The short version
What nxnative is and where it runs.
nxnative takes a Switch game you own and packs it into an app. On an iPhone or iPad that's an IPA you sideload, and on a Mac it's an app you open from Finder like any other.
It's free and open source under the MIT licence. Nothing from any game is in the repository, so you bring your own copy of each game.
The project was created on October 13. Its game list had 4 games on October 15 and lists over 80 today, with five more added on October 27 alone, including Pokémon Scarlet and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
See nxnative on GitHubWhy it isn't an emulator
From the project's own docs and code.
An emulator pretends to be a Switch while you play. nxnative runs the game's own code directly on the Apple chip and changes it only where Apple's system requires it.
The Switch's graphics are rebuilt on Metal, Apple's graphics system. Shaders are translated ahead of time, and in the project's own count 16,266 of 16,268 Mario shaders compile.
A host program stands in for the Switch's own system, handling threads, memory, files, controllers, sound and video.
What playing is like
Controls, frame rates and saves.
Some games run at 60 frames a second where the Switch runs them at 30, Tears of the Kingdom among them with its 1.4.3 update.
Touch controls come up on screen and hide as soon as you connect a controller. DualSense, DualShock 4, Backbone One and Razer Kishi are named in the docs.
In Super Mario Odyssey, a sharp flick of the phone throws Mario's cap.
On a Mac, every controller you plug in is its own player.
Saves sit in the Files app under the game's name, so you can back them up or copy them to a new install.
Worth knowing
Before you try it.
It needs iOS or iPadOS 26 on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, or an iPad with an M1 chip or newer. The games' textures use a compressed format older iPhones can't read. On a Mac it needs Apple silicon.
There's no online play and no amiibo yet.
A game joins the list once it plays on a Mac or an iPhone, so not every one has been tested on an iPhone yet.
Copies with malware are going around. The only real source is the project's GitHub page.
