Geometry Rush uses simple touch (mouse click in the PC version) to control the various characters in the game. Players simply touch anywhere on the screen (space, up or left mouse button on the Steam version) to control the characters and their roles. The player cannot control the speed of the character's movement unless they pass through a speed change gate, and the main skill of the game is timing and pacing.

The ultimate goal of the game is to reach the finish line and complete the level; however, if the player hits an obstacle they will have to start from the beginning. All official levels (created by the game's author at the beginning) are unlocked at the beginning, except for the full version of Clubstep, Theory of Everything 2 and Deadlocked, so the player can play unfettered. 

The game is made more user-friendly by the ability to collect gold coins scattered throughout the hidden or challenging areas of the main level to unlock additional levels, achievements and more character icons. Changes to the character's appearance will affect user-defined levels and also unlock individual achievements. The progress bar is at the top of the screen to show the player's progress through the level. Players can adjust or remove the progress bar as they wish. Some items in the game change colour depending on the colour of the character icon, and even some background colours change depending on the character. 

The levels start off with obvious obstacle placement, but as the difficulty increases, some of the mechanisms are scattered among the decorations, lights, spins and even hidden obstacles. This is not an expected feature of the game; as the game is updated and more levels and cubes are added, new levels incorporate the newly added elements to increase the difficulty.

Each level of Geometry Rush features a practice mode. In this mode, players can use respawn points. The respawn points allow the player to die without having to start again. The respawn points are marked with green diamond-shaped gems. Practice mode for the main level unlocks different colours or character icons, while completing the user level does not unlock any achievements.