v0.3.0-beta

Main Changes:

FEX-Emu / UnixLibs support

• WinNative now supports FEX-Emu UnixLibs (native .so thunked libraries). A new toggle next to the FEXCore version lets you enable the native library backend per container, with name-based compatibility handling. This can noticeably improve performance for supported titles.

Proton & component updates

• New/updated Proton 11.0-1 layers — an updated custom ARM64EC build plus an x86-64 (Steam) build — alongside the existing Proton 10.x, 11.0-5, and 11.1-GE options.
• New Unix Protons: Proton layers compiled with UnixLibs for the FEXCore backend (9.0, 10, 10.0-4, 11-B5, and 11.0-1 ARM64EC-Steam), pairing with the new FEX-Emu UnixLibs support.
• New Stable FEXCore-with-UnixLibs build.
• The in-app component hub was refreshed so all of the above show up directly in the downloader.

Handheld & full gamepad control

• You can now control the entire app with a controller — no touch input needed. Navigate the library, set up containers, and even open and drive the in-game XServer menu with a gamepad (hold the Xbox/guide button to bring it up).
• New library shortcuts for handhelds: R3 to add a game, L3 to search, X to enter the hero view, and more.
• Touchscreen controls now auto-hide when a physical controller is connected.

Steam

• The custom Steam client keeps growing: Steam Friends, messaging, chat notifications, chat heads, and in-game chat are now available, along with achievements, launch options, and profile images.
• Steam downloads have been fixed and hardened for reliability.
• The Steam library now refreshes correctly after a game exits — sessions self-heal on app resume, so library changes appear immediately.

External displays & Viture glasses

• Initial support for external monitors, TVs, casting, and Viture XR glasses. Run your game on the big screen while the device handles input.
• Automatic output switching is gated behind a new toggle (off by default) so nothing changes unless you opt in.

Library overhaul & built-in file manager

• The library UI has been restyled with a refreshed top bar, accent colors, and cleaner add-game flow.
• A new in-app file manager can be opened right from the library top bar — browse drive roots, copy/move files with progress, all without leaving the app.
• File pickers now accept .bat and .cmd files, and tapping a file highlights it instead of instantly confirming.

Frontend support

• New frontend export: WinNative can write standalone .desktop entries plus icons into a folder of your choice so external frontends (Daijishō, ES-DE, etc.) can scan and launch your games. Export per-game from the game detail screen, or everything at once with the Export All chip.

Touch controls refinement

• New Touch card replaces the old double-mouse card, with a touchscreen mode and a "map right stick like GameHub" option that lets the right stick drive the touch screen like a mouse (when a gamepad touch profile is active).
• RTS-style gestures, expanded up to 4 fingers, with new gesture-specific profiles.
• A right-stick sensitivity slider has been added to Controls.
• Touch control profiles are now remembered per shortcut instead of globally.

Containers & components

• Install components per container from a list — install Visual C++, DirectX, and more without ever booting the container.
• New hero buttons: Boot to Desktop and Graphics Test are now available directly from the container view.
• The setup wizard has been refined, and component downloads can now be queued.
• A dinput8 Native/Builtin toggle has been added to container settings.

Performance & graphics

• The FPS cap now aligns frame pacing to the display's vsync grid, so caps become exact vsync dividers. This removes microstutter at low caps on high-refresh panels.
• New Wrapper-Leegao graphics driver option, plus an updated wrapper build.
• New Wrapper-Gamenative graphics driver option — a third graphics wrapper that enables DX12 on Mali GPUs with r50+ kernel drivers, with its own BCn transcoder (CPU/GPU) and BCn quality (low/high) settings.
• Three new Qualcomm GPU system drivers built by @Xnick417x: 800.72, 842.38, and 842.41.
• BCn (texture compression) emulation now defaults to auto.
• FX effects can now be set per shortcut, and the FX tab has been extended with more effects.
• Fixed red/blue channel swap on devices where BGRA8 was expected but the buffer was RGBA8 (thanks @formiga).
• Fixed the black-box flash on newly mapped windows.
• D7VK can now be imported as a ddraw wrapper, and d3d8/d3d10 builtins are preserved from the DXVK pre-extract wipe.

Audio

• PulseAudio has been overhauled by adopting the GameNative PulseAudio stack, fixing games that had broken or missing audio with PulseAudio (credit to the GameNative project).
• Fixed audio crackling via larger output buffers.

Cloud saves

• Cloud saves have been hardened against data loss: restores now roll back on failure, Steam saves resolve the correct container on launch, and Epic/GOG keep-local choices are honored.
• A new Backup To Google option has been added.

HUD

• New C.TMP element shows CPU temperature; battery temperature is now labeled B.TMP.
• HUD backdrop transparency is now adjustable.

Minor Changes:

• Background UI customization has been added to Settings.
• Logs: the application log now works correctly, a download button has been added to the log UI, and the Logs drawer card has moved after Tasks.
• Fixed container boot crash on Android 12 and below (API < 33).
• Fixed Z: drive boot and shortcut creation, and drives are no longer force-recreated every boot.
• Custom games no longer create an incorrect C: drive symlink, and symlinks are excluded from container storage size.
• Stopped forcing VKD3D_SHADER_MODEL and per-launch xinput variables, and updated Box64 environment variables.
• Fixed native extraction IO for more reliable ImageFS/component installs.
• Fixed HTTP 403 errors on GOG chunk downloads (the chunk path was being appended after the signed query string); GOG downloads now work reliably.
• Bundled ffmpeg 8 libraries for Wine's winedmo media path, improving in-game video/cutscene (FMV) playback.
• Chat head overlay is now gated behind the background toggle, and redundant Wine log channels were removed.
• Background-session reattach hardened: mouse and on-screen/gamepad controls are restored on reattach, and the input ring no longer overflows or randomly drops gamepad input (held inputs are released when the in-session menu opens, and the XServer menu reattaches correctly).
• Resized the XServer menu drawer and refined several dialogs, strings, and icons.
• Concurrency, crash, and protocol fixes from a source audit.
• More missing translations have been filled in across languages.

Ajay Prefix Pro v1.8

• The in-container downloader has been updated to Ajay Prefix Pro v1.8. Read more: https://github.com/ajay9634/Ajay-prefix

Contributors

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed, this release wouldn't exist without you:

• @Xnick417x — 64 commits (handheld/gamepad control, library overhaul + file manager, touch controls, per-container components, FPS cap pacing, FX, HUD, Wrapper-Gamenative, 3 new Qualcomm GPU drivers (800.72/842.38/842.41), 2 Proton layers, background-session reattach fixes, many fixes)
• @maxjivi05 — 17 commits (FEX-Emu UnixLibs, all Proton layers incl. the new Unix Protons, Steam features / download fixes / library refresh, external display/Viture support, PulseAudio, cloud saves hardening)
• @ajay9634 — 2 commits (Ajay Prefix Pro v1.8 downloader)
• @muazkadan — 1 commit (GOG chunk-download 403 fix, #604)
• @formiga — 1 commit (AHB GPUImage red/blue channel swizzle fix, #533)

New Contributors

• @formiga made their first contribution in #533
• @muazkadan made their first contribution in #604

Full Changelog: v0.2.0-beta...v0.3.0-beta

v0.2.0-beta

Main Changes:

• Replaced OpenGL renderer with our own Vulkan Compositor
• This offers better 1% lows, frame-pacing, and higher FPS in a majority of games tested. Confirmed using Shadow of the Tomb Raider and other in-game benchmarks.
• Effects are improved and more noticeable.
• Snapdragon Game Super Resolution 1 has been added to in-game FX menu. This sharpens and upscales your image using shaders. It works better in some games than others.
• The HUD FPS calculation have been reworked and made more accurate/conservative. It aligns closer to DXVK HUD and games own FPS monitors.
• The in-game HUD can now show frametime as a number, and the charge icon when connected to an output source.
• HUD labels (CPU/RAM/BAT/TMP) have been recolored for better visibility, with a slightly larger default scale and darker backdrop, and the HUD now starts snapped to the top-center on first launch.
• The in-game FPS limiter has now supports any target FPS from 30 - Display Refresh Rate. You can reduce power consumption and save battery by using it.

Steam

• WinNative now uses a custom Steam client; replacing JavaSteam and the old Steam client. You must have an internet connection for it to sign into your Steam account on game launch. Only certain Proton/Wine versions are supported at the moment with the new client. You can see which ones are via the in-app component downloader. They will be labeled with the "Steam" tag.
• The new client now handles downloads, online play, DRM, and other Steam services. This makes more Steam games playable and does not lower in-game performance.
• Downloads are x2 faster on average with less overhead.
• You can connect to online services and multiplayer in Steam games.
• DLC downloading is now supported fully.
• Launching via the new Steam client is set as default. You can select the Legacy Launcher via Settings > Steam.

Epic Games & GOG

• Downloads are slightly faster and more reliable now.
• DLC downloading has been added. You can view your DLC just by clicking on a game just like Steam.
• Cloud saves for both stores are fully supported.

All stores

• You can now download your base game, then download DLC later without reinstalling the base game.
• All downloaders support better pause, resume, retry and recovery.
• You can view your cloud saves for a game by selecting it and clicking the cloud save icon.
• The manual save method is now applied container-wide, so it carries across the whole container. Thanks to @ajay9634 for the help.
• Background session persistence
• Wine sessions, component downloads, and ImageFS extractions now keep running when the app is backgrounded or the screen is locked, thanks to a new keep-alive foreground service and CPU wake lock. Long multi-minute installs will no longer be killed by the system.
• Manual pause state now persists, and the old auto-pause-on-background behavior has been removed, so you stay in control of when a session pauses.

Minor Changes:

UI Updates

• Refreshed several UI elements and pages for better look and feel with cleaner animations.
• Immersive mode has been added to the home left swipe menu. This sets your game artwork as the UI background. An optional background blur setting has also been added.
• You can now select new touch screen controller styles and button labels. For styles we have added GameHub, and for buttons Xbox and PlayStation have been added.
• Library artwork is now cached for faster loading.
• The in-game window now applies a fullscreen stretch on the first game window rather than at boot, for more reliable scaling.
• Refactor Size: a new "Refactor Size" toggle has been added to the in-game drawer menu. It borderless-fullscreens the active guest window using a bundled Win32 helper, giving you an instant clean full-screen view of the running app or game.

This is based on a script kindly shared by @ajay9634 — thanks for the help.

Ajay Prefix Pro v1.1

• A downloader for Ajay Prefix Pro has been added to each containers Start > Programs menu

This is a trusted and popular way to manage game saves. You can read more about Ajay Prefix Pro on the GitHub page: https://github.com/ajay9634/Ajay-prefix

Audio

• Pulse Audio has been made more stable and now produces correct sound for games that require it.
• Background audio playback has been fixed so sound continues correctly during backgrounded sessions.

Drivers

• New containers now automatically apply the last installed driver from the setup wizard, so you don't have to set it manually each time.
• Driver Manager has been updated to pull from the WinNative component repository with more reliable releases.

Controls & Compatibility

• Direct3D WinComponents are now allowed on ARM64EC, improving compatibility for more games.
• Gyroscopes have been fixed (correctness fixes plus a new tilt-to-aim orientation mode that sustains stick deflection on a held tilt).
• Gamepad vibration/rumble now works reliably — the in-game "Enable Vibration" toggle is authoritative and vibration defaults to On.
• Press and hold on the touchpad for about a second to right-click (with jitter protection).

Other/Bug Fixes:

• L2 and R2 buttons now register in-game correctly on button based controllers.
• Wine default variables for controllers have been adjusted to allow controller registration to work better in games.
• Fake input now handles controller disconnections better and Bluetooth controllers are more stable.
• Fixed on screen trackpad spinning and input drops during trackpad + button use, fixed the trackpad when bound to gamepad bindings.
• Fixed mouse freezing after backgrounding.
• HyperOS 3 devices can now load Turnip drivers correctly.
• Russian and Hindi translations have been added (translated by GPT 5.5 High), and missing strings across some existing languages have been filled in.
• Google drive save and container backup has been temporarily removed, these features will return again in the future.
• Config import/export has been removed (superseded by the Best Configs flow).
• Due the number of changes in this release we recommend a clean install to avoid any issues. However, if you want to try and update, you will need to delete your containers and reinstall ImageFS.

Contributors

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed, this release wouldn't exist without you:

• @ribbit384 — 54 commits (Vulkan compositor, SGSR1 upscaling, Steam client work, downloads hardening, HUD, translations, extensive UI refinement)
• @Xnick417x — 34 commits (input/controller systems, FPS profiles, driver manager, component repository, trackpad & X-server fixes, RefactorSize, HUD colors)
• @maxjivi05 — 16 commits (C++/Rust Steam client, gamepad themes, cloud save integration, gyro, vibrations, i18n)
• @ajay9634 — 2 commits (Ajay Prefix Pro Downloader, v1.0 and v1.1)
• @s1mptom — 1 commit (vibration driver review, #361)

Additional contributors (via co-authored commits):

• @PavelTurbin — co-authored the vibration driver work (#361)
• @Juan-Antonio-Doe — co-authored background session persistence (PR #397, merged in #423)

v0.1.0-beta

We’re proud to announce the first public release of WinNative

WinNative is a modern, open source Winlator fork built for the experience we wanted ourselves. It started as something we wanted to use, and now we’re excited to share it with the community.

Notable features:

• Modern Jetpack Compose UI replacing Winlator’s legacy XML interface.
• Built for long play sessions, with controls and audio designed to remain stable during 8+ hour sessions.
• Easy to follow setup wizard for users who are new to Winlator.
• Basic Steam, Epic Games, and GOG integrations for personal game library support.
• Google Play support for secure login token saving and restoration.
• Built in component and driver fetcher with GitHub integration.
• Noticeable performance improvements compared to GameHub and similar apps.

Other notes:

• This is a 0.1.0 release, so bugs are expected and already being tracked. WinNative will continue to improve over the next several releases, with more polish, fixes, and expanded features coming over time.

WinNative wouldn't also be possible without Winlator itself. Consider supporting Bruno here in the meantime: https://buymeacoffee.com/brunosx

We would also like to thank all testers and contributors. Without their valuable input this wouldn't be possible.

Join or share our Discord here:
https://discord.gg/WUC4qVABJT

New Contributors

• @BeZide93 made their first contribution in #26
• @ajay9634 made their first contribution in #120
• @Kashinathpat made their first contribution in #280
• @DevElderLost made their first contribution in #373

Full Changelog: https://github.com/WinNative-Emu/WinNative/commits/v0.1.0-beta