Windows PC games are now running on iPhone and iPad without a jailbreak thanks to AI tools. Games like Grand Theft Auto 5, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Far Cry 3 have been shown running on iPhones. Most of it traces back to the open-source Madeira project from developer Will Faust and Vapor.
If someone had said a few months ago that this would be possible, I would have laughed. But it seems that AI tools are making all of this possible, and users have been sharing their experiences online. Some of the games running here are not via easily installable apps so we are unable to validate them personally.
Madeira Runs Windows PC Games on iPhone Through Sideloading
Madeira packs Wine 11 built for ARM64EC, the FEX-Emu x86-64 translator and DXMT, which maps Direct3D 11 to Metal, into a single app. It first drew attention for running Windows PC games on iPhone without a jailbreak. The 0.1.0 release landed on October 1 and installs by sideloading. Games need JIT, which iOS only allows while a debugger is attached.
Red Dead Redemption 2 and Far Cry 3 Are the Best Proof So Far
The project’s official X account says Red Dead Redemption 2 runs at 30 frames per second or better on an iPhone 18 Pro, fully on device with no streaming.
There is no official compatibility list yet. The README only says that many games start and some play well, so the titles below come from the project’s own posts and community videos.
- Red Dead Redemption 2: 30 frames per second or better on an iPhone 18 Pro, per the Madeira X account.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is running at 30+ FPS on an iPhone 18 Pro.
No PC, no streaming, fully on-device via Madeira.
x86-64 → arm64 with FEX
Windows → iOS syscalls with Wine
DX12 → Metal with the madeira-d3d12 runtimeWhat AAA game should we get running next? https://t.co/Lo97xssNW2
— madeira (@madeira_app) September 25, 2026
- Far Cry 3: Madeira reposted a clip from developer Majd (@dev_majd) showing it at 60 frames per second on iOS 27.
We’re in the golden era of iOS emulation! 🤯
Here’s Far Cry 3 running at 60 FPS on iOS 27. Courtesy of Madeira. https://t.co/v71s6qje32
— Majd (@dev_majd) October 1, 2026
- Grand Theft Auto V: the developer behind Vapor showed the game running on an iPhone 18 Pro in a video, with only “decent” performance described.
Here’s the full GTA V benchmark running in Vapor on an iPhone 18 Pro Max
City drive: 66 FPS average
Other scenes: 80 FPS average• 1080p, DirectX 11
• High textures
• FXAA, 16x AF
• 75% population density
• 50% distance scaling
• Sharp shadows, MSAA off
• Everything else on NormalStill a work in progress, and I have some minor issues left to fix.
— Vapor (@play_vapor) September 27, 2026
- Fallout 4, Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge: shown in project demos, with no frame rate or device given.
Modders have gotten fall out 4 to run on an iPhone… it’s harsh looking but an amazing first step. 🤯 https://t.co/gWcehnPKbx
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) September 18, 2026
- Thumper and ULTRAKILL: listed as playable, while Marvel Cosmic Invasion has reached gameplay but not reliably.
Treat all of these with a grain of salt though, as GTA V is shown running on an iPhone using Vapor, which as not been released yet. Meanwhile, Madeira’s own account is asking followers which AAA game it should get running next.
Madeira Is Already Being Tested on iPad Pro and iPad Air
Users have filed Madeira 0.1.3 bug reports from an iPad Pro with the M5 chip on iPadOS 27.0.1, which shows the app is already being tried on iPad with the latest iPadOS version. Some Unity games have been reported to be crashing while others are working.
The bigger iPad experiment is AnyPS5, a project from boykopovar that relinks PlayStation 5 executables into Windows programs.
Konrad (@buberlo) ran the results through Madeira on an iPad Air 13-inch with the M2 chip. The most advanced result is 15in1 Solitaire. The AnyPS5 README says a stable 60 frames per second has not been established.
Step 1: AnyPS5 by boykopovar.
It relinks the PS5 executable into a native x86-64 Windows PE and swaps the PS5 system libraries for open reimplementations: kernel, libc, pad, audio, the AGC GPU driver.
The game’s own code survives. The OS underneath is replaced. https://t.co/lg2b0yqNgW
— Konrad (@buberlo) October 6, 2026
A Native Cyberpunk 2077 Build Is Running on iPhone 17 Pro Max
Cyberpunk 2077 shipped on the Mac as a native Apple silicon game in 2025, so its code already targets ARM64 and Metal. A Reddit user posted footage of the macOS build running locally on an iPhone 17 Pro Max at about 900p, on a mix of medium and high settings. The developer describes a translation layer that bridges the differences between macOS and iOS, instead of translating x86 code on the fly. That approach needs no JIT and no debugger. Reported frame rates sit around 30 frames per second, and the game uses nearly all of the phone’s 12 GB of memory.
Cyberpunk 2077 Arm64 version running natively on iPhone 17 Pro https://t.co/jsk0H9Urhf
— Pixel Gamer 4k (@4k_isn) September 23, 2026
The layer has not been released, and there is no public build to reproduce the result. A widely shared post earlier tied the footage to Madeira, however, Cyberpunk 2077 is not on Madeira’s playable list.
I expect more Windows games to follow as people test these tools on more devices. The same kind of independent work is reaching Apple’s other hardware, as in the open-source connector that pairs an Apple Watch with Android.
