If you play Genshin Impact on your phone during commutes but switch to a PC when you’re at home, you’ve probably wondered can mobile and PC play Genshin Impact together, especially when you want to farm domains or beat weekly bosses with friends who use different devices. It’s incredibly frustrating to miss out on co-op rewards just because you and your crew don’t use the same type of hardware, right? We’ve tested crossplay between every supported Genshin platform over the past two years, so we’re breaking down exactly how it works, what small restrictions apply, and how to make your cross-device co-op sessions run without a hitch.
Can Mobile and PC Play Genshin Impact Together? Short Answer First
Yes, mobile and PC players can absolutely play Genshin Impact together with no core compatibility issues. Hoyoverse built full crossplay support into the game from its launch, because the development team knew most players switch between devices regularly to fit their play schedule. I regularly run Spiral Abyss practice runs with my friend who uses an iPhone while I’m on my mid-range gaming PC, and we’ve never run into a platform-specific block that stopped us from playing together.
So if you've been asking can mobile and PC play Genshin Impact together because you want to run events or explore Sumeru’s rainforest with your mixed-device friend group, you don’t have to worry about major barriers. There are only three non-negotiable requirements for crossplay to work, and they apply to all co-op sessions regardless of what devices players are using. You all need to be on the same server region, running the exact same game version, and have unlocked co-op by reaching Adventure Rank 16.
Step-by-Step Guide to Set Up Crossplay Between Mobile and PC
You don’t need any special account linking or paid subscriptions to play Genshin Impact with friends across mobile and PC. The entire setup process takes less than two minutes once you have co-op unlocked. First, make sure you and all players you want to play with have installed the latest Genshin Impact update, because mismatched versions will block all co-op requests entirely. Next, open the co-op menu from the small icon in the top left corner of your in-game screen. If you’re joining a friend’s world, you can enter their UID (found on the bottom right of the main menu) and send a join request. If you’re hosting, you can adjust your world permissions to allow only friends to join, or open it to any player on the same server.
Make sure you double check your server region before sending a friend request, because you can’t add or play with players from different servers even if you have their correct UID. For example, if you made your account on the North America server and your friend registered on the Europe server, you won’t be able to connect no matter what devices you both use.
- All participating players have reached Adventure Rank 16 and completed the "Lupus Aureus" prologue quest to unlock co-op functionality
- Every player is running the exact same version of Genshin Impact, with no pending updates left to install on any device
- All players are registered to the same server region (NA, EU, Asia, SAR, etc.)
- The host of the world has not set their co-op permissions to "reject all join requests" in their account settings
One of the best parts of Genshin’s crossplay system is that there’s no performance penalty for PC players when playing with mobile users, so you don’t have to sacrifice your 4K 60fps settings just because your friend is playing on a mid-range Android phone. Their device’s performance only impacts their own game, not yours.
Common Crossplay Issues Between Mobile and PC (And Easy Fixes)
Even though crossplay works seamlessly 99% of the time, we’ve run into a few common snags when testing can mobile and PC play Genshin Impact together, and they’re almost always easy to fix without any technical expertise. The most frequent issue is random lag or frequent disconnects mid-session. This is almost always tied to one player having an unstable internet connection, and it’s usually the mobile user relying on spotty cellular data.
Mobile players should switch to a stable Wi-Fi connection instead of cellular data for longer co-op sessions, because 5G can be inconsistent in crowded areas or when you’re moving between locations, and that will cause lag for everyone in the party. Another common issue is getting a “version mismatch” error when trying to join a friend’s world. That just means one of you hasn’t installed the latest 6-week update, so head to your device’s app store or the PC launcher to download the latest patch before trying again.
We also see a lot of mobile players get kicked out of the world during intensive boss fights, like against the Raiden Shogun or Scaramouche. That’s usually because their mobile device is overheating or can’t handle high graphics settings when there’s a lot of on-screen action. Mobile players can lower their graphics settings to medium or low during co-op boss fights to reduce crashes and frame drops, and that adjustment won’t affect the performance of PC players in the same party at all.
Cross-Save vs Crossplay: What's the Difference for Mobile and PC Players?
A lot of new players mix up crossplay and cross-save, so it’s worth clarifying the two to avoid confusion. Crossplay is the feature that lets you play with friends on different devices, which we’ve already confirmed works perfectly between mobile and PC. Cross-save is a separate feature that lets you access your own personal Genshin account on multiple devices, so you can do your daily commissions on your phone while you’re waiting for class, then pick up exactly where you left off on your PC when you get home.
We get a lot of questions from new players about can mobile and PC play Genshin Impact together even if they don’t want to link their accounts, and the answer is still yes. Crossplay doesn’t require any account sharing or linking at all, so if you only have an account on mobile and your friend only plays on PC, you can still play together without exchanging any personal account details. You don't need to enable cross-save to use crossplay with friends, so you don’t have to worry about any account security risks if you just want to play a few co-op rounds with people you meet online.
If you do want to use cross-save for your own account between mobile and PC, the setup process is simple: just link your Hoyoverse account to both devices, and all your progress, characters, weapons, and earned primogems will carry over automatically. The only small restriction is that paid primogems purchased on iOS devices won’t carry over to PC or Android, but that’s a platform rule set by Apple, not Hoyoverse, and it doesn’t impact any other in-game items or progress.
At the end of the day, can mobile and PC play Genshin Impact together is an easy question to answer, and the process to set up co-op is so simple that most players don’t even need to follow a guide to make it work. The only real limits are the same ones that apply to all co-op sessions, regardless of device: same server, same game version, and Adventure Rank 16 or higher. If you’ve been holding off on playing with friends because you thought device differences would block you, go ahead and send that co-op request today. You’ll be able to farm domains, collect event rewards, and explore every corner of Teyvat together no matter if you’re tapping on a phone screen or using a mouse and keyboard.