The Sims 3 for smart phones is very similar to its big brother on the PC.

The player starts out with a single Sim which can be customized. The available options for appearance and clothing are limited in comparison to the PC version.

The player controls the Sim in his or her everyday life. Ranging from cooking, to going to the toilet, or taking a shower, to applying for a job, or developing a romantic interest. This all works the same as in the PC version. The Sim will also have wishes that the player can opt to fulfill or not. When the player chooses to do so the wish becomes an active goal. There are no penalties to to pursuing wishes or to failing to deliver on them.

The city that the Sim lives in is significantly smaller to the PC version with less to do and less graphically detailed. There's also loading screens between houses due to the technical limitations of smart phones.

The controls are roughly the same as with the PC version, except that they make use of a touch screen instead of the mouse. The camera controls use some more advanced touch screen gestures such as pinching for zooming.

Mini-games for fishing and cooking have been changed from the PC to use the accelerometer as an input. The player has to move the smart phone as a fishing pole or frying pan to complete the mini-game.