There are many people out there that don’t really see their phone as a communications device these days. Instead, its number one function is as a place to play games. And this makes a lot of sense – most people play games when they’ve got a few minutes to kill and need some entertainment to fill the gap – and what device do they always have with them? Their smartphone, of course!

A 2014 survey by the Internet Advertising Bureau in the UK into online and gaming habits suggested that 54% of respondents chose to play games on their mobile over any other platform. And in a report by Newzoo, the video games research marketing firm, it has been forecast that mobile gaming revenues will exceed those for console gaming this year. So gaming on the mobile is certainly a growing trend.

Of course, we have other reasons to have our phones on them – there’s little you can’t do on a phone these days – catch up on the news, your emails, the gossip with your mates via social media, pay your bills and sort out your banking. But if your main priority for your phone is playing games on it, then you should consider which mobile platform offers the best gaming.

The range of games played on a mobile doesn’t really limit which platform you should choose – as games designers cater to all of them. Many of the apps you’ll find at the App Store will also be in the Windows Phone store or at Google Play. If you want to play the real money games that you’ll find at gaming sites such as 32red or Genting Casino, you’ll notice that the sites have mobile-friendly games for all mobile platforms. Click here to see which 32red bingo games can be played on a mobile.

Some people like the idea of getting access to exclusive games and getting games ahead of everyone else. If that sounds like you, then you should probably go down the iOS route. The App Store seems to get more of the exclusive game licences – although the exclusivity only lasts for a matter of weeks or months before the games become available at Google Play. The Windows Phone store has some exclusive games too, but most of these tend to be Xbox games rehashed for mobile play.

For someone who doesn’t like to pay to play, then Android certainly has the widest choice of free-to-play apps. As well as the free games, Google Play often has discounts or special offers on its paid games; more so than the App Store at least. However, when you are willing to pay for a game, the pricing structure across Android, Windows and iOS tends to be pretty comparable. Whichever store you download apps from, you should always check out the reviews left by other consumers before downloading. With approximately a quarter of a million gaming apps in both the App Store and Google Play, there are a lot of inferior games out there, which aren’t actually any fun to play.

Really, the main choice to be made is whether you are concerned with exclusivity or not. If you are then iOS is the way to go, but for freedom to play for free, Android is a better bet. Whichever platform you choose the good news is that there are probably always going to be more games available than you have time to play!