The complete 2026 guide to the open-source PS4 emulator for Android — the v2.2 changelog, tested game performance, Frame Generation explained, patch presets, and safe download links.
UPDATED FOR THE v2.2 RELEASE · DUAL RUNTIME · GOD OF WAR 3 FULLY FIXED · NOT AFFILIATED WITH SONY
Stable · v2.2 test data
Illustrative replay of recorded results — figures come from the v2.2 test data, not a live capture.
Overview
The project, the lineage, and the state of play — before any numbers.
Not a scam. Not vaporware. A genuinely real, actively developed PS4 emulator for Android.
Bachata S4 is an independent, open-source project by developer JICA98 — a fork of shadPS4, the leading open-source PlayStation 4 emulator originally built for PC and Linux, reworked to run on ARM64 Android devices with an Android-specific frontend and a managed runtime layered on top.
That lineage matters. The Android emulation space has spent years drowning in fake PS4 emulator listings; Bachata S4 is one of the very few projects built on a respected, working emulator core — which immediately separates it from the clickbait. And v2.2 keeps the pace: a native Android/Bionic runtime alongside glibc/FEX, God of War 3 Remastered fixed end-to-end at a stable 60 FPS, and touch controls rebuilt with profiles and a multilingual UI.
A PS4 is nearly a decade old and most current flagship phones are technically more powerful — the emulator software maturity, not raw hardware, is the remaining bottleneck.
Community tester · Bachata S4 discussions
Changelog
The dual-runtime update — a second native runtime, six Turnip packages, and God of War 3 fixed end-to-end.
RUNTIMES & DRIVERS
GAME FIXES
PERFORMANCE & PATCHES
CONTROLS, UI & INTEGRATION
HEADLINE FEATURES
NOTE — PERFORMANCE AND GRAPHICAL ACCURACY STILL VARY FROM GAME TO GAME · GUIDE REVIEWED 2026 AGAINST v2.2
How it works
Five layers stand between a PlayStation 4 game and your phone. Tap each one.
PS4 games are compiled for x86-64 processors. Virtually every Android phone runs ARM64 silicon. Getting PS4 software running on a phone therefore requires several cooperating layers — emulation, binary translation, a runtime, the graphics stack, and the Android shell itself.
Bachata S4 bundles all of them into a single app. And as of v2.2 there are two runtime paths — the proven glibc/FEX stack and a new native Android/Bionic runtime — with driver selection that checks compatibility for each.
Everything ships in one APK. The emulator core, both runtimes, six Turnip packages and the offline patch repository — with Frame Generation, DLC and trophies layered on top.
Handles the actual PS4 system emulation: kernel and HLE calls, GPU command processing, and game logic — the proven core originally built for PC and Linux, adapted for the Android runtime.
An x86-64-to-ARM64 dynamic translation layer — PS4 game code is rewritten on the fly to execute on ARM64 phone chips, feeding the glibc runtime path. Box64 was fully removed: launch is locked to FEX.
A reproducibly built Debian/glibc Linux userland — and, new in v2.2, a native Android/Bionic runtime alongside it. Runtime-specific Vulkan driver selection with compatibility checks picks the right path per game.
All graphics are drawn through Vulkan — the same API the PS4 GPU is programmed against. Six Turnip packages are bundled, three per runtime, and Frame Generation smooths the result on supported games.
The Android-specific frontend: touch controls with profiles, custom buttons and a redesigned layout editor, landscape orientation controls, controller mapping, and a multilingual console-style UI.
Features
Everything the app ships with, from the emulation core to the v2.2 feature set.
EMULATION CORE
PS4 emulation frontend purpose-built for ARM64 Android.
The proven PC emulator core, integrated with an Android-focused runtime.
x86-64 workloads translated to ARM64 by FEX — Box64 fully removed.
All graphics drawn through Vulkan, on Adreno and Mali GPUs.
RUNTIMES & DRIVERS
glibc/FEX and a native Android/Bionic runtime — new in v2.2.
Three for glibc, three for Android/Bionic.
Vulkan driver picking with compatibility checks.
PERFORMANCE
Additional frames between rendered frames — displayed FPS roughly doubled on supported games.
Emulation reaches Mali-class hardware.
Save and reuse tuned configurations per game.
Per-game patches — multiple XML files supported in v2.2.
LIBRARY & CONTENT
Titles with cover art, metadata, and per-game settings.
Install downloadable content and game updates.
Trophy functionality, updated in v2.2.
Improved installation and package support.
CONTROLS & UI
Custom buttons, D-pad geometry and a redesigned layout editor.
New landscape orientation controls — v2.2.
Improved themes and input customization.
Multiple languages with in-app selection.
Improved console-style user interface.
DISTRIBUTION
Google Play listing plus source-built GitHub releases.
GPL-2.0-or-later, with third-party runtimes under their own licenses.
Requirements
The floor is Android 12 on ARM64. The practical ceiling is your RAM.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Android 12 or newer (API 31+) |
| CPU architecture | arm64-v8a only — no 32-bit support |
| Graphics | Vulkan-capable GPU — Adreno or Mali (Mali supported since v2.1) |
| Recommended hardware | Recent flagship Snapdragon processor shows the best results in our tests; Mali GPU devices are supported — performance varies by game |
| RAM (community-reported) | Heavier titles can use up to ~12GB on high-RAM flagships; phones with only 6–8GB total may struggle on the heaviest titles. Lighter titles need far less. |
| Storage | Varies — app, runtimes, Turnip packages, shader cache, plus your own game dumps |
| Content | User-owned homebrew or legally dumped PS4 software only |
Community-reported peak memory usage on patched flagship configurations.
Compatibility
Twelve games tracked — ten with recorded native FPS, plus the v2.2 fix arrivals.
So many other games are also working — watch the full setup and game test video below, and check community gameplay on YouTube. The table below is just our formally tested snapshot.
| Game | Status | Native FPS | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| God of War 3 Remastered | SMOOTH | 60 · stable | All graphical issues fixed in v2.2 |
| Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise | SMOOTH | 35–40 | One of the most consistent results in the set |
| Outlast | SMOOTH | 30–60 | Varies depending on the scene |
| Mad Max | SMOOTH | 30 · stable | Frame Generation roughly doubles displayed FPS |
| Bloodborne | PLAYABLE | 25–30 | Frame Generation roughly doubles displayed FPS |
| GTA 5 | PLAYABLE | 25–30 | Frame Generation roughly doubles displayed FPS |
| inFAMOUS First Light | PLAYABLE | 20–60 | Varies by scene; a character glitch is still present |
| The Last of Us Remastered | PLAYABLE | — | Black graphical artifacts fixed in v2.2 |
| WipEout Omega Collection | PLAYABLE | — | Boot and black-screen issues addressed in v2.2 |
| Driveclub | HEAVY | 15–20 | Demanding — needs a strong processor |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider | HEAVY | 12–15 | FG roughly doubles displayed; native remains low |
| Ratchet & Clank (2016) | HEAVY | 10–20 | Heaviest title in the test set |
Performance
Native FPS recorded across the tested set — Frame Generation results are shown separately.
BARS SHOW THE LOWER END OF EACH RECORDED RANGE · SCALE 0–64 · GUIDES AT 30 AND 60 FPS · NATIVE FPS, BEFORE FRAME GENERATION
STABLE 60 FPS · ALL GRAPHICAL ISSUES FIXED IN v2.2
The flagship showcase: one of the most demanding games in the set holds a stable 60 FPS — and v2.2 closed out the last of its visual problems with image handling and render-target/readback fixes. What used to be a caveat-ridden milestone is now the emulator's cleanest big-title result.
35–40 FPS · ONE OF THE MOST CONSISTENT RESULTS
Runs firmly in the mid-30s to 40 FPS — the most consistent result in the test set, and a comfortable experience on capable hardware.
STABLE 30 FPS · FG ROUGHLY DOUBLES DISPLAYED
Holds a stable 30 FPS, and with Frame Generation enabled the displayed framerate roughly doubles — one of the clearest showcases of what the feature adds.
30–60 FPS · DEPENDS ON THE SCENE
Swings between 30 and 60 FPS depending on the scene — lighter moments run at full speed, heavier ones settle at a steady 30.
This is the data we tested. So many other games are also working — watch the full setup and game test video below, and check community gameplay on YouTube for your exact processor. Performance scales with your hardware tier and how you apply patches and presets.
Frame Generation
The headline feature of v2.1 — what it really does to your framerate, and which number to trust.
THE CLAIM
VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE
SOLID = NATIVE RENDERED FPS · DASHED = DISPLAYED FPS WITH FRAME GENERATION · SCALE 0–64 · ILLUSTRATIVE APPROXIMATIONS FROM TEST DATA
The fair one-liner: Frame Generation makes supported games look dramatically smoother — but read the native FPS number, not the displayed one, when judging how the emulator itself is performing.
Settings
Heavier titles lean on per-game patches for playable framerates. Pick your hardware tier for the suggested starting set — then tune and save it as a preset.
YOUR HARDWARE TIER
9 / 14 suggested for this tier · 9 applied
Flagship path. Disable the costly effects, keep resolution reasonable, and try the 60+ FPS mode — drop to a 30 lock if frame pacing suffers. Frame Generation can smooth the result further.
PATCHES APPLY PER GAME · v2.2 SUPPORTS MULTIPLE PATCH XML FILES · SAVE TUNED SETS AS CUSTOM PRESETS.
v2.2 · ANDROID 12+ · ARM64-V8A · GPL-2.0-OR-LATER
Free, open-source, and actively developed. Grab the latest v2.2 build directly, install from Google Play, or pick up a source-linked release from GitHub with release notes and checksums.
FIRST RUN LETS YOU CHOOSE THE RUNTIME — GLIBC/FEX OR NATIVE ANDROID/BIONIC · 6 TURNIP PACKAGES BUNDLED · FRAME GENERATION, DLC & TROPHIES INCLUDED.
Because this is a small, early project attached to a popular emulation name, fake listings follow. Clone apps and bogus PS4 emulator APKs riding trending names are a long-standing problem in the Android emulation space.
Setup
Six simple steps. Tick them off as you go — the progress bar keeps score.
You are all set. If something behaves unexpectedly, try the other runtime — glibc/FEX or Android/Bionic — and when reporting results, include the release version, runtime, processor, Android version and a session log.
The complete walkthrough — install, runtime setup, patch presets and live game tests on real hardware. Also available on YouTube at youtu.be/IHpAzROQA7E.
FAQ
No — it includes zero games or copyrighted console files of any kind. You have to supply your own legally-owned dumps or legitimate homebrew.
New in v2.2: a second runtime that runs alongside glibc/FEX. Runtime-specific Vulkan driver selection — with compatibility checks — picks the right driver, and six Turnip packages are bundled: three for glibc, three for Android/Bionic.
It generates additional frames between rendered frames, making motion look significantly smoother — displayed FPS can be roughly doubled on supported games. It does not increase native rendering performance, so native FPS remains the true indicator of emulator performance.
Yes — DLC and game update support, plus trophy functionality, alongside game patches and custom performance presets. v2.2 also updated video playback, audio, trophy and controller integration.
Snapdragon flagships with Adreno GPUs still lead in our tests. Mali GPU support arrived in v2.1, so Mali-class hardware is in play — though results vary significantly from game to game.
Heavier titles have been recorded using up to ~12GB RAM on flagship configurations. Phones with only 6–8GB total may struggle on the most demanding titles — even if the processor itself is fast enough.
Yes — this is the data we tested, and so many other games are also working. Watch the setup and game test video above, and check community gameplay on YouTube covering almost every popular title and processor.
Bottom line
Bachata S4 is a genuinely real, actively developed, open-source attempt at PS4 emulation on Android — built on the respected shadPS4 core rather than being a scam or clickbait app, which sets it apart from the wave of fake PS4 emulator listings that have circulated for years. And v2.2 keeps its foot down: a native Android/Bionic runtime, God of War 3 fixed end-to-end at a stable 60 FPS, and touch controls rebuilt with profiles, a layout editor and a multilingual UI.
It is still an evolving project — performance and graphical accuracy vary significantly from game to game, and the best experiences ask for strong processors and plenty of RAM. But the trajectory is unmistakable.
A project that now deserves a spot on your phone — and a close watch on what comes next.
EDITORIAL ASSESSMENT, BASED ON THE v2.2 RELEASE