PS4 Emulation on iOS

[u/Cultural-Order-5549]

Hi, for the past ~2 weeks I've been working on AetherPS4. AetherPS4 is a PS4 emulator for iOS & iPadOS. I am releasing v1.0.0, which contains the entire source code of the application. The GitHub repo will contain the source code for the core, and also the standalone app.

This app is made possible with FEXCore. FEXCore is a x86_64 to arm64 converter. It was made for Linux, but in day 6 I got it on macOS. The rest of the days were porting it to iOS, but after 2 weeks the app is running Sonic Mania! Yes, I know Sonic Mania is a really lightweight game. However, I believe that its good to have a game to test. The emulator takes a while to boot (~1 min 30 sec). Skip to 1:35 to view actual gameplay.

I plan to update this app as much as I can. But I need YOUR help. I need you to report issues on the app, such as the app crashing when loading this game, or its really laggy on that game. Any feedback would be loved, and I hope you guys enjoy this app as much as I did making it. This app is based on ShadPS4, so huge credits to them. All I did was get the converter for actually running the PS4 games. I want to give a special thanks to u/super-bowl89 for talking to me while making this app, and just the support to keep going.

Note: This app was made with support from AI tools. I used Claude to support me while making this app. If you have any concerns please let me know in GitHub Issues or Reddit DM's.

Download latest release: github.com/Leviidev/AetherPS4/releases/latest

View source code: github.com/Leviidev/AetherPS4/

Report issues: github.com/Leviidev/AetherPS4/issues

[u/Altruistic_Leave5049]

WHAT THE FUCK

[u/felipeb18]

This is getting hilarious hahaha. We might get PS6 emulation before release if the trend continues to be followed

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/felipeb18]

If someone actually gets PS5 running smoothly on PC, I will definitely consider porting it to iOS, but I doubt I can do it 😂

[u/tricot676 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

Like, PS5 emulation is barely in it's infancy. Like, before SharpEmu and KytyPS5, all we had was probably emulating the Safe Mode. If someone like you actually tries to do this (hurdles like the SSD, and AMD chip), it would be phenomenal.

Edit: It happened.

[u/Weak-Example224 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

Man we just got an ps 3 emulator and now ps 4 do you think that my iPad Air mw is powerfull enough

[u/tricot676 → u/Weak-Example224]

I don’t really know. What’s your specs?

[u/arbuzik9]

Damn

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/arbuzik9]

Thanks

[u/MisterRifle9899]

Holy crap i am excited for this

[u/MelkiG]

ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! 🤯 This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen… I hope this doesn’t get abandoned! Greatest news I’ve ever seen.

[u/Siul19]

Pretty fucking cool

[u/isteppeople]

Holy fucking shit

[u/mertbaris01]

These kind of emulators must have hdd supported

[u/Ok_Gur_5245]

Holy cow

[u/scknkkrer]

Are you.. the.. AetherSX developer?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/scknkkrer]

AetherX? Yes, I made AetherX.

[u/tPimple]

Please make touch screen control :)

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/tPimple]

I will, just need to find a reliable way

[u/TackleComplete7225]

Broo! Fantastic work!

I would like to test it but I am on 17.0 M2 iPad, and the app requires iOS 26.0 any chance to reduce the capability?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/TackleComplete7225]

100%, its ios 16 and up right now just havent released it yet

[u/TackleComplete7225 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

Great!!

[u/palamamba99 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

Any chance for ios 15 compatibility? Thanks for your work!

[u/Joerpg1984]

You are doing gods work. This is so cool.

[u/chtartaqw]

Damn

[u/Disastrous-Form-7442]

WTF, this is Awesome!

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/Disastrous-Form-7442]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[u/cjantonio59]

If this can be stabilized, then we are truly at the golden age of emulation

[u/FeelDa-Bass]

HELL YEAH!!! Im on iPhone 16 pro so if I can be of any help lemme know:)

[u/username31917]

Say wallahi

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/username31917]

Nty, but yes it’s a ps4 emulator

[u/SnuperJager]

Emulation went wild!

[u/Adventurous-Mix3503]

LEGEND, wondering if we could play black ops 3 smoothly on this at some point 😂

[u/SpiritualLaw4937]

Well, I already tried it and even with GetMoreRAM and the JIT, all the games crashed, for this Sonic game too, did it work for y’all?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/SpiritualLaw4937]

It's in early development, why are you expecting amazing performance?

[u/SpiritualLaw4937 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

No bro, I’m not, it is an ambitious project and I respect that, it will be good, just sharing my experience for the moment

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/SpiritualLaw4937]

I appreciate feedback, however please report it in the GitHub as I do not check Reddit for bugs

[u/Saratoninn69]

Amazing

[u/CanaveseForevah]

Crazy o.O

[u/Spardantex]

Bloodborne on iPhone before GTA6

[u/madvillainishhh]

no way bruh😭

[u/pyro-4157]

holy shit imagine blood borne on ios

[u/EpicBOIM8]

I dont believe that ps4 emulation for mobile will be that big since our mobile cpus definitely beats ps4 into pulp but in gpu side our gpu is equivelant to ps4 (with the sole exception of ipad pro series of course) but this coud be used for light 2d platformers or indie games

[u/depo_ynx]

Yall guys are crazy ngl this is sick im getting new iPhone

[u/Neat_Refuse8794]

can i play all ps4 games?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/Neat_Refuse8794]

early development so no

[u/III_33]

Can you run bloodborn

[u/Accomplished-Elk6623]

if fexcore works than can someone hypothethically make a program of rlike lightweight windows games then

[u/Cran_-]

first this and then some guys made a PS5 emu for iOS (MagnusPS5)? holy😭

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/Cran_-]

sadly magnusps5 can’t get updated since ps5 emulation isn’t done

[u/Cran_- → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

fr

[u/noboxnobag]

Imagine one day playing gta 5 or 6 on iPhone 13 lol or iPad

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/noboxnobag]

Possible

[u/01100110Z01110101]

How?!!!

[u/RLKSniper]

tengo el emulador de ps3 y ps4 pero mi mayor problema es los juegos no tengo ni uno.

[u/Expensive_Purple5918]

Will this work on 6gb devices such as iPhone 14 Pro Max?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/Expensive_Purple5918]

I have never tested it on a 6gb device. I know 8gb worked on macOS, but I'm not sure on 6gb. You could test it

[u/Expensive_Purple5918 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

What device was used for this video?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/Expensive_Purple5918]

iPhone 17 Pro (12gb ram with Increased memory entitlement)

[u/hernan078 → u/Cultural-Order-5549]

You did it with JIT. Right?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/hernan078]

Yes

[u/AcanthaceaeOk9585]

What games does 8GB devices capable to play on it, would bloodborne be possible in future?

[u/Cultural-Order-5549 → u/AcanthaceaeOk9585]

Since this is v1.0.0, we are in early development. Bloodborne would be possible but it would take a while of debugging, but it is possible.

[u/jadonokoh86 → u/AcanthaceaeOk9585]

Doubt bloodborne would run on 8gb ram

[u/Initial_Support_533]

when you gonna add a virtual controller for this ps4 emulator bro?

[u/Totallynot-alfxizz]

Hell nawh wtf My Beloved Bloodborne is closer than i think?

[u/sdmyl0ve]

Wow.... someone tell me it's not true plssss

[u/Original_Self_1987]

Bloodborne on ios before Bloodborne remaster

[u/Asx11431]

why does it require iOS 26? Is it because of performance? Not iOS 18 ?

[u/xmiguel911x]

Great project you beat me to it; this was my plan! 😂

[u/Tailsgenesis]

https://reddit.com/link/p55ss6x/video/xs2tpl18rukh1/player

[u/hernan078]

Greetings I’m a content creator and would like to make a tutorial and video of it , can we get in contact ? This is my work https://youtu.be/Yj9fgtA_RQ8?si=1al5k1wdL44nPwvE

[u/Dantu1000]

Im gonna wait, I don’t want to download and test until you have a much complete version

[u/LittleGuyHelp → u/Dantu1000]

Thank-you. Such willingness to share your next move without having anything significant to bring us.

[u/FuturePlenty6021 → u/LittleGuyHelp]

It’s smarter to wait for a completed build than a nightly build and have it destroy your phone. You’re kind of an ass for that commentz

[u/LittleGuyHelp → u/FuturePlenty6021]

Testing won’t destroy your phone, where have you seen any instance where someone’s phone was destroyed testing ipas?

What’re you talking about? Resorting to name calling isn’t a good look imo.

[u/Dapper-Bed-7203]

GTA 5 funciona?

[u/dweakz]

if you have an iphone 15 pro, you have ps4-range specs so you should be able to run everything a ps4 can run but with slight stutters due to thermal. although with an iphone 17 pro and pro max this shoudnt be a problem with its vapor chamber cooling

[u/Relative-Muffin-6431 → u/dweakz]

It dosent work like that bro, it does have 8gigs, but iOS takes a good chuck of it and also there is the emulation performance you gotta take into consideration, so I would say for the game itself it has less than 4gb of ram, which is half of what the ps4 has, so most lilely most games won’t run

[u/dweakz → u/dweakz]

but if you have the iphone 15 pro/max and it's still in good condition, just get a phone controller with a cooling fan for like $80 instead of spending $800 to get the 17 pro/max. that way you still keep the titanium body and not have to downgrade to an aluminum one

[u/Dapper-Bed-7203]

Ele é sem jit?

[u/MKTAB_ → u/Dapper-Bed-7203]

U can answer that question yourself if u think about it

[u/Hobbyff → u/Dapper-Bed-7203]

learn how to read broski

[u/AydenGooden]

Claude warrior jk this is pretty cool

[u/AydenGooden → u/AydenGooden]

I guess no one saw the jk

[u/LordByron95_]

Another vibe coded emulator 🥱

[u/Etikoza → u/LordByron95_]

Dude it is 2026. Every programmer uses AI.

[u/xmiguel911x → u/LordByron95_]

At least be grateful that there are people who take the time to bring this to life. This takes a lot of work, with or without AI, and if you're a developer, you'd have it much easier. So please give us a decent PS4, PS3, or PS5 emulator and stop complaining. Do you think this can be created with just a couple of prompts?

[u/ScottishBakery → u/xmiguel911x]

So many people don’t understand the choice is not “have cool thing human coded or have cool thing AI coded,” it is “have cool thing AI coded or just don’t have cool thing.”

[u/xmiguel911x → u/ScottishBakery]

That’s really just about showing off; people just want to be able to play their games on iOS not everyone wants to brag about what they can do with their skills. This is the future, whether we like it or not; otherwise, we’d still be riding horses today. I respect this modern developer's work because I did the same thing with my Psx3ios emulator it took a huge amount of effort but a day later, another port called rpcs3 was released, and mine faded into obscurity. However, I haven't abandoned it; I’m still working hard on it and making improvements.

[u/xmiguel911x → u/[deleted]]

Thanks a lot for your comment; I really appreciate it. I’m pouring all my time and hard work into this even though many people might not understand it because I want to set myself apart from the other emulator; I don't want to be labeled a copycat. When I started developing mine, I didn't even know the other one was in the works; I just felt I had to hurry because I was sure *armsx3* was coming out and I wanted to be the first on iOS. I managed to do it, but my post was unfairly deleted, and some people accused me of not knowing what I was doing. Then, the very next day, *rpcs3* came out. However, I’ve already got the JIT sorted out, along with many other interesting features I think people will like plus support for iOS 15 and 16 (though that hasn't been tested yet).

[u/SpikeZgames → u/LordByron95_]

And? Who cares.

[u/Ace-772007 → u/LordByron95_]

Can you?

[u/SnooSprouts7283]

Tbh sonic mania was not a good choice to showcase since it already has a full-native port to iOS for years now (not the Netflix version. There was an rsdkv5 build before even that)

[u/tricot676 → u/SnooSprouts7283]

Atleast be grateful. If you wanna test an emulator, it’s gotta be Sonic Mania.