Your iPad Is Already a Gaming Screen. You Just Don't Know It Yet.
Think about it. Your iPad has a Liquid Retina display with ProMotion at 120Hz. It has incredible color accuracy, HDR support, and a form factor that's perfect for gaming on the couch, in bed, or on the go. The hardware is right there.
The problem has always been software. Cloud gaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW stream from data centers hundreds of miles away. Steam Link and Parsec stream from your own PC — but through clunky apps built with web technologies, wrapped in layers of abstraction that add latency at every step.
We built Remio differently. It's a fully native iPad app that talks directly to your PC using hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding. No web views. No Electron wrappers. Just raw Metal rendering on the iPad side and hardware H.265 encoding on the PC side.
The result? Your iPad becomes a premium, ultra-responsive gaming display for your PC. And setting it up takes about two minutes.
Setting Up Remio for Gaming: A Quick-Start Guide
No account creation. No email sign-up. No cloud services. Here's everything you need:
Install Remio on Both Devices
Download Remio Host on your PC or Mac, and Remio from the App Store on your iPad. Both are free to try.
Connect With a PIN
Remio Host shows a 6-digit PIN. Type it into the iPad app. That's the entire pairing process. No account, no login, no cloud relay. Your devices find each other directly over your local network — or over the internet via an encrypted peer-to-peer tunnel.
Launch Your Game and Play
Open any game on your PC. It appears on your iPad in real time. Pick up your controller and you're playing. It really is that simple.
Why Remio Beats Steam Link and Parsec for iPad Gaming
Steam Link and Parsec are decent tools. We respect what they've built. But when it comes to iPad gaming specifically, Remio has some fundamental advantages:
Native Performance, Not Web Wrappers
Steam Link on iOS is a cross-platform build. Parsec uses a shared rendering layer. Remio is built entirely in SwiftUI and Metal — the same technologies Apple uses in its own apps. This means we can decode video frames in hardware and render them directly to the screen without any intermediate copies or conversions. The difference is measurable: less latency, smoother frames, lower battery drain.
Real Controller Support
Remio supports every controller Apple supports — which in 2026 is nearly everything. Xbox Wireless Controllers, PlayStation DualSense, Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers, and any MFi-compatible gamepad. Connect via Bluetooth to your iPad, and Remio forwards every input to your PC with sub-frame precision.
Analog sticks, triggers, rumble feedback, gyroscope — it all works. We don't emulate controller input. We pass it through as native HID events, which means your games see a real controller, not a virtual keyboard pretending to be one.
Touch Controls That Actually Work
Not every game needs a controller. For strategy games, city builders, or point-and-click adventures, Remio's touch input is remarkably natural. Tap to click. Two-finger tap for right-click. Pinch to zoom. Drag to scroll. We spent months fine-tuning the gesture recognition to feel intuitive — not like you're fighting the interface.
And for games that support it, you can use the iPad's keyboard (hardware or on-screen) and any connected mouse. Remio forwards all input types simultaneously.
No Account, No Subscription, No Cloud
Steam Link requires a Steam account. Parsec requires a Parsec account. GeForce NOW requires an NVIDIA account and a monthly subscription.
Remio requires nothing. No sign-up. No data collection. No tracking. Your game stream goes directly from your PC to your iPad — encrypted end-to-end — and we never see a single frame. This isn't just a privacy feature. It's the entire architecture. There's nothing for us to collect even if we wanted to.
Tips for the Best Gaming Experience
1. Use 5GHz Wi-Fi (or Wired)
This is the single biggest factor in streaming quality. If your router supports it, connect your PC via Ethernet and your iPad to the 5GHz band. 2.4GHz Wi-Fi adds unpredictable latency that no software can fix. If you're serious about gaming, a Wi-Fi 6 router is worth the investment.
2. Close Background Apps on Your iPad
iOS manages memory aggressively, but for the smoothest experience, close apps you're not using. Remio's native architecture means it's incredibly efficient (~45MB), but giving it room to breathe helps maintain consistent frame delivery.
3. Match Your Resolution to Your Network
On a strong local network, Remio can stream at your iPad's native resolution (up to 2732×2048 on iPad Pro) at 120fps. On a weaker connection, dropping to 1080p dramatically reduces bandwidth requirements while still looking sharp on the iPad's display. Remio adjusts automatically, but you can override this in settings.
4. Enable Hardware Encoding on Your PC
Remio uses your GPU's hardware encoder (NVENC on NVIDIA, AMF on AMD, Video Toolbox on Mac) by default. Make sure your GPU drivers are up to date. Hardware encoding adds essentially zero CPU overhead, so your games don't lose any performance from the streaming process.
5. Try Game Mode on iPad
iPadOS Game Mode (available since iPadOS 18) reduces Bluetooth latency for controllers and minimizes background activity. It activates automatically for games — and Remio is recognized as a game-like application, so it benefits from the same optimizations.
What Games Work Best?
Short answer: everything. Since Remio streams your entire desktop, any game that runs on your PC runs through Remio. But some genres shine more than others on iPad:
- RPGs and open-world games — Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077. Gorgeous on the iPad's display, comfortable with a controller, and tolerant of the tiny bit of added latency.
- Strategy and sim games — Civilization, Cities: Skylines, Factorio. Touch controls make these feel almost native on iPad.
- Platformers and roguelikes — Hades, Celeste, Hollow Knight. Controller support makes these a joy.
- Competitive FPS — Yes, even these work. On a local network with <16ms latency, games like Valorant and CS2 are genuinely playable. Probably not for tournament practice, but absolutely for casual play.
The Bigger Picture: Your iPad, Unlocked
Gaming is just one use case. The same technology that makes Remio great for playing Elden Ring on your iPad also makes it great for coding on your iPad, editing video in DaVinci Resolve, or running any desktop application from the comfort of your couch.
Your iPad isn't just a consumption device. With the right connection to your PC, it becomes a window into everything your computer can do — with the best display you own.
"I used to think iPad gaming meant mobile ports and watered-down experiences. Remio changed that completely. It's my actual PC, on my iPad, with my controller. No compromises."
Ready to try it? Download Remio on your PC and iPad. You'll be gaming in two minutes — no account required.