Apex Legends crossplay guide: How to play with friends on PC and console

Cross-platform play finally arrived in Apex Legends back in Season 7. Here’s everything you need to know about the feature, including how it works, how to disable it, and more.

At one point, many people thought that playing an online game with your friends on another console was a pipe dream. Now, in 2021, thanks to a combination of modern technology and mega-corporations deciding to play nicely with each other, cross-play is slowly but surely becoming the norm across many titles in the gaming industry.

One major title that didn’t have the feature for the longest time, though, was Apex Legends. Fortunately, back in June 2020, Respawn developers announced that this would be changing and that cross-platform support would finally be coming to the battle royale game.

It was first released in beta form, for the Aftermarket Collection event. This was to ensure that Respawn could test all the features before implementing it fully.

Get revved up for the Aftermarket Collection Event. Take part in the cross-play beta, dive into the new “Flashpoint” LTM, take on challenges to earn exclusive rewards, and more! It’s going to be a hell of a ride! 😎

Speed off into the Aftermarket Collection Event starting Oct 6. pic.twitter.com/iwEDkX1i9U

— Apex Legends (@PlayApex) October 1, 2020

How does Apex Legends crossplay work?

Cross-play is now functional across all consoles, including PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Origin, Steam, and Nintendo Switch.

By default, PC players will only be matched with PC players in normal matchmaking, while console players will only be matched among themselves.

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That being said, consoles can still play with PC should they so desire it, but they have to be in a party together before they start matchmaking. After that, the game will include PC players in the pool to search from.

How to add friends in Apex Legends: PC, Xbox, PlayStation

Finding people to play with on other platforms is relatively easy, all you will need to connect with players on other platforms is their in-game name.

1. Open Apex Legends
2. Navigate to the ‘Friends’ tab from the main menu
3. Hit the ‘Find Friend’ option
4. Search for their username
5. Select their profile from the drop-down menu
6. You’re now friends and able to play with each other across platforms!
   

Keep in mind, the game will automatically look for any player matching that name on any system. After searching for another player, you will have to select the username that matches the platform they are playing on.

Simply search your friends’ usernames on all platforms to find them.

How to turn off Apex Legends crossplay

Cross-play is automatically enabled, so if you don’t have to do anything right off the bat if you want to play with people on other platforms.

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But if you don’t want to participate in crossplay, the option to enable and disable it is found in the settings menu. This creates the possibility of longer wait times, though, as you’re effectively restricting the pool of players that the game can search. Still, the option is there if you want it.

The ability to enable and disable crossplay will be in the settings menu, but it’s enabled by default.

Is cross-progression enabled for the game?

While this is something that’s being considered by Respawn, the feature is not enabled in Apex Legends currently, so if you want to play on another console, you won’t have any of your items that you previously unlocked.

Respawn say that cross-progression is a “valuable” feature, though, so the possibility is still there.