An experimental fan project has offered a first look at Cyberpunk 2077 running locally on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. The remarkable feat of engineering uses a macOS version of Cyberpunk 2077 running on iOS through a translation layer.
Cyberpunk 2077 received an Apple Silicon-native Mac version in 2025, meaning its macOS executable already runs on the same ARM architecture used by modern iPhones and uses Apple’s Metal graphics API natively. Rather than translating x86 Windows instructions into ARM instructions while the game is running, this project appears to be bridging differences between macOS and iOS around that existing native code. Its exact implementation has not been published, but the remaining work would logically involve adapting or replacing macOS-specific services and assumptions involving areas such as files, input, application behavior, libraries, and other operating system interfaces.
The demonstration was shared on September 23 by Reddit user Thisisyouracc0un-t, who describes the project as a translation layer for running native macOS games on iPhones and iPads. According to the developer, the footage shows Cyberpunk 2077 running at around 900p with a mixture of medium and high graphics settings, with the MetalFX framework working and no just-in-time compilation being needed because the game code is already native to Apple’s architecture. The test is being performed on an iPhone 17 Pro Max, which launched in 2025 with Apple’s A19 Pro chip. The 17 Pro model should ostensibly have identical performance on account of having the same system-on-chip with an identical amount of RAM (12 GB).
The developer clarified that Cyberpunk 2077 is running entirely locally rather than being streamed from a Mac or cloud service. If the project is eventually released publicly, prospective users will need to supply their own macOS game files and sideload the resulting app, but neither a Mac nor an internet connection would be required once those files are on the device. The translation layer itself has not yet been made public, however, and there is currently no source repository or downloadable build through which its claims can be independently reproduced.
Cyberpunk 2077 Unofficial iPhone Version Reportedly Outperforms Nintendo Switch 2 Port
The results shown so far invite an obvious comparison with Nintendo’s latest handheld console. Cyberpunk 2077 on the Switch 2 officially offers a Quality mode targeting 30 frames per second and a Performance mode targeting up to 40 FPS, with the latter using a 720p output target in handheld play. By comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro Max prototype appears to be running the game at notably higher graphical settings on paper while seemingly maintaining just over 30 FPS. Thisisyouracc0un-t has also experimented with ray tracing, but is still working through an issue that currently limits those features to an all-or-nothing toggle rather than the more granular controls available in the desktop version of the dystopian RPG.
The comparison to Nintendo’s handheld is still missing some crucial qualifications. The Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077 uses Nvidia DLSS, so its displayed resolution does not necessarily match the resolution at which every frame is initially rendered. The same issue applies to the iPhone demonstration because the developer says MetalFX is active without specifying whether the quoted 900p figure refers to internal rendering resolution or reconstructed output.
- Released
-
December 10, 2020
- ESRB
-
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
