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Play Unbound on iPhone and bring your old save along

Unbound is a fan-made GBA hack by Skeli, distributed as a patch for one revision of its base game. Once the patched .gba is in iGBA, bring a save from another device by long-pressing the game and tapping Import .sav; that route takes a save with any name.

3 min read · Updated 2026-09-26

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Getting the game running is the short part: import your own backup and the patch, apply it in iGBA, play. The save is where people lose a weekend, so this page starts there.

Check the patch file first

The extension of the patch the author publishes tells you which kind it is. iGBA applies .ips, .ups and .bps files to your backup of the revision they list: pick the patch with Import ROMs, choose the base game and tap Apply Patch. Our patching guide has the details.

The name decides which save a game finds

iGBA keeps each game's save under the game file's name without its extension. That matters in two cases: when you open a .sav from Files or the share sheet instead of the menu, and when you rename the game.

Which save a game finds by name (opening a .sav from Files)
Game file in iGBASave that it will find
Unbound.gbaUnbound.sav
Unbound v2.gbaUnbound v2.sav
Unbound.gbaUnbound (1).sav: no match; rename it or use Import .sav

Rename the save, not the game, when you can. Renaming the game in Files makes it open empty, because its old save stays behind under the old name.

Move the save in

  1. Copy the .sav into Files. On this route its name does not matter.
  2. Open iGBA and long-press the game in the list.
  3. Tap Import .sav and pick the file.
  4. If the game already has a save, iGBA asks Replace Battery Save?. It says a backup is made and the autosaves are cleared so the game loads the imported one. Tap Import Anyway.
  5. Wait for Save imported successfully, then open the game.

There is a faster way. Open the .sav from Files or the share sheet and iGBA matches it to a game by name, first exactly, then with spaces and underscores swapped. With no match you get a message saying no game by that name was found. Add the game first, then try again.

Unbound not working: what to check

  • The game starts but will not save: it needs 128K of flash. Open Settings → Saving, leave Flash memory size on Auto (2.14.0 or later) or pick Flash 128K, and reopen the game.
  • A save imported from another emulator behaves oddly: check its size. A save for a 128K game is 131,072 bytes. A 65,536-byte file lost half its data before it reached you.
  • Blank screen: the patch was probably made for another revision. We cover that in the white-screen guide.
  • Cheats from another version of the game cause trouble. Remove them from the Cheats list.

The import dialog itself warns that a save from a different game or version may break saving. Believe it.

Questions and answers

How do I play Unbound on iPhone?
Import your own backup of the base game and the author's patch with Import ROMs in iGBA, pick the base game, tap Apply Patch and play the patched copy.
Can I use my Unbound save from my PC or Android?
Yes. Long-press the game, tap Import .sav and pick the file, whatever its name. Confirm with Import Anyway if it asks to replace a save.
Why is Unbound not working on iOS?
Start with the patched file: wrong base revision, a patch applied twice or the wrong extension. Then check the save type and remove cheats.
Does it work on iPad too?
Yes, iGBA runs on iPad with the same steps.

More iGBA guides