it with ridiculously easy to understand touchscreen controls. This app is a triumph if you are someone like us, who could never get past the laborious PC interface enough to gain the enjoyment that we saw all of these other people having and angrily wished we could have as well. We are so happy with this app its insane. We’ve deleted every other game off of our phone because DF IS the ultimate game. Bought and subscribed! Keep up the awesome work!
This app works perfectly and Im sad to see all the people who wrote negative reviews since they didnt read the description. A lot of controls are even more intuitive Than dwarf fortress on the Pc. But we have said goodby to our boring work breaks.
Nothing to do but wait for support from something that hasnt seem to been active since 2019.
This was great back when the developer actively supported it. It seems like maybe the announcement of the steam version deterred them from working on it more? Kind of a bummer, we really liked this version but its insanely far behind the game now.
First you have to pay for a server you cant have your own private one for free, second the graphics are horrible do not buy save your time and money!
It works pretty good overall but its multiple versions behind the computer version and for a paid product should probably be updated to the most recent version of Dwarf Fortress.
After paying for the software we thought we would be able to play the game. But then it asks for a monthly subscription to access a game that is already free on PC. We wish we could get our money back :/
The devs clearly need to update this. We tried to connect to our computer but every single time it says connection fail. We tried contacting support, and its been 2 weeks and we still havent heard back. We could definitely recommend this game on computer and maybe it works fine with the paid subscription, but if u buy this to go along with your laptop your just going to be wasting your money.
Either you need a pc or you pay $5 a month if you dont have a Pc like us youll be wasting money.
Paid four dollars for the app but it wont let us play without paying more for a subscription.
We just bought this yesterday as well as the server subscription due to us being unable to access our computer. We have had it for ONE DAY and now its saying system error. We paid the subscription for a service and the game is useless for us without said service. Fix it, give us our money back, or be prepared for a law suite for not upholding your side of the terms and agreement!
3.99 for the game and then 4.99 a month to play!?!? Where is the headline for that? Would have never downloaded that game if we knew it was like this. Refund please!!!!
Was fun when we got it to work, but we gave up on trying to make it work again after struggling for a long time and havent tried again in a long time. Even like a year ago you couldnt play the newest version of dwarf fortress, and we believe it still hasnt been updated.
The concept of this is amazing. Its almost perfect, until we ran into a bug that made it unplayable. The bug we found was that any time we created a squad no matter what kind or how many dwarves we had in it, if we tried to open the menu to give them a command like attack or even move the app would crash. We’ve tried turning the DF server on and off, we’ve tried turning our phone on and off. No luck. We find out Mifki (the developer) has a site and theres a contact email. We figured Id email him about the issue and didnt receive a reply at all. This has been several months now that we’ve sent it in. Also seeing how the last update was in over 2 years ago in 2019, we cant help but feel their priorities changed. Which is fine however you should either un-list the game on the AppStore or (more favorably) open up the source code to the community. That way we could update it to run on the most recent version of DF and also fix any left over bugs that were left. It could also be made free beside the option to run a server for a couple bucks a month. And also we could even try to implement an Adventurer mode because as of right now you can only do Fortress mode. All in all, we did have an enjoyable experience using the app besides the bugs and out dated nature of it. The UI is impeccable for what this game actually is. We were astonished how easily we picked it up compared to having to remember all the key bindings. You really have done a great job with this. Its just a shame that you left it. Ill be happy to update our review if you end up reaching out or at least un-abandoning it. For now Im leaving it a 1 star to hopefully get the attention of those who need it.
We need a refund to df we were unaware that we needed a computer to set the game up not to mention how we have to pay a subscription to play anywhere please give us a refund.
We hate this dumb game you have to set up an entire server that takes so long that we start stressing. We uninstalled the game and wasted our money Bad game.
We’ve played Dwarf Fortress off and on for years, but we found it very difficult to get quality PC gaming time when our daughter was born. Luckily right before kiddo number two, we’ve discovered and purchased this app. Game. Changer. It was remarkably easy to set up on our PC to run on our local network over WiFi, we simply downloaded matching version numbers of DFHack, the game, and the server files. A little cutting and pasting server files into the DF Hack folder and thats it. Start the game, enter a couple of commands into DF Hack, run the remote on the iPad and everything worked on the very first try (YMMV). We can now play on our iPad in any room of the house, and we can even play one handed while laying down on the couch. A few things are tricky to do, but Im also used to playing with Lazy Newb Pack so its probably just us. But we couldnt see who had already been assigned to a bed as the names didnt turn green like we used to. Small things like that. Id like to see a few minor improvements, like the ability to designate mining by drawing with your finger, like you can do with the mouse using LNP. But after getting used to it, its very easy to use. 5/5 would pay even more to have away from PC access.
With the new update that allows you to use their servers this app has officially become dwarf Fortress mobile! We never thought Id be able to pull out our phone and play dwarf fortress wherever we am. You now dont need to have a PC running to use this app. The UI is designed specifically for mobile and we honestly find it easier to play on the phone. We dont really see a need to ever play on PC again. We fully recommend getting this game if youre familiar with dwarf fortress.
Trialed the server subscription model, but it simply doesnt work. Allows a world to be created, but when attempting to play every action sends the app into a endless initialization loop forcing a manual shutdown of the app. Unfortunately there is little online support to troubleshoot the problem, so Ill just check back in a few weeks to see if the bugs have been worked out (or if the server is just simply down).
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a mobile version of dwarf fortress. It is an app that lets you play on mobile through a server (I.e. Your machine that already runs DF) Now, with that out of the way. This app is great. It makes playing DF possible on mobile at all, but it also makes some quality of life changes to the UI to make it work smoothly on mobile. There are some things that we wish were implemented through the app that we havent found yet (autolabor, workflow, vein miner) but overall the app is excellent. If youve never played DF before then you might want to watch some tutorials and then play on PC and muddle through some things prior to jumping in to the mobile version. All said we never thought playing DF on a mobile device would be a thing, much less become our go to form of playing the game. Great job guys!
The interface is even better on touch. Just need that sound, and this is a five star app.
Love the app. Works like a charm. Thanks for making DF mobile! Ignore the reviews from people who can’t figure out the very simple server setup. Update: Hey Dev. Any plans to update the app for v44. Xx?
How do you get to the game? We’ve tried but we just want to build our own king under the mountain.
Spent the $$ and the version is 43.** It needs to update to the latest, 44.11.
Absolutely amazing. We now no longer play DF on our computer anymore as the ipad interface is simply better. Best 4 dollars we ever spent on an app. Developer consistently updates for new versions of the game and fixes bugs and improves the UI.
Dwarf Fortress would probably be too memory, CPU, and storage demanding to be useful on the iPad, so the only logical solution is to run it on a server, and remote to it. This implementation, and the accompanying server bundle with plugin were dead simple to setup on our home Mac Mini and we were playing in minutes. The interface is rather intuitive for a game originally based around a text and keyboard interface, so the purchase price is worth the effort invested. Also, if you like DF, be sure to support the original developer too! Be sure to start with the developer’s free DF Remote Test app, that’s what sold us on the fact this product works at least at a minimal technical level. Honestly, our hopes were low, but the paid app delivered very well on the promise of a graphics set and iPad interface to DF.
Keep up the great work. Id love to see this app keep up years into the future as we think this really gives new life to the game. Maybe add a donate option, despite it being a paid app, into the main menu? Maybe half of the donations go to the app developer and half goes to DF devs? Just some food for thought.
Played Dwarf Fortress vanilla to get a sense of it, then started using DF Remote. Such an awesome improvement over the standard. Made the game loads more approachable. Wouldnt be surprised if this GUI made it into version 1.0! Please note: this is NOT the full game, a desktop is required to run the game while this utility makes the game more playable.
This app is great, and whats there works well. Will be 5 stars when remaining functionality is added.
WHATS THE POINT IN THE GAME IF we CANT PLAY IT.
No, this app doesn’t play DF on your phone. But yes it does allow you to remotely control it on a server (your regular pc) and play through a better UI on your iDevice. We’ve used it when 3000 miles from home with no problems. So if this is a use case you’d want, this does it really well.
We downloaded this thinking "oh, we can play dwarf fortress on our phone! And we can hopefully do it on a plane or out of the house," but it is actually used to play it on your phone next to your computer for some reason, so you need a computer and internet connection, making this basically useless and misleading and a huge waste of money.
This app was a waste of money. The app directs you to their website where it gives u instructions to get what ever you need to play on your phone but u need to do it on a pic or laptop. Maybe the next update will let you create worlds your phone/device with out a computer.