PS4 Remote Play is (unofficially) coming to iPhone/iPad, beta testers wanted
/Talk member johnchan dropped by the forums to mention an ongoing project to bring PS4 Remote Play to iOS devices. The project is codenamed PlayCast and is already taking applications for Beta.
Remote Play on the PS4 is a cool feature that lets you play your PS4 from another device. And it works over the internet too, so technically you could be traveling on the other side of the world and playing your PS4 remotely from your laptop.
The issue is that Sony officially only support a subset of clients: PC, MacOS, the PS Vita, and a couple of specific Android phones, including from its Xperia brand. Unofficial clients added wide Android support as well as Windows support (before Sony started officially supporting PC clients). We outline all the options on our PS4 Remote Play page.
iOS was missing from the picture, so it’s great to see an initiative to bring PS4 Remote play to one of the most popular mobile brands out there.
The developers state:
We are looking for testers for our upcoming app called PlayCast, that allows you to remotely play your PlayStation 4 using an iOS device. This can work on your home network, or even over the internet, allowing you to play your games from anywhere.
To test this app you must have a PS4 linked with a PSN account and running v3.55 system software, a home WiFi network and an iPad/iPhone running iOS 8 or higher.[…]
It is unfortunately not possible to connect the DualShock 4 controller to iOS devices, so PlayCast can be controlled either with an on-screen virtual controller or any MFi game controller.
Note: for those who ask what controller this is on the picture, it appears to be the SteelSeries Nimbus
Could Playcast be an elaborate fake?
Little is known about the PS4 Remote Play for iOS at this point: The people behind it announced they are looking for beta testers, and our /talk member JohnChan mentions the Beta is working great, but take this with a pinch of salt, as this member on our forum is new and as such has no track record of trust at this point. The developers themselves have a brand new twitter account and nothing much else to back their claims at this point.
With that being said, it’s nor far fetched to think this project is the real thing: Others have reverse engineered the communication protocol between the PS4 and its remote clients, so there is clearly no technical “impossibility” in applying the same kind of logic to iDevices. As an additional confirmation, the screenshot shared by the developers does contain a few lines of debug messages at the top of the iPad screen. This is no proof of course, but an additional data point leading me to think this is a working prototype.
Additionally, I have contacted the developers behind the app (Bitwise solutions) and here is what they have to say about the upcoming release:
PlayCast is a PS4 remote play client for iOS devices such as iPad, iPhone etc. It was developed from the ground up over the course of the past half year and involved a considerable amount of reverse engineering. It was quite challenging to get it working well on iOS due to the fact that these devices can only connect to wireless networks which can be quite unreliable. The protocol used by PS4 remote play supports a form of error correction, as well as a method of automatically adapting the stream parameters (video bitrate, data redundancy) according to the connection quality. PlayCast fully supports both of these features, in order to mitigate the difficulties posed by the use of wireless networks.It is not possible to connect a DualShock 4 to an iOS device (unless its jailbroken, which is beyond our scope here). Therefore, PlayCast may be controlled either with the on-screen virtual controller, or any MFi (Made for iPhone) bluetooth controller.We intend to release PlayCast on the app store as a paid download. Cannot provide further details regarding price etc at this time.
So I don’t think the “can we trust this is real?” question is at stake here. What is more interesting though will be to see if such an application will be accepted on Apple’s appstore, and at what price. As a matter of comparison, Twisted’s PC application sells for approximately $10.
The developers declined to share any screenshot at this point because the app is in its early stages.
Update: Several members have confirmed this is real and are now part of the Beta. Many screenshots have been posted on our /talk thread.
How to get your hands on PS4 Remote Play for iPhone?
The people behind PlayCast ask that you contact them at [removed*] if you want to participate in the testing. Requirements for the beta are that you must have a PS4 linked with a PSN account and running v3.55 system software, a home WiFi network and an iPad/iPhone running iOS 8 or higher. It is also recommended to get an MFi controller for a better experience, since Dualshock controllers are not compatible with (non jailbroken) iOS devices.
* Update: Per the developer’s request I have removed their email address: they got overwhelmed with requests to participate in the beta and cannot accept any more beta testers. Now we only have to wait for the official release
Again, keep in mind that we at wololo.net have not tested this application!
References: johnchan on /talk and bitwise solutions on macrumors
Damn the NX got Sony and Microsoft SCURRREED (scared), microsoft with full on cross play LOL and not remoteplay on anything and not just the vita….
DAMN, THAT NINTENDO!!!!
Except Sony has absolutely nothing to do with this app, and Microsoft has been going in the cross-play direction for a while. I doubt they are scared of the NX as they are also coming out with new, more powerful, consoles. I mean, the NX will be a day one buy from me, but it probably won’t be able to emulate what the Wii did, and will probably flop like the Wii U, in sales.
oh…. remote play is confusing then, ill still go with my original theories that sony and microsoft is SCURRED
Its easy, as long nintendo will avoid the importance of multiplayer, simple app store, powerful device wirh latest technologies (4k, VR or AR), and freaking give a normal controller/joystick, they will fail again. Here are the key features for the success with NX
– normal controllers (stop trying to reinvent the wheels, make it easier fo 3rd party developpers to bring games to your console as well)
– Powerful GPU/CPU, that will bring 8-9 teraflops or more
– 4K at 60pfs, yes. No less. geeks are the ones who buy the best and who play games and will write blogs, go take this crowd
– forget about freaking mimoto, miiverse, miicrap.. We want something named Nintendo store where we can dowload big games on big hdds, that will fit 25-30 games or more.
– make sure your controller are bluetooth and works with PC/Mac/Android/ios
– we dont care about the size of the console, make it powerful
– stop carring about retrocompatibility, leave this sdk alone, it sucks and the dame as the gamecube.. This will give more values the wiiu owners. Just release remakes in 4k of the games
– secure exclusivity and you dont need other kids game, you got plenty coloful games. Go big with titles like you did with Resident Evil back in the GC.
– leave alone blue ray, the world us digital 4k straming. Just make sure we have a netflix apps that works in 4k.
– Vr compatible
I will pay 600$ for a console like this, even 999$ , because you know what.. I pay freaking 999$ for a cell phone. Come on. Make it the apple way.. Hardware-wise, they are the best. Expensive but the best. OS-wise they suck, like Nintendo. This is why its time for a refresh.
I just received the Test Flight mail to test their software, so I will test it 😉
wait what the DS4 is not compatible with non jailbroken idevices? Apple fails so hard again!
is it SO HARD to implement standard Bluetooth?
I’m a beta tester, and I can confirm it works like a charm. Now I need to test it at work. Using nimbus controller.
I can’t wait for this application. We really need PS4 remote play for IOS 🙂
OK…DS4 not compatible with iOS device?(Even with jailbreak device…), you need to buy one “MFI” compatible controller with $49.95….
Well, remember this controller also compatible with Apple TV, so it’s not really useless..