Red Dead Redemption 2 runs on an iPhone 18 Pro: how Madeira does it

On 25 September 2026, the team behind Madeira posted a video of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 running at 30+ FPS on an iPhone 18 Pro. There is no PC in the loop and no cloud streaming: the game runs fully on the phone. The post drew more than 600,000 views on X within hours.

What is Madeira?

Madeira is an open-source project that runs x86-64 Windows PC games on a non-jailbroken iPhone. It has been on GitHub since March 2026 under the GPL-3.0 licence, and its own README calls it "a research project, not a product".

How does a PC game run on an iPhone?

A PC game expects an Intel or AMD processor, Windows and DirectX. An iPhone has an Arm chip, iOS and Metal. Madeira bridges all three gaps inside a single iOS app:

• Processor: FEX-Emu translates the game's x86-64 instructions into ARM64 code as it runs.
• Operating system: Wine answers the game's Windows calls using what iOS provides, with Wine's server running as a thread inside the same app rather than a separate process.
• Graphics: a new madeira-d3d12 runtime turns DirectX 12 into Apple's Metal. DirectX 11 games go through DXMT.

It is the same idea behind Valve's Proton on the Steam Deck and Apple's Rosetta 2 on the Mac: translate the software instead of rewriting it.

Can you install it?

Not from the App Store. Fast emulation needs JIT compilation, and on iOS that only works with a debugger attached (the project uses StikDebug), so Apple's store can't carry it. You build Madeira and sideload it with your Apple ID. A free Apple ID works, but the app has to be reinstalled every seven days; your saves survive the reinstall.

You bring your own games, plus Microsoft's Visual C++ runtime files, which the project can't ship.

Expect rough edges. Thumper and ULTRAKILL are listed as playable, most other games reach gameplay at low frame rates, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is the team's newest and most ambitious demo.

Why it matters for business

Phones are now PC-class computers. A demanding AAA PC game running on a phone, through three layers of translation, is the proof.

A lot of business software is still Windows-only. Projects like Madeira show that existing software can reach new devices without a full rewrite. For the tools your business runs on every day, a native or cross-platform app is still the dependable path.

Madeira's README also notes that much of its iOS work was AI-assisted. Hard engineering problems are being solved faster than ever, which is our view on AI in practice.

At HITROO we build mobile apps and desktop apps. If your team needs its Windows software on phones and tablets, tell us what you need.

FAQ

Can an iPhone run Red Dead Redemption 2?

Yes, experimentally. Madeira's demo shows the PC version running at 30+ FPS on an iPhone 18 Pro, fully on the device. It is not an official release from Rockstar Games.

Is Madeira on the App Store?

No. It needs JIT, which iOS only allows with a debugger attached, so it is installed by sideloading.

Do you need to jailbreak your iPhone?

No. Madeira runs on a non-jailbroken iPhone, signed with your own Apple ID.

Is Madeira free?

Yes. It is open source under GPL-3.0-or-later at github.com/willfaust/Madeira.

Which iPhone do you need?

The project was developed on an iPhone 13 Pro; the Red Dead Redemption 2 demo ran on an iPhone 18 Pro.

Sources: Madeira's post on X and the Madeira repository on GitHub.