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NxNative

Requirements

nxnative involves two machines, which can be the same Mac: the Play device that runs the game, and the Build Mac that packs your game files into an app. Each has its own requirements. Not sure about yours? The Compatibility checker judges both from the model and OS version you pick.

Your own keys and games only. Packing needs the prod.keys dumped from your own Switch and game files for games you own. NxNative does not explain how to get either.

Play device

Device Chip Operating system
iPhone iPhone 15 Pro or newer (A17 Pro chip or later) iOS 26 or later
iPad M1 chip or later iPadOS 26 or later
Mac Apple silicon (M1 or later) macOS 26 or later (see below)

Why such recent iPhones? Switch games ship their textures in BC-compressed formats, and nxnative says older iPhones cannot read that format.

nxnative lists iPads with an M1 chip or later. An iPad with an A17 Pro chip, such as the A17 Pro iPad mini, has the same chip as the iPhone 15 Pro, so the Compatibility checker accepts it, but nxnative has not listed it as tested.

A Mac app needs a Mac with Apple silicon, like the Build Mac itself. Its minimum macOS is set by the Mac that packed it: an app packed on macOS 26 runs on macOS 26.0 or later.

Build Mac

  • macOS 26.6 or later.
  • Xcode 27.1. nxnative pins its shader compiler to this Xcode version.
  • Homebrew.
  • Python 3.12 or newer, as a native arm64 build. A Python from an Intel Homebrew runs under Rosetta, and the packing script stops when it detects one.
  • For iPhone and iPad apps, Xcode's iOS platform, added under Xcode → Settings → Components.

The arm64 Python and Mac app requirements mean in practice a Mac with Apple silicon. The Install guide lists the one-time tools to install.

Disk space and time

  • Disk space: about twice the game's size plus 10 GB free, for the first build.
  • Time: the first build of a game takes 30 to 60 minutes. Building it again is much faster.
  • App size: Packed apps are large. nxnative's docs mention about 11 GB for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and 16 GB for Breath of the Wild. Games too big to install can keep their files outside the app: see Troubleshooting.

What you bring

  • The game, plus its update and DLC if you have them, as .nsp, .xci, .nsz or .xcz files.
  • Your prod.keys.
  • For an iPhone or iPad, a sideloading tool: see Sideloading.

Which games?

Only games nxnative has tested are supported. Browse them on the Games page. For other games the script tries its best, but nxnative warns that such an app may not start.