Mobile Phone Bingo Sites or Native Apps
This is always a very heated discussion in our office because the programmers will tell you there's nothing better than the Holy Grail of apps – the native app, no matter what its purpose is. While the regular bingo players who couldn't care to know less about the 'ultra advanced technology' used will tell you that often you are not allowed to deposit/withdraw and you are required to provide a lot of personal data (such as access to your calendar, tasks, contacts, location, etc.) when you download the app. Plus if your device is always low on memory or it has a less capable CPU, every additional app will make it slow down and lag even more. So what is an extremely well designed and programmed app in technical terms may not be the best solution when it comes to bingo.
Recommended Mobile Bingo Sites
Actually there are quite a lot of decent mobile bingo sites and more than a dozen excellent ones but we were able to narrow our list to just 2 that we deem per-fect! Mecca Bingo have native apps both for Android and iOS but we find the mobile site much more likeable. Gala also has a native bingo app for iPhone and iPad users but not for Android. And again the HTML5 version surpasses the native one in functionality as crazy as it may sound.
Mecca - The welcome offer at Mecca Bingo mobile gives you £40 on a deposit of £10 plus a £10 Mecca voucher for the land-based clubs sent by mail. There's also the 2nd deposit Slot Bonus that will add £10 for free when you deposit and spend £5 on the slots. There's also the Newbie room that is open for 7 days after you join Mecca and each game has a £20 jackpot.
You will find 90-, 80- and 75-ball bingo games in the lobby as well as a rich collection of slots and scratchcard. Play in 13 90-ball rooms where the tickets start at just 1p. Some of those rooms are X-Factor, Dancing Queen, Legs Eleven, Key to the Door, Lucky for Some and many more. Sunset Strip is the 75-ball pattern room where the tickets cost between 2p and 11p depending on the time of the day you are playing and the jackpots reach £25. The 80-ball Cashline is a Mecca exclusive that used to be an interval game available only in the land-based clubs but has successfully found its place in the mobile game selection. There are 3 75-ball rooms – Lucky 7, Jump and Jive and the TV show based DOND 75. The slots section has some great games like Marine Mayhem, Britain's Got Talent and Zodiac Super Nova. And, our favourite scratch Millionaire can be found together with 5 more scratchcards.
The mobile site is fully functional, this means you can deposit, withdraw, chat in the rooms and even review your bet history and transaction history. Also, you can check your loyalty level redeem LPs to Bingo Bonus.
Gala – Here we have a special offer for our readers. You will get £5 more if you register at Gala through a link on our site. Thus you'll get £45 on a deposit of a £10 and a free Buzzby scratchcard that may bring you up to £500 more. There's also the Newbie Room that is open for 7 days after you sign up that gives you a chance to win up to £8,000 for a week.
The game selection at Gala bingo mobile is just sweet. There are many 90-ball rooms, 2 75-ball, 1 80-ball and 1 pattern bingo room plus all the specials – Corrie Bingo, WWTBAM, DOND, Ant & Dec, the exclusive 50-ball bingo ggame Coconut Island and Virtue Fusion's special Lucky Numbers. Corrie Bingo is played from 8am till midnight, the cards cost between 5p and 15p and there are 1TG, 2TG, BOGOF games and a the Golden Cobbles Progressive Jackpot. Ant & Dec'd room opens at 10 am and closes at midnight, the tickets sell between 5p and 10p, sometimes there's a feature game 'Wind the Ads' that gives you the chance to win additional prizes. You will see a small purple sign in the schedule if there's the feature game. As for the side games, these are numerous and exciting – slots, scratchcards, table games and huge jackpots. Play Coronation Street slot, scratchcard or the Corrie Bouncy Balls slot. There's also Coconut Island scratch and slot. The casino classics Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette are separated in a neat tab so they're easy to find.
Shall you need any assistance, you can always contact the Support Agents via live chat. You will see two speech bubbles in the top right corner, they open a chat window. Deposit via debit/credit card, Neteller, PayPal, Ukash or a Pre-Paid Card . Check your history, loyalty level, rewards, bonus balance or promos – you can do anything you can do on the PC site.
Usually if you are using a native app, you can only deposit but withdrawals are not allowed. There are of course some exclusions like Gala Bingo that let you both deposit and withdraw either on the app or the mobile site. Some operators like Mecca Bingo will even let you pay for bingo with your phone bill. This, however, is a rarity.
2. Can I play on the regular site on my phone/tablet if the operator doesn't have a mobile one?Sometimes the operators use a responsive design that scales down to the respective screen size when you open it on your phone/tablet. Other sites will have m. or mobile written before the domain and this is an especially designed mobile site where you will notice bigger icons and more simplified view that is suitable for small screens. But if the operator hasn't developed either one of these, unfortunately, you will not be able to play. You will either not be able to see the page at all or the tabs and buttons will be so small, that playing will be very hard. We always include this information in our articles so if you're ever in doubt just search for the operator here.
3. Are there any Windows Phone bingo sites at all?Most sites say they have a Windows Phone version, however, we were unable to find one that works smoothly. Sometimes even if you get to the homepage you can\t access the rooms. We will be on a lookout for Windows compatible sites and will let you know as soon as we find one that measures up to our standards.
4. Is my telephone number required to play mobile bingo?No, not usually. But most native apps you can download either from the App Store or the site of the operator will require personal info such as access to your contacts, calendar, gallery, location etc. This is something you probably haven't noticed, but most apps need this data. To avoid this you can play on the mobile site – you will only have to give your username and password.
5. Which browser should I use to play mobile bingo?Normally, the operators recommend using Google Chrome. You will most certainly see a pop up message if that's the case. There are a few exclusions that advise you to use the in-built browser of your device. But don't worry because they will remind you.