All of these special events, including the normal safe zone shrinking, are announced to the players before they occur to give fair warning. In addition to the regular shrinking of the safe zone, temporary red zones may randomly appear to be barraged with bombs, and from time to time, the plane flies over the battlefield to release a package with special equipment, potentially including items that cannot be found elsewhere on the island. In general, better weapons and equipment are found in more dangerous parts of the map. Instead, they must search their surroundings to find weapons, armor, vehicles, and additional equipment, or take them from already injured players. When players first reach the island, they bring no supplies with them. The rate of health loss increases when the safe zone shrinks. The safe zone shrinks every few minutes, and anyone left in the blue zone will steadily lose health as long as they remain there, potentially to the point of death. When the plane finishes its flight, a blue border forms around the perimeter of the island is formed, marking the boundary between the safe zone and the exterior blue zone. As they cross the map, players choose where to parachute down. The game begins with the participants flying in a plane over one of many possible maps, also selected before the match.
Players parachute down to a remote island and fight to remain as the last player standing, competing alone or in teams of four, depending on the gamemode selected before the match. PUBG Mobile features gameplay similar to that of the original PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.