DuckStation is a PlayStation (PS1) emulator for Android that emphasizes accuracy, speed, and long-term maintainability. Developed by Stenzek in Australia, it offers OpenGL, Vulkan, and software rendering paths, per-game settings, and robust controller support, with strong regional arcade rankings and a long, steady download history of 1,000,000+ total and 130K new in the last 30 days.
Pros & Cons
Accurate PlayStation emulation focused on speed and maintainability
Per-game settings and detailed controller mappings for optimal compatibility
Supports up to 8 controllers via multitap and saves with previews
ROMs/BIOS are not bundled; a legal dump must be provided by the user
Moderate hardware requirements; 32-bit ARM devices may not perform well without sufficient CPU power
No bundled games or ROMs included in the app; users must supply their own legally dumpable content
About DuckStation
DuckStation is an arcade app developed by Stenzek.
Download Statistics
DuckStation has been downloaded 4.5 million times. In the last 30 days, the app was downloaded 130 thousand times. It is ranked #124 in arcade.
User Ratings
DuckStation is rated 4.31 out of 5 stars. The rating is based on 17 thousand ratings.
App Information
DuckStation is FREE to download. The APK download size is 31.25 MB. The latest version available is 0.1-8969-g611bb8fb4. The last update was on April 25, 2025.
Technical Requirements
DuckStation requires Android 6.0+ or higher. The app has a content rating of Everyone. The app has been available on Google Play September 2020.
Description
DuckStation is an simulator/emulator of the Sony PlayStation(TM) / PSX / PS1 console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. The goal is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining high performance.
A "BIOS" ROM image is required to start the emulator and to play games. A ROM image is not provided with the emulator for legal reasons, you should dump this from your own console using Caetla/Unirom/etc. Games are NOT provided with the emulator, it can only be used to play legally purchased and dumped games.
DuckStation supports cue, iso, img, ecm, mds, chd, and unencrypted PBP game images. If your games are in other formats, you will need to re-dump them. For single track games in bin format, you can use https://www.duckstation.org/cue-maker/ to generate cue files.
Features include: - OpenGL, Vulkan and software rendering - Upscaling, texture filtering, and true colour (24-bit) in hardware renderers - Widescreen rendering in supported games (no stretching!) - PGXP for geometry precision, texture correction, and depth buffer emulation (fixes texture "wobble"/polygon fighting) - Adaptive downsampling filter - Post processing shader chains (GLSL and experimental Reshade FX). - 60fps in PAL games where supported - Per-game settings (set enhancements and controller mapping for each game individually) - Up to 8 controllers in supported game with multitap - Controller and keyboard binding (+vibration for controllers) - RetroAchievements in supported games (https://retroachievements.org) - Memory card editor (move saves, import gme/mcr/mc/mcd) - Built in patch code database - Save states with preview screenshots - Blazing fast turbo speeds in mid to high end devices - Emulated CPU overclocking to improve FPS in games - Runahead and rewind (do not use on slow devices) - Controller layout editing and scaling (in pause menu)
DuckStation supports both 32-bit/64-bit ARM, and 64-bit x86 devices. However, due to it being a more accurate emulator, hardware requirements can be moderate. If you have a 32-bit ARM device, please do not expect the emulator to perform well - you will need at least a 1.5GHz CPU for good performance.
If you have an external controller, you will need to map the buttons and sticks in settings.
Game compatibility list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H66MxViRjjE5f8hOl5RQmF5woS1murio2dsLn14kEqo/edit?usp=sharing
"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited. This project is not affiliated in any way with Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Duck icon by icons8: https://icons8.com/icon/74847/duck
This app is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International License (BY-NC-ND 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Recent changes: - Multi-threaded rendering. - Merging of multi-disc games in list/grid. - Custom game titles/regions. - Texture cache and replacements. - New enhancements. - New patch code system. - Game compatibility improvements. - Updated UI.
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Love the emulator, does the job great. Love it they fixed it, so I can access my sd card. All games play smoothly and control responses are Sharp.
★★★★☆Sultan Fakhri (Leon Cartland)· Aug 27, 2026
It's very, very good if you want to play a ps1 games. It's really the best choice I swear.
★★★★★Brandon Peck· Jul 20, 2026
Best psx emulator on android hands down, excited about any future updates, but it runs perfect and has everything I need!
★★★★★MohamadYasin Marganpour· Jun 10, 2026
The virtual Dpad sucks but if you play it with an external controller it will be fine and a great experience
★★★★☆Elijah Gauthier· Jun 10, 2026
This emulator is amazing, don't think I have to say much that others haven't said, but I do have something to ask. I play multiple games over different consoles, so I use a frontend, Cocoon, to access those games. When I try to play Playstation games through cocoon, it says unable to read Disc. I've changed my roms into chd, but it still doesn't work. May you please fix this problem?
★☆☆☆☆C C· Aug 19, 2026
I'm not a programmer and have no idea how to use this, zero signposting just assumes you're a dweeb who knows what a bios are
★☆☆☆☆Julie Lewis· Jul 25, 2026
IDK what happened. I used this app about 18 months ago, and it was fantastic. I got a new (much better) phone, downloaded it, and every single one of the 6 games I tried playing over the past day were so chuggy it was unplayable (if they played at all). I have plenty of memory and space on my phone. I seriously doubt it's the phone we bought specifically for gaming. Lame. This used to be a great app. As of July 2026, not so much
★☆☆☆☆Hayden· Jul 15, 2026
Duckstation? More like duck around trying to set it up station. Deleted for sure I'd give zero if I could too much fiddling with bios files and others try to be more like gba emulator download and play not download 20 files to play one game
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Trust & Safety: Requested permissions include INTERNET and VIBRATE, plus a DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION. The app is distributed under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. No ROMs or games are provided by the app; users must provide legal BIOS/ROM images to run titles.
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