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1. From inside the app. Tap + on the library screen and pick the files. You can select several at once, and they can come from iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox or anywhere else that shows up in the Files picker.
2. From the Files app. Open Files → On My iPhone → iGBA and drop your files in there. Then go back to iGBA and pull down on the library to refresh.

You can also long-press a game file anywhere in iOS, choose Share or Open With, and pick iGBA. That works from Safari downloads, Mail, AirDrop and Messages.

• Games: .gba, .gbc, .gb (also .agb and .bin).
• Archives: .zip, .7z and .gz. You do not need to unpack them — drop the archive in and iGBA pulls the games out of it.
• Saves from elsewhere: .sav battery saves and .sgm save states.
• Patches: .ips, .ups and .bps. iGBA asks which game in your library to patch and adds a patched copy; the original stays as it was. How patching works.
• iGBA files: .igbasave (a save state with its screenshot) and .igbabackup (a full backup).

No, and it never will. iGBA ships with no game and no BIOS, it does not download any, and we cannot help you find any. Use only game files you have the right to use under the law where you live, such as homebrew its author gives away.

In its own folder, which you can open yourself: Files → On My iPhone → iGBA.

• Games sit at the top level of that folder.
• Battery saves are the .sav files next to them, with the same name as the game.
• Save states live in Save States, in a subfolder named after the game.
• Delete the app and all of it goes with it. Nothing is stored on any server of ours.

On Android it all lives in the app's private storage instead. Android does not let file managers, other apps or a computer connected over USB look inside it, so there is no folder to open. To get something out, open the game's ••• menu in the library and pick Export save file (.sav) for a plain battery save, or use Settings → Backups → Export backup for everything at once. Android's automatic backup does not cover iGBA, so uninstalling deletes it all: export first.

• iPhone and iPad: iOS and iPadOS 15 or newer.
• Apple Watch: watchOS 10 or newer.
• Android: Android 8.0 or newer, on phones, tablets and foldables. iGBA for Android is a separate app, free on Google Play.
• The app is in 33 languages and works completely offline.

Yes. iGBA for Android is on Google Play, free. It is a native app running the same emulator cores as the iPhone version, not a wrapper, and it needs Android 8.0 or newer.

Your files come with you: the .igbasave and .igbabackup files the iPhone app writes are the same format there, and plain .sav files import and export per game. An Android phone and an iPhone can also link to each other online, with the latest version on both. To move everything at once, see transfer your saves between iPhone and Android.

• A save is the game’s own save — the one you make at a save point or from the game's menu. It is the .sav file, and it is the one that survives everything.
• A save state is a snapshot of the exact moment you are in, taken by the emulator. It restores instantly, mid-jump if you want, and it is the .sgm file.

Use both. Save states are a safety net; the game’s own save is the real one.

Yes. Out of the box iGBA keeps a few rotating automatic save states (every minute, every 30 minutes and every 2 hours, plus one when you leave the game) and loads the latest one when you open a game. To decide for yourself when to save:

1. In the game library, tap the gear at the top left to open Settings, then Saving.
2. Turn off 🔄 Autosave. No more automatic save states.
3. Turn off ⏪ Auto-load last autosave. Games start from their own in-game save.

The game’s own save (.sav) still works like on a cartridge: it is written only when you save inside the game. Prefer to keep the safety net? Leave both on and turn on 🎮 Start from Game Save — autosaves keep running in the background, but the game boots from your in-game save.

1. The name has to match. A .sav only loads for a game file with exactly the same name. My Game.gba pairs with My Game.sav — My Game (E).sav will not load.
2. Check the flash memory size. A few games need more save memory than iGBA guesses. Go to Settings → Saving → Flash memory size and pick Flash 128K, then reopen the game.
3. Try a save state. Pause → Save States, and load the newest one. The automatic ones are in there too.
4. Check free space. A phone with no room left cannot finish writing a save, and that is what usually corrupts one.

Yes, as long as you have not played on much. iGBA keeps one generation back of every automatic save.

• Pause the game and open Save States. Alongside each automatic save there is the previous one, labelled as such. Load that.
• If the game auto-loaded a save when you opened it and that turned out to be the wrong one, the pause menu has Recover In-Game Save — it puts back the save from before that auto-load. It only appears when there is something to put back.

If you are on iGBA 2.12 or older, update. This safety net was made visible in 2.13.0, after players reported losing saves this way.

Open Settings → Saving → Backup and export. You get one .igbabackup file with your saves, your save states, your settings and your button layouts inside it. Put it in iCloud Drive or mail it to yourself.

To restore it, open the same screen on the new device and import the file. You can also share a single save state on its own as an .igbasave, screenshot included.

Do this before you change phone, and do it before you start using cheats.

On Android it is Settings → Backups → Export backup, and the same .igbabackup file restores on either system (step by step). Android does not back iGBA up for you, so do this before you uninstall or change phone.

Usually yes. Battery saves (.sav) are a standard format, so a save from another emulator normally loads straight into iGBA. Import it from the game’s entry in the library, or drop it in the iGBA folder named exactly like the game.

Save states are a different matter: they are tied to the emulator that made them, so a state from another app will not load here.

1. Start the game, then tap the pause icon.
2. Open Game Cheats.
3. Pick one from the list that comes with iGBA, or tap + to paste your own.
4. Switch it on and go back to the game.

GameShark, Game Genie, Code Breaker and Action Replay codes all work. You do not need a master code first — iGBA does not require one.

Make a save state before you switch a cheat on. Some codes write into parts of the save the game never expected, and that is how a file gets corrupted.

• Check the type. Choosing the wrong format for a code is the single most common cause. A Game Genie code entered as GameShark reaches the emulator as nonsense. If a code cannot be applied at all, iGBA now tells you instead of showing a tick and doing nothing.
• Check the revision. Codes are written for one specific version of a game. iGBA reads your game’s revision and warns you when the code you added was made for a different one — that is the “cheats are all over the place” problem, and the warning tells you before you waste an hour.
• Some codes need a trigger. Item and encounter codes often do nothing until you walk into a new area or open the PC.
• Turn cheats off before saving if you are unsure about one.

Load the save state you made before turning it on. If you did not make one, look in Pause → Save States: the automatic saves keep several points in time, including one generation back of each. Turn the cheat off first, or you will corrupt the restored file too.

Yes, in the same room or online. Each device needs the latest iGBA and the exact same game file; your saves can be different. In the same room:

1. Settings → Beta features → turn on Link Cable (beta), on both devices.
2. Pause → Link Cable, turn on Wireless Linking, tap the other player and accept. Allow the local network prompt the first time.
3. Tap Start link play on both. The game restarts to sync, after saving a state called Pre-Link.
4. Walk to the game's trade or battle room and, once you are both at its link menu, Pause → Plug Link Cable.

Two different versions cannot link between devices; iGBA says so instead of leaving you waiting. Full steps: trade between two nearby devices, and which games each mode supports.

Far apart, or iPhone with Android: Pause → Link Cable → Online. One player taps Create online room and shares the 6-letter code, the other taps Join with a code…; or both tap Find a player with this game. Online links an iPhone with an Android phone (2.17.0 or later on iPhone, 1.0.5 or later on Android); nearby linking stays iPhone with iPhone. It lasts as long as both connections hold. Play online, step by step.

Yes, two ways, both under Pause → Self Trade in the trading games iGBA recognises.

• Emulated Link Self-Trade (In-Game): the game trades with a copy of your own save, so what you send comes straight back. That is how you evolve something that only evolves by trading.
• Save File Trade (Editor): swaps one party member between two different saves in iGBA, even two different games that trade on the original hardware. No trade scene, nothing evolves.

To stop the virtual partner, use the red Stop Self Trade button at the top of the screen. It stays there the whole time, so you are never stuck inside a trade.

Step by step: trade on one iPhone, and virtual link versus save editor.

• Both devices need the local network permission. Check Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network and make sure iGBA is on, on both phones.
• Same Wi‑Fi network, and not a guest network or a public hotspot — those usually block devices from seeing each other.
• A VPN on either phone will stop it. Turn it off for the session.
• Keep the app in the foreground on both sides while you connect.

Every link message and what to do about it: fix a failed connection.

Move them. Pause → Controls, or Settings → Controllers. Everything is on one page: position, size, colour and transparency, per button. Drag a button and it stays exactly where you dropped it — the editor, the preview and the game all agree since 2.13.0.

• Choose a d-pad, a d-pad with diagonals, or a joystick, and try each one in the tester right below it.
• 8 skins, a colour per button, light and dark themes.
• Hide any button you never use.
• Landscape and portrait keep their own layout.

Yes. MFi and Bluetooth controllers work — pair it in iOS Settings and iGBA picks it up. On iPad a keyboard works too. Buttons can be remapped in Settings → Controllers.

• Rewind for when you fall in the pit, and turbo up to 3× for grinding.
• Hold button, so you do not have to keep a finger on B for twenty minutes.
• Macros and TAS for repeating an input sequence exactly.
• Record clip and screenshot to share what just happened.
• Restart console, and a restart that reloads the game’s own save.

You can hide any row you never use: Settings → Video & Audio → Pause menu. The rows that get you out of a game cannot be hidden, on purpose.

• Close other apps. Emulation wants the whole processor.
• Low Power Mode throttles the phone — turn it off while you play.
• Settings → Performance has frame skip. A small amount of skip buys a lot of smoothness on older devices.
• Heavy screen filters cost more than they look. Try turning the filter off to see if that is what it is.

Settings → Video & Audio and Settings → Appearance. Screen filters, full screen, and colour palettes for the monochrome the handheld games — the palette applies while you are playing, so you can flick through them and keep the one you like.

Yes. The game has its own volume, separate from the phone’s. Turn the game music down, keep the sound effects, and play whatever you want over the top. There is also a three-band equaliser in Settings → Video & Audio.

• Your library shows up on your wrist.
• You can play with the iPhone locked in your pocket.
• The Digital Crown can press A and B.

Set it up in Settings → Apple Watch. It needs watchOS 10 or newer.

Because iGBA is free, and the ads are what pay for it staying free for the people who cannot pay. It is made by a very small team.

iGBA PRO turns them off for good — monthly, yearly, or one payment for life. The price for your country is shown in the app. If you would rather not pay, watching an ad now and then helps just as much.

Open Settings and tap Restore Purchases, signed in with the same Apple Account you bought it with. That asks Apple what you own and puts PRO back.

If it still does not come back, write to us with the date of the purchase and we will sort it out. Since 2.13.0 PRO is no longer dropped when you are offline, which was the usual cause of this.

On Android it is the same idea: Settings → Remove ads → Restore a purchase, signed in with the Google account you bought it with.

Refunds go through Apple, not through us — we never see the payment. Use reportaproblem.apple.com. If something in the app is broken, tell us first; fixing it is usually faster than a refund.

On Android the purchase is Google Play's, not ours: ask Google Play for the refund.

1. Update it. Check the App Store — the fix may already be out.
2. Restart the phone. It clears a surprising number of these.
3. Free up space. A device with nothing left cannot write a save and starts behaving strangely.
4. Back up before reinstalling. Export your .igbabackup first. Deleting the app deletes your games and saves with it.

If it still crashes, write to us. Tell us your device, your iOS version, the iGBA version and the game you were playing, and we can usually find it.

Tell us which one, and exactly what happens. Emulation is a long list of individual games behaving differently from each other, and almost everything on this page got fixed because someone took the time to describe one game properly.

Write to us. Most of what is in iGBA today came from people writing reviews and emails saying what was broken or missing — the movable buttons, the cheat warnings, the link cable fixes, the pause menu you can trim down. It is worth your time to send it.