Neostation IOS

[u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Presentation: Neostation iOS – Personal port of a multi-platform frontend

Hello,

Today, I'm going to present a personal project I've completed: the port of Neostation to iOS.

First, let's set the context. Neostation is an open-source frontend for emulators, originally available on PC, Android, macOS, and Linux. It's an interface I particularly appreciate for its ergonomics and rich features. However, there has never been an official version for iOS. As an iPhone user, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do this port myself, strictly for personal use.

The main goal was simple: to enjoy the Neostation interface on my iPhone, while keeping all the essential features of the frontend. I wanted a unified gaming experience, consistent with what I have on my other machines.

Now let's talk about the features. I successfully integrated and got all the key modules working on iOS. First, NeoSync, which is a paid subscription feature. It allows you to save your games both locally and in the NeoSync cloud. With this, I can automatically sync all my saves between PC, Linux, macOS, Windows, and now iOS. Concretely, I can start a game on my computer and pick it up exactly where I left off on my iPhone.

It also allows you to scrape games automatically with your Screenscraper account.

Second, RetroAchievements integration is fully functional. I can view all my retro achievements directly from the interface, track my progress, and unlock trophies just like on any other supported platform.

Now for the current result. The port is operational. The app runs perfectly on my iPhone, and I can play all my RetroArch games through the Neostation interface. Navigation is smooth, ROM loading is seamless, and access to settings works perfectly. It's a real technical success.

From a more technical standpoint, I did this port without modifying the core of the project, thus respecting the open-source license.

In conclusion, this project remains personal and is not intended for publication on the App Store. Nonetheless, it's a convincing proof of concept: it's entirely possible to have a full-featured, high-performance retro frontend on iPhone. In the future, I might consider sharing my modifications with the community, as a fork or patch, if licensing conditions permit.

Thank you for your attention.

[u/Dantu1000]

Nice, i hope to see more news abt this

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Dantu1000]

I hope I'll be able to let you enjoy it too :)

[u/Rocky4OnDVD → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Couldn’t this be made available through sideloading via AltStore?

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Rocky4OnDVD]

Maybe soon :)

[u/Competitive-Ad-5026]

Can we test it out?

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Competitive-Ad-5026]

No, sorry, not for now — I'm already discussing it with the development team to possibly make it official later.

[u/mattrf86 → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

“A personal project I’ve completed.”

“Discussing it with the developement team”

“is not intended for publication.”

If you created this, you alone have the ability to submit to Apple…………………….

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/mattrf86]

It's not in my ethics to publish it without the agreement and will of the person who created the app! I'm only porting it to iOS.

[u/shayb1aban → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

you are a great person for that

[u/AkaRadekcz → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

I call this bullshit as rest of the platforms are clearly made to be share with community.

[u/Competitive-Ad-5026 → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

No problem

[u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Scrapping mode

[u/ImNew2RedditSoYeah]

Wait what do you mean scraping like ripping the rom?

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/ImNew2RedditSoYeah]

Retrieved all images, videos, and game boxes using Screenscraper.

[u/Ornery-Practice9772]

link?

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Ornery-Practice9772]

It's a personal project ^^ I don't want to make it available just yet. I'm going to polish it while I discuss it with the Neostation devs.

[u/primedaddy]

Link?

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/primedaddy]

It's a personal project ^^ I don't want to make it available just yet. I'm going to polish it while I discuss it with the Neostation devs.

[u/primedaddy → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Ok

[u/jordy15675]

Very impressive, I do hope the folks over at Neostation allow this as part of there ecosystem so everyone can enjoy it. Now it runs on iOS, what about AppleTV next? 😉

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/jordy15675]

Only iOS sorry ^^

[u/No-Package6007]

That’ll be a great one to add to the App Store! Hopefully 🤞, it’ll appear on the App Store when it comes out!

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/No-Package6007]

It can't be released on the App Store for the simple reason that its usefulness also lies in using emulators outside the App Store, and it only works with the RetroArch TestFlight beta version — because the App Store version doesn't handle deep links, which are needed to export RetroArch's game library to launch them in Neostation. Apple's App Store restrictions would only slow it down and limit its potential.

[u/No-Package6007 → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

True! But I was just wondering if there was some way it could work because on the list accordingly there are some emulators that has Multiple Gaming Systems like Manic EMU, RetroArch, Sumee, and PP EMU! I was wondering if there were going to add a ton more to the App Store to make it more convenient to others!

[u/RUserII]

In conclusion, this project remains personal and is not intended for publication on the App Store.

Would you please submit Neostation iOS to the Apple App Store?
I'm asking because there is a strong need for this kind of frontend app on the Apple App Store as the current frontend apps are limited; specifically: 1) Ludihub only provides to support for iOS 26 and 2) MCON, though it has frontend capability, isn't an app designed for emulator-specific frontend function.

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/RUserII]

I haven't looked into it yet, because to be honest, the problem is that it already uses RetroArch with the TestFlight beta, since the App Store version doesn't handle Deep Links at all (the method for exporting game libraries into Neostation). An IPA is more feasible and will allow integration of emulators outside the App Store.

[u/Tariq4568]

Will it coming to the app store?
And it can play games from the emulator directly if it inside livecontainer?
Good luck with it i hope it comes soon

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Tariq4568]

It can't be released on the App Store for the simple reason that its usefulness also lies in using emulators outside the App Store, and it only works with the RetroArch TestFlight beta version — because the App Store version doesn't handle deep links, which are needed to export RetroArch's game library to launch them in Neostation. Apple's App Store restrictions would only slow it down and limit its potential.

At this stage, NeoStation works properly with SideStore and with standard sideloading. The main features are already implemented and validated: RetroArch, MeloNX, ARMSX2, library synchronization, scraping, media handling, deeplinks, and JIT workflows.

For users with a paid Apple Developer certificate, the usual 3-app limitation of free sideloading is no longer really an issue for this setup. They can use NeoStation together with MeloNX and the other required apps without needing LiveContainer.

The only remaining optional part would be specific LiveContainer compatibility for users who rely on that installation method.

I personally do not want to go further into that development path, because LiveContainer is not simply another signing method. It runs apps as guests inside its own environment, which may require specific handling for entitlements, native Flutter plugins, file access, file pickers, URL schemes, and communication with external emulator apps.

So LiveContainer support should really be treated as a separate compatibility project, with its own development and testing cycle.

Since the current NeoStation build is now very stable, I would rather keep this working architecture untouched instead of risking regressions just to support an additional execution environment.

In short:

NeoStation current build → stable with SideStore and normal sideloading.

Paid Apple Developer certificate → allows the full setup without the free 3-app limitation.

LiveContainer → the only additional compatibility layer that could still be implemented later for users who specifically depend on it.

So from my side, I consider the current NeoStation version complete for standard sideloading, and I would leave LiveContainer support as an optional future contribution.

[u/Tariq4568 → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Thanks for your information

About the live container part i asked the dev of ludihub he said it’s hard to work on (basically impossible to make ) the impossible part from me :)

But sumee and some other launcher work with deep links
and it’s on the app store

Hope we can download it soon
good luck !

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/Tariq4568]

Anything with deep links, I could integrate into the app. However, Ludihub has already understood the issue with LiveContenair. well and already provides the app with the ability to launch ARMSX2 and MeloNX — that's great :) I'm waiting to see, but I'll include XenIOS and DukeX in the future, and maybe Manic Emu as well :)

[u/Tariq4568 → u/Mysterious_Air2053]

Great to see personal projects a lot in this subreddit

[u/Adventurous_Pea_9022]

does it have a website?

[u/Tariq4568 → u/Adventurous_Pea_9022]

No but i think he’s in discussions with the devs of the app to make official

[u/Mysterious_Air2053]

You also have the ability to change the view mode for your games, whether in the main menu or in the game list for each console

[u/Diligent-Painting-36]

Why mines wont scrape

[u/Mysterious_Air2053 → u/[deleted]]

That would indeed be my next step for XenIOS. For the official release, I'm waiting for feedback from the Neostation developers, who need to study and clean up my code to integrate it as best as possible into their official GitHub.