PC games on Android, from your own library
Three methods put Windows games on an Android phone. To pick one, ask a simple question: where does the game actually run?
- Native Android app
- Your launchers and mods
- No PC left on at home
You can play PC games on Android in three ways, and each one runs the game somewhere different.
An emulator such as Winlator or GameHub runs it on your phone's own chip, translating Windows code on the fly. It's free, but your processor, battery and storage set the limits. Streaming apps like Steam Link or Moonlight run it on your gaming PC at home and send you the picture, so that PC has to stay on. In the cloud, catalog services like GeForce Now stream a fixed list of games, while a cloud PC such as Shadow PC hosts your whole library, mods included, on a full Windows computer with its own RTX graphics card.
Want your full library on the phone you already have, with no PC at home? The last option is the shortest path.
No flagship needed
With a cloud PC, your phone streams the game instead of running it, so Android 8.0 is plenty. See what it takes to turn it into a PC gaming console.
For PC games on Android, it all comes down to where they run
| Shadow PC | Emulators | Steam Link, Moonlight | Cloud catalogs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where the game runs |
Shadow PC
A cloud PC
|
Emulators
Your phone
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Your home PC
|
Cloud catalogs
A cloud server
|
| Gaming PC at home |
Shadow PC
None
|
Emulators
None
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Required, switched on
|
Cloud catalogs
None
|
| Recent AAA games |
Shadow PC
Yes
|
Emulators
Older and lighter ones
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Yes
|
Cloud catalogs
Supported list
|
| Launchers and mods |
Shadow PC
Yes
|
Emulators
Partly
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Yes
|
Cloud catalogs
Limited
|
| Online games with anti-cheat |
Shadow PC
Most of them
|
Emulators
Rarely
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Yes
|
Cloud catalogs
Supported list
|
| Phone storage used |
Shadow PC
Only the app
|
Emulators
30 to 100 GB per big game
|
Steam Link, Moonlight
Only the app
|
Cloud catalogs
Only the app
|
Emulators: Winlator, GameHub, GameNative. Cloud catalogs: cloud gaming services such as GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Emulators: clever, but only as strong as your chip
Winlator, GameHub and GameNative translate Windows software so it runs on the ARM processor inside your phone. When a game runs well, it's impressive, and it costs nothing.
The limits come from the hardware. For 3D games, a recent high-end Snapdragon is the realistic minimum, settings drop to low, and a single AAA install can eat 30 to 100 GB of storage. Online games protected by anti-cheat rarely run, and results vary from one title to the next.
Great for older classics and indie games. Hard work for this year's releases.
Streaming your PC: great at home, if it stays on
Steam Link and Moonlight cost nothing and run smoothly on a good local network. Your gaming PC renders the game. Your phone shows it and sends back what you press.
Everything hinges on that PC, which has to be on and awake for every session. Away from home you also depend on your upload speed, plus some router setup for Moonlight.
Already own a gaming PC and play mostly on the sofa? It's a fine option, and probably the cheapest one, as long as you don't mind leaving that machine switched on every time you feel like playing. Without one, you start by buying it.
A cloud PC: the whole library, on any recent phone
Shadow PC puts Windows on Android without asking anything of your processor. It's a Windows 11 PC in a data center with its own NVIDIA RTX graphics card, and the app streams it to your phone, which only has to decode a video stream. Your storage stays free.
Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net and GOG install as they would on any PC, mods too. They're still there next session. The same PC also opens on your laptop or your TV.
Android 5.0 is the minimum and 8.0 is recommended, so phones that would choke on an emulator can still play.
What runs well on a cloud PC
Nearly everything that runs on a Windows PC. The exceptions are a handful of games whose anti-cheat won't accept a cloud PC, and the compatibility page says which.
They run on the cloud PC's graphics card, at settings your phone could never hold.
Mod managers, roleplay servers and custom launchers behave exactly as they do on any Windows PC.
Your add-ons and UI layout stay on the PC between sessions, ready for the next raid.
Questions about PC games on Android
Yes, in two ways. An emulator such as GameHub or GameNative can run some Steam games on the phone itself, if it's powerful enough. A cloud PC such as Shadow PC runs Steam on a full Windows computer and streams it to the Android app, with nothing running at home.
There are three routes. On the phone: install an emulator and your games, and accept lower settings. On your own PC: run Steam on it and the Steam Link app on the phone, or Sunshine on the PC and Moonlight on the phone. In the cloud: install the Shadow PC app, sign in, add your launcher to the cloud PC and play. Our page on playing PC games on your phone covers controllers and connection.
Yes. Winlator and GameNative are open source, and GameHub is free but closed source. All three want a recent, powerful phone and plenty of storage for each game.
With emulators, competitive online games usually fail because of anti-cheat. On Shadow PC most of them work, apart from a small number whose anti-cheat locks out cloud PCs. The compatibility page has the list.
Phones and tablets on Android 5.0 or later, with 8.0 recommended, and the device requirements page has the details. The game runs in the cloud, so your connection matters far more than your processor.
Not to get started: the app includes a virtual gamepad. For longer sessions, a Bluetooth Xbox or PlayStation pad, or a controller your phone slides into, is more comfortable.
Shadow doesn't publish a per-hour figure, because it depends on the resolution and frame rate you stream at: higher settings use more, so keep an eye on your plan away from Wi-Fi. Game downloads don't count: they happen on the cloud PC's own 1 Gb/s line.
Your PC library, on your Android phone
No emulator to tune, no PC to leave on. See how your phone becomes a PC gaming console.