Blip Launcher

Blip turns any Android device into a game console. One shelf, real box art, achievements on the covers, and a minimal, polished interface you drive entirely with a controller. You bring the files and the emulator app — it brings everything else.

WHAT YOU GET

• Art that turns up on its own — covers, backgrounds, logos, descriptions — drawn from several places so you never have to pick one. Anything it gets wrong, you fix by hand.
• Art fitted to each platform: tall cases, square cartridges, wide discs. A shelf never looks stretched or cropped.
• Shelf, grid or list. Browse slowly, see everything at once, or find one game in a library of hundreds.
• Your folders read wherever they are — internal storage, SD card, USB drive — with titles, regions and years taken straight off the file names.
• It opens on the game you left, so most nights one button puts you back in.

YOUR TROPHIES, ON THE COVERS

Connect your RetroAchievements account and every game carries its progress while you browse. The full list — points, rarity, unlock dates — sits on the game's page. Nothing is written back; the earning still happens in your emulator.

A THEME HERE IS NOT A COLOUR SWAP

Two themes, each in light and dark. The 16 bit one squares every corner and was made for the handhelds built to look like 1994 — run it on one and the screen finally matches the shell in your hands. More looks are on the way, and after them, the tools to make your own.

BUILT FOR A CONTROLLER, NOT ADAPTED TO ONE

Every screen is reachable with a d-pad and four buttons, and the hints along the bottom always tell you what each one does. No touchscreen required. Set it as the home app and the shelf is the first thing the device shows when it wakes up.

TWO SCREENS, ONE DEVICE

On a dual-screen handheld like the AYN Thor the panels split by function: the game you are looking at fills the top one, the whole library sits under your thumb on the bottom one. Nothing is shown twice.

WHERE IT RUNS

Any modern Android device — a retro handheld, a phone or a tablet. Built and tested on Android handhelds such as the AYN Thor and the Retroid Pocket. No root, and no special hardware.

NOTHING TO SIGN UP FOR, NOTHING WATCHING YOU

It reads the folders you point it at and nothing else. No account, no ads, no telemetry, nothing to sync. The only thing that ever leaves the device is a game title, and only while it looks for artwork.

FREE, WITH A ONE-TIME PRO UNLOCK

The app is free and carries no ads. A one-time purchase covers the extras — dual-screen support, RetroAchievements and additional themes. During the beta, everything is unlocked for everyone.

COMING NEXT

Support for self-hosted RomM servers, so a shelf can be the whole collection on your network and not just the files on the device. In development, not in this build yet.

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This app is a launcher, not an emulator. It does not include, host, sell or download game files of any kind. You supply your own files and your own emulator apps.