The server only accepts the current build. Older installs are refused at login with a version error — there is no grace period and no way in on an out-of-date client. If you have played before, download this again and install over the top. Your account, worlds and items live on the server and are untouched by reinstalling.
Windows Available
The full desktop client, and the platform the game is developed and tested on first. Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Android Beta
A direct APK you install yourself. Not on Google Play yet, so Android will ask you to approve the install once — the steps are below.
iOS Coming soon
Planned once Android settles. Same account, same worlds, same economy — there is no separate server per platform.
Pixelands is free to play. You can jump in as a guest and register later without losing progress. Optional purchases are made inside the game and paid through Stripe. Purchases and refunds →
pixelands.com is the only place we publish the game. We do not distribute Pixelands through app stores, download portals, mirror sites, torrents or file-sharing links, and we no longer hand out builds in Discord. Anything calling itself Pixelands from anywhere else is not ours. We will never ask you to turn off your antivirus, run a “patcher”, or install anything alongside the game.
Installing on Windows
-
Run the installer
Open the downloaded .exe from your Downloads folder. It installs for your user account only and does not need an administrator password.
-
Click through the SmartScreen warning
Windows shows “Windows protected your PC” for software it has not seen often. Choose More info, then Run anyway. If you want certainty that the file is ours, check its SHA-256 against the one below before you run it.
-
Launch and play
Pixelands starts straight into the live server. Play as a guest, or register from the menu to keep your progress across devices.
The installer is not code-signed yet — a certificate is on the list. That is why SmartScreen and some antivirus products flag it as unrecognised rather than as malicious. The checksums below are how you verify it in the meantime.
Installing on Android
The Android build is a beta and is not on Google Play yet, so you install the APK directly. Android blocks that by default and will prompt you once.
-
Download the APK
Tap the Android button above on the phone or tablet you want to play on. Your browser will warn that this kind of file can harm your device — that warning appears for every APK. Choose Download anyway.
-
Allow the install
Open the downloaded file. Android asks you to let your browser or file manager install unknown apps. Grant it, come back, and tap Install. You can revoke that permission again afterwards.
-
Updating later
Install a newer APK straight over the old one — do not uninstall first. Your progress is on the server either way, but uninstalling clears the saved login on that device.
Android is a beta. Touch controls, performance and a few interface panels are still being worked on. Bugs there are expected, and genuinely useful to report — tell us on Discord or at pixelandsgame@gmail.com.
Installing on iOS
There is no iOS build yet. When there is, it will not arrive the way the Android one does, and the difference is worth knowing about before you wait for it.
An iPhone cannot install an app from a website. Android lets you open a downloaded file and approve it on the device. iOS has no equivalent: anything outside the App Store has to be signed onto the device from a computer, over a cable, using a free tool called Sideloadly. Until Pixelands is on the App Store, that is the only route.
A sideloaded app stops working after seven days. The free Apple signing it relies on lasts one week. On the eighth day Pixelands will simply refuse to open, until you plug the device back into the computer and repeat the process. Nothing is lost — your account, worlds and items are on the server — but it is a weekly chore on every device, and if that sounds like more trouble than it is worth, wait for the App Store release instead.
What you will need
- The iPhone or iPad you want to play on, and a USB cable.
- A Windows PC or a Mac. On Windows you also need iTunes downloaded from apple.com — the Microsoft Store version does not include the device drivers Sideloadly needs. On a Mac nothing extra is required.
- Sideloadly, which is free.
- An Apple ID.
-
Make an app-specific password
Sign in at account.apple.com and create an app-specific password for Sideloadly. Use that instead of your real Apple ID password — it only works for this one purpose and you can revoke it whenever you like.
-
Connect the device and trust the computer
Unlock the phone, plug it in, and tap Trust This Computer when it asks. This has to be a cable — it will not work over Wi-Fi.
-
Sign the app onto the device
Open Sideloadly, pick your device, drag in the Pixelands file from this page, enter your Apple ID and the app-specific password, and start it. It takes a minute or two.
-
Trust the app on the device
Go to Settings → General → VPN & Device Management, tap the entry under Developer App, and choose Trust. Until you do, the icon sits on the home screen and the game will not open.
-
Turn on Developer Mode
On iOS 16 and newer, go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Developer Mode, switch it on and restart the device. On older versions this step does not exist.
-
Refresh it before the week is up
Plug in and run Sideloadly again before day seven. Refreshing keeps your saved login; deleting the app and starting over does not. Your progress is on the server either way.
Sideloadly is not ours. It is third-party software we point you at because it is the ordinary way to do this — we do not make it, control it or profit from it, and you should download it from its own website and nowhere else. Use an app-specific password as above rather than your real one. We will never ask you for your Apple ID password, and anyone who does is not us.
System requirements
| Platform | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Windows | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit · 4 GB RAM · graphics supporting OpenGL 3.3 or DirectX 11 · broadband connection |
| Android | Android 8.0 (Oreo) or newer · 64-bit device · 3 GB RAM · broadband or a good mobile connection |
| iOS | Not available yet · planned for iPhone and iPad on iOS 13 or newer · installing it will need a Windows PC or Mac and a cable, and the app will need refreshing weekly |
| Network | Pixelands is online only. There is no offline or single-player mode — every world lives on the live server. |
Verify what you downloaded
These are the SHA-256 digests of the exact files linked above. If yours matches, the file is byte-for-byte the one we published. If it does not, delete it and download again from this page — do not run it.
Windows installer
Pixelands-Setup-3.2.2271.exe
7bdca21386f342f10651d0c8d8cf167524eb3884d7cf03fd402100557d2671b9
Android APK
Pixelands-3.2.2271.apk
59cc8275f7769bb9a53e47b39ada883d52577daa07abcb162c0ed51c2851c3a1
Check yours on Windows, in PowerShell:
Get-FileHash "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\Pixelands-Setup-3.2.2271.exe" -Algorithm SHA256
If it will not install or start
Windows says “Windows protected your PC”
That is SmartScreen reacting to an installer it has not seen often, not a virus detection. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Verify the SHA-256 above first if you would rather be sure.
My antivirus deleted the installer
Unsigned game installers get flagged generically by some scanners. Restore the file from quarantine and add an exclusion, or check the checksum above and download again. Never disable your antivirus entirely on our say-so — we would not ask you to, and anyone who does is not us.
The game says my version is outdated
The server accepts only the build listed at the top of this page. Download it again from here and install over your existing copy. If you have just done that and still see the error, you may have launched an older shortcut — check that the version shown in the game matches the one above.
Android refuses to install the APK
Two usual causes. Either the “install unknown apps” permission has not been granted to whatever you are opening the file from, or an older Pixelands APK signed with a different key is still installed — in that case uninstall the old one and install this one fresh. Your account is on the server, so nothing is lost.
Pixelands stopped opening on my iPhone after about a week
That is the seven-day signing limit, not a fault. Plug the device into the computer you installed from and run Sideloadly again — refreshing the app restores it and keeps your saved login. Do not delete it first. This is the main drawback of sideloading, and it goes away when the game reaches the App Store.
Sideloadly cannot see my iPhone
On Windows this is almost always the drivers. They come with iTunes downloaded from apple.com, and not with the Microsoft Store version — install the one from Apple's own site. Otherwise check that the phone is unlocked, that you tapped Trust This Computer, and that the cable carries data rather than being a charge-only one.
The download is slow or keeps stopping
Downloads resume, so retry a stalled one rather than starting over. If it fails consistently, tell us on Discord with your rough location — the files come directly from our own server rather than a CDN, and we would like to know where that is not working.
Something else
The support page covers accounts, purchases, bans and reports. For anything not answered there, email pixelandsgame@gmail.com with your username, your platform, and roughly when the problem happened.