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For more than four years, Free Fire MAX has been how players in India kept their Free Fire accounts alive. After the ban on 14 February 2022, they signed in to MAX with their old accounts and kept their progress and items. Now the game is back as Free Fire India, and those same players have a new worry: what happens to the account they carried through the ban?
The short answer in Free Fire India vs Free Fire MAX: Garena, the Singapore-based company behind Free Fire, says your existing MAX account is unaffected, and MAX stays available. The catch is that Free Fire India is a separate app that only accepts India-region accounts, and on an iPhone, signing in with the Apple ID you use for MAX creates a new account instead of opening your old one.
Garena launched Free Fire India on 28 October 2026 as a standalone game on Android and iOS. Free Fire MAX, the enhanced-graphics version, was never part of the ban and stays available alongside the new app. Our launch report has the background, our download guide has the store steps, and our system requirements report covers which phones can run the game.
Free Fire India is a separate app, not an update
Installing or updating Free Fire MAX does not give you Free Fire India. You need to download it separately from Google Play or the App Store, where the publisher is Garena. The game is free, with in-app purchases.
Which accounts work in each app
Garena’s support FAQ says that a player trying to register a new account from India in any other version of the game is told to install the Free Fire India client. If you log in to an India-region account in Free Fire or Free Fire MAX, you will see a message that the account has been detected as being in the India region, and those versions cannot be used with India accounts.
The reverse also applies. Logging in to Free Fire India with an account that is not in the India region shows a message that the account is not in the India region. Garena’s advice is to switch to an India-region account or install the version that matches your account’s region: Free Fire MAX on Google Play for Android, or Free Fire on the App Store for iPhone.
What happens on iPhone with an Apple ID
If you use an Apple ID to sign in to Free Fire MAX on iOS, signing in to Free Fire India with the same Apple ID creates a new Free Fire India account. Your existing MAX account will not automatically be linked to it or transferred to it. Garena also warns players not to assume the new account is their existing one.
Your existing Free Fire MAX account
Garena says your existing Free Fire MAX account remains unaffected. On iPhone, if you can download Free Fire MAX from an eligible App Store region, you can keep signing in to it with your existing Apple ID. Players who log in with VK, the Russian social network, can keep using Free Fire MAX, or switch their login platform through the in-game account recovery option using the recovery email bound to the account.
Free Fire India vs Free Fire MAX: which should you play?
The right app follows your account.
- Playing from India with no account yet: Install Free Fire India. It is the version Garena directs new India registrations to.
- Already playing Free Fire MAX: Your MAX account stays as it is. Before you sign in to Free Fire India, remember that on iPhone the same Apple ID creates a new account.
- Playing with an account from outside India: Use Free Fire MAX on Android or Free Fire on iPhone, as Garena advises.
What is different in Free Fire India
Free Fire India is the version built for India. Garena says it hosts game data on servers in India as part of its data protection measures, and it adds parental consent for under-18 players, daily playtime limits and break reminders. Our Free Fire India ban explainer covers what changed and why.
Account rules can change, so read the message on the login screen before you sign in on a new device.
