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Third-party Stadia app back on iOS

Update: Good news, everyone — third-party Stadia app, Stadium, is back on the iOS’ App Store.

Developer Zach Knox has updated the app to version 1.2, bypassing the APIs that caused an issue in the past. You may need to visit Knox’s blog to get the app working with your controller of choice, but simply put, it’ll be easier to use a Stadia controller rather than your Bluetooth-enabled controller of choice.

You can download Stadium here.

Original story [22 October]: Apple will soon remove Stadium, a third-party app created by Zachary Knox that makes it possible to use Google Stadia on iOS devices.

“I have some bad news,” Knox wrote on Stadium‘s Discord server. “But before I get to that: if you want to use the App Store release of Stadium, download it now.”

Speaking with VICE Games, Knox explained that Stadium uses an iOS API called “game controller”, which adds native support for Xbox and PlayStation controllers via Bluetooth. Stadium hooked into that API through a web browser, enabling Stadia streaming using those controller alongside Google’s actual Stadia controller.

Earlier this week, Knox confirmed that Apple had informed him it would reject the app as it “wasn’t in compliance” with its policies, “extending” the controller API beyond Apple’s guidelines.

Related: Xbox Cloud Streaming will “absolutely” be on iOS, PC & consoles

Knox appears to be working on a way in which Stadium can be used without the API hook.

Stadium‘s case is rather curious, as Microsoft is looking to add Xbox Game Pass Cloud Streaming support to iOS in a similar manner: through a web browser. It’s unclear how Microsoft hopes to achieve this, but if it was using the controller API in a similar manner, it might be time to head back to the drawing board.

Stadium is still available on the Apple App Store, but it’s unclear how long that will last.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.