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

After being promised a few months back, cross-platform play is finally arriving in Apex Legends Season 7. Here’s everything you need to know about the new 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 2020, 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, in June 2020, during EA Play, 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 so Respawn could test all the features before implementing it fully, and for any future changes they might make. As Apex Legends has yet to release on Switch, cross-play is only between PS4, Xbox One, Origin, and Steam.

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?

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

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 on 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.

Once you have their name, simply open the friends menu from the main lobby screen, click the Find Friend option and search for their name.

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.

But if you don’t want to participate in the beta, 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, but will take about it during the Steam launch later this year.

All in all, this seems like a great beta and a chance to get feedback from the community. As previously mentioned, given the fact that this is a beta, things can obviously change and be tweaked but for right now, this is a good start.