Your copy of Tears of the Kingdom can now sit on your iPhone home screen like a standalone app, ready to launch without a console nearby. An open-source project called nxnative makes that possible, and it works differently from what you might expect.
How It Actually Works
nxnative uses a different architecture from a conventional full-system emulator, combining executable rewriting with host-layer and graphics-interface translation.
Traditional emulators reproduce a console’s entire hardware environment, which is computationally demanding and varies widely in precision. nxnative takes a different approach: it rewrites the Switch game’s executable components so the original game code runs on Apple’s Arm-based processors directly.
The project replaces console-specific platform components with its own substitutes, including a host layer that stands in for parts of Horizon, the Switch operating system. It also maps Nintendo’s NVN graphics interface to Apple’s Metal API. The shared Arm instruction set between Switch hardware and recent Apple devices can reduce the need for CPU instruction translation, although substantial platform adaptation remains necessary.
What You Need, and What You Give Up
Compatible hardware begins at the iPhone 15 Pro, M1 iPad, and any Apple-silicon Mac, but the setup process demands comfort with developer tools.
Compatible hardware starts at an iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 26, an M1 iPad or newer running iPadOS 26, or an Apple-silicon Mac. Older iPhones reportedly cannot process the BC-compressed textures these games use.
The setup process is not casual. You will need a Mac with Xcode installed, your own Switch game files in NSP format, and your console’s prod.keys encryption file. From there, you build an unsigned app package and sideload it through tools such as AltStore or Sideloadly. The process demands comfort with developer tools and command-line steps.
Storage is a real consideration. Project listings report Tears of the Kingdom at roughly 17 GB and Monster Hunter Rise at around 22 GB per converted app.
More than 60 titles have been tested across iPhone and Mac configurations, according to project repositories. Reported compatible titles include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Metroid Dread, Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fire Emblem Engage, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Community testing, rather than independent benchmarks, suggests select titles run at 60 fps compared to 30 fps on the Switch itself.
The Legal Reality
nxnative does not distribute game files or encryption keys, but the legal questions around dumping and repackaging Switch software remain unsettled across jurisdictions.
nxnative presents itself as unaffiliated with Nintendo and does not distribute game files or encryption keys. Users are responsible for obtaining those from their own consoles, and the legal status of dumping, decrypting, and repackaging game software varies by jurisdiction and how the files were obtained.
Nintendo has pursued legal action against Switch-related software projects before. As previously reported, the Yuzu emulator reached a settlement with Nintendo in 2024, and Ryujinx was shut down after Nintendo contacted its lead developer; the specific terms of both outcomes should be independently verified before publication. The fact that nxnative relies on user-supplied files does not automatically resolve every legal question. That uncertainty is worth examining carefully before proceeding.
