PS5 Remote Play on a Handheld: Every Option Compared in 2026

2026-08-12 · Buying guide

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Your PS5 sits in the living room. You want to play it in bed, on the couch, or in a hotel room. Sony sells a $249 device that does exactly that, and plenty of people buy it without realising they already own something that does the same job.

This guide walks through all four ways to get PS5 games onto a handheld screen. One of them is free. One of them requires no console at all. And a new app called Asobi has just made the Steam Deck route considerably more interesting.

First, Two Things That Are Not the Same Thing

Almost every article on this topic blurs these together, and the difference decides which route you should take.

Remote play streams from your own console. The PS5 sits at home doing the work, and your handheld shows the picture and sends button presses back. You need a PS5 or PS4, it needs to be on, and quality depends on your network.

Cloud streaming runs the game on Sony's servers instead. No console required. It needs a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription, and until recently the PlayStation Portal was the only handheld that could do it.

That second point is the one that changed in August 2026, and it is why this guide exists now rather than a year ago.

One November 2026 update matters here. Sony is retiring its own PlayStation Plus app on PC on 10 December 2026, which was the only official way to stream the Premium catalogue to a computer. Remote play is a separate app and is not affected, so three of the four routes below are untouched. The cloud streaming half of the Asobi route is the open question, and we set out what is and is not known in our piece on the retirement.

The Four Routes at a Glance

Route 1: The PlayStation Portal

Sony's dedicated answer. It is a screen with a DualSense split around it, and it does one job.

The Portal costs $249.99 in the US, up from the original $199.99 after a price increase that took effect on 2 April 2026.

What you get for that is the smoothest version of this experience. It pairs with your PS5 in a couple of taps, the controls are genuine DualSense hardware with adaptive triggers and haptics, and there is no setup beyond signing in. It also handles PS Plus Premium cloud streaming, so it keeps working when your PS5 is off.

What you do not get is anything else. The Portal has no local processing worth speaking of. It cannot emulate, it cannot run apps, it cannot browse. When your Wi-Fi drops, it becomes a paperweight until the connection comes back.

Buy it: PlayStation Portal. Street price is around $250.

Get the Portal if you want the thing to just work and you have no interest in a device that does more. For anyone reading a retro handheld site, the next three routes are usually the better answer.

Route 2: Steam Deck Plus Chiaki-ng

If you already own a Steam Deck OLED, this costs nothing.

Chiaki-ng is a free, open source PlayStation Remote Play client. It connects to your PS4 or PS5 the same way the Portal does, and it runs from the Deck's desktop mode. You can add it to Game Mode as a non-Steam shortcut so it launches like any other game.

One naming note, because this trips people up constantly. The project used to be called chiaki4deck, and a great many guides still tell you to install that. It was renamed to chiaki-ng once it grew beyond the Steam Deck to properly support Windows, macOS, and general Linux. Chiaki-ng is the actively developed one. If a guide is still saying chiaki4deck, it has not been updated in a while.

The strengths are that it costs nothing, the source is open, it is genuinely well maintained, and it is the most popular of the Chiaki forks by a wide margin, at roughly 2,800 GitHub stars as of October 2026. The project also moved to its own organisation during 2026, so older links to it redirect rather than break.

The limitation is that it does local remote play only. There is no PS Plus Premium cloud streaming. Your PS5 has to be on and reachable.

Route 3: Steam Deck Plus Asobi

This is the new one, and it is the reason the Portal's main advantage just got smaller.

Asobi: Remote Play arrived on Steam in August 2026 from a developer called Inside Internet and reached version 1.0 on 9 October 2026, which also brought Windows support alongside Linux and SteamOS. It does normal remote play from your own console, and it also does PS Plus Premium cloud streaming, which was the Portal's exclusive trick. A Steam Deck running Asobi can play cloud titles from the Premium library without a PS5 in the house at all.

The free tier gives you 1080p at 30fps for remote play and 720p at 50fps for cloud streaming. A premium upgrade costs 9.99 US dollars and raises those to up to 1080p60 with HDR and up to 4K native 60fps with HDR respectively, while adding haptics, gyro and adaptive triggers, manual bitrate control and frame generation.

It is not endorsed by Sony, which is worth weighing before you rely on it, and that caveat has sharpened since we first wrote this. With Sony's own PC app retiring on 10 December 2026, an unofficial client becomes the only PC-facing route to the Premium cloud catalogue. The remote play half of this route is safe either way. The cloud half is the part we cannot promise.

We break down the full feature list, the requirements, and how it stacks up against chiaki-ng in Asobi: Remote Play vs Chiaki-ng.

At $789 for a 512GB Steam Deck OLED after Valve's May 2026 increase, nobody should buy a Deck purely to stream PlayStation games. But if you already have one, or you want one anyway for retro emulation, remote play is a free bonus feature.

Buy it: Steam Deck OLED. Street price starts around $789.

Route 4: An Android Handheld

Sony publishes an official PS Remote Play app on the Play Store, and it runs on any Android handheld with the Play Store installed. This is the route most readers of this site are already equipped for.

The appeal is obvious. A Retroid Pocket 6 is around $229 and plays PS2, GameCube, and Wii properly. An AYN Odin 3 or Odin 2 Portal does the same on a bigger AMOLED panel. Remote play is a free app you install on top of a device you bought for emulation.

Two catches. The official app does local remote play only, with no PS Plus cloud streaming. And it maps to your handheld's built-in controls rather than a DualSense, so adaptive triggers and haptics are gone.

Buy it: the Retroid Pocket 6, street price around $229, or the AYN Odin 3

The open source alternative: Momiji

Android handhelds have an equivalent to chiaki-ng, and it is worth knowing about because it answers the DualSense catch above. Momiji is a free, open source Remote Play client for Android, built on the same Chiaki lineage the Steam Deck route uses. There are no ads, no tracking and no paid tier.

Two features make it interesting for the devices we cover rather than for phones.

The first is upscaling. Momiji includes an optional super resolution filter using Qualcomm's open source Snapdragon Game Super Resolution. It sharpens the image when the stream is smaller than your screen, which is the normal case on a handheld. A 720p stream on a 1080p panel is exactly the situation it was built for, and that is a situation the official app just lets look soft.

The second is more specific than anything else in this guide. On a dual screen Android handheld, Momiji turns the bottom screen into the DualSense touchpad while you play, with the PS, Create and Options buttons alongside it. The project names the AYN Thor directly, and the feature is genuinely built rather than merely promised. If you own a Thor, this is the only remote play client that does anything useful with your second screen.

Beyond those two, it registers your console by signing you in with Sony rather than making you dig out your Account ID by hand, which has always been the worst part of Chiaki setup. It connects through PlayStation Network when you are away from home, wakes the console from rest mode, and handles DualSense haptics over USB, gyro, the touchpad and adaptive triggers where Android allows it. Sony's own documentation says adaptive triggers are not supported on Android in the official app, so that is a real gap being filled. Picture tops out at 1080p60 over H.264 or HEVC. It runs on Android 7.0 and newer.

Now the honest caveats, because this is very new. The project appeared at the end of September 2026 and is the work of a single developer, with a handful of GitHub stars and under a hundred downloads so far. It is submitted to F-Droid and in testing on Google Play, but it is on neither store yet, so installing it means sideloading an APK and trusting the project directly. There is no cloud streaming, and the DualSense speaker and rumble are still rough by the developer's own admission.

Our recommendation for now is simple. Start with Sony's official app, since it is on the Play Store and it works. Try Momiji if the official app's soft image bothers you, if you want DualSense features Android normally will not give you, or if you own a dual screen handheld and want that bottom panel doing something. We deliberately do not link APK downloads. Search the project name on GitHub and read its own documentation first.

Note that Linux firmware handhelds are not on this list. If your device runs ArkOS, muOS, OnionOS, or KNULLI, it has no Play Store and no practical remote play client. That covers most Anbernic, Miyoo, and TrimUI devices. Our Linux vs Android handhelds explainer covers why that split matters more than people expect.

The Thing That Actually Decides Your Experience

None of the above matters as much as your network.

Remote play is a live video stream with a control loop wrapped around it. Every one of these routes feels excellent on a strong 5 GHz connection near the router, and every one of them feels miserable two rooms away on 2.4 GHz. Wire the console to the router if you can. Sit close to the access point. That single change does more than any app choice on this page.

The same logic applies to all local streaming, which we cover in more depth in cloud gaming on retro handhelds alongside Moonlight, GeForce Now, and Game Pass.

Which One Should You Buy

You own a Steam Deck already. Install chiaki-ng today. Asobi's free tier costs nothing either, so try both. You are done, and it cost nothing.

You own an Android emulation handheld already. Install the official PS Remote Play app. Same story. If you want the picture sharpened on a lower resolution panel, or you own a dual screen handheld, try Momiji as well.

You own neither and only want PlayStation on the go. The Portal at $249.99 is the right call. It is cheaper than every other device here and it needs no setup.

You want a PS Plus Premium library on a handheld without owning a PS5. Right now that is the Portal or a Steam Deck running Asobi, and Asobi is the one that also plays your Steam and emulation libraries.

You mostly play retro games and want PlayStation as a bonus. Buy the Android handheld you wanted anyway. Remote play is a free app on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you use PS Remote Play on a Steam Deck?

Yes. Two options exist. Chiaki-ng is free and open source and handles remote play from your own PS4 or PS5. Asobi: Remote Play is a newer Steam app that does the same thing and adds PlayStation Plus Premium cloud streaming. Neither is an official Sony release for Linux.

Do you need a PS5 to use a PlayStation Portal?

Not any more, and not exclusively. The Portal was built to stream from your own PS5, but it also supports PlayStation Plus Premium cloud streaming, which runs games on Sony's servers instead. That path needs a Premium subscription rather than a console.

Is the PlayStation Portal worth it if I own a Steam Deck?

Usually not. A Steam Deck running chiaki-ng or Asobi does the same job for free, and it plays your Steam library and emulators as well. The Portal wins on convenience, genuine DualSense hardware with adaptive triggers, and zero setup. If those matter more to you than $250, it is a reasonable buy.

What is the difference between chiaki-ng and chiaki4deck?

They are the same project. It started as chiaki4deck when its scope was the Steam Deck, then was renamed to chiaki-ng once it added proper Windows, macOS, and general Linux support. Chiaki-ng is the current, actively maintained name. Guides still recommending chiaki4deck are out of date.

Can Anbernic or Miyoo handhelds do PS5 remote play?

No, not in any practical way. Those devices run custom Linux firmware like ArkOS, muOS, OnionOS, or KNULLI, with no Play Store and no maintained remote play client. Remote play needs an Android handheld with the Play Store, or a PC handheld like the Steam Deck.

How much does Asobi: Remote Play cost?

The base app is free. It streams remote play at 1080p and 30fps, and cloud streaming at 720p and 50fps. A premium upgrade costs 9.99 US dollars as a one-off and raises those ceilings to up to 1080p60 with HDR and up to 4K native 60fps with HDR, while adding haptics, gyro and adaptive triggers, manual bitrate control, low latency modes and frame generation.

Does remote play work over mobile data?

It can, but treat it as a fallback rather than a plan. Remote play is designed around a stable low latency connection, and cellular networks vary far too much for a consistent experience. A strong 5 GHz Wi-Fi connection is what these apps are tuned for.

Is there an open source remote play app for Android handhelds?

Yes. Momiji is a free, open source client built on the same Chiaki lineage as chiaki-ng, with no ads and no paid tier. It adds optional super resolution upscaling, which helps when the stream is lower resolution than your screen, and it supports DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers that the official app does not provide on Android. On a dual screen handheld like the AYN Thor it turns the bottom screen into the DualSense touchpad. It is very new though, and it is not on F-Droid or Google Play yet, so installing it means sideloading. Sony's official PS Remote Play app is still the safer starting point.

Related Reading

• Two New PS5 Emulators Are Real, Most Search Results Are Not
• Asobi: Remote Play vs Chiaki-ng
• Sony is retiring the PS Plus app on PC — which of these four routes it touches, and which it does not
• AYN Thor Review
• Cloud Gaming on Retro Handhelds
• Steam Deck Retro Gaming Guide
• Steam Deck OLED Review
• Linux vs Android Handhelds
• Retroid Pocket 5 vs Steam Deck
• PS4 Emulation Status in 2026