GTA 5 On Android Is Finally A Reality; Here’s How You Can Play It!

GTA 5 is one of the most popular video games of all time. Gamers all around the world have been playing the game, whether it’s on console or PC. However, one side of the crowd has always been disappointed, and that has to be the mobile gamers. As Rockstar never really released the game for mobile phones, however, with recent developments made, there is a new workaround, which has enabled Android players to play GTA 5 on their phones. So without wasting any more time, let’s see how you can play GTA 5 on Android!

GTA 5 on Android! How does it work?

Well, since Rockstar hasn’t officially released the game on mobile devices, you might be wondering how even this is going to work. And before you say it, no, this is not some knock-off or clone game we’re talking about; also, this is not running through any cloud service; this is natively running on the mobile device.

Also Read: GTA 6 Could Be Coming To PC By Early 2026; According To Corsair’s CEO 

We’re going to be using an emulator for playing this game. By using this emulator, we would be emulating Windows on the mobile device, and through that, we would be playing the PC version of GTA 5 on mobile. Since we’re going to be emulating the PC version of the game, it also means that you would need a super high-end device to play the game. Emulating Windows on a PC requires good hardware; running an entire game through the emulator is very heavy. New devices that come with the latest Snapdragon chips would be an ideal choice for playing the game on a phone.

Steps to follow for playing GTA 5 on Android:

We are going to be using an emulator called “Winlator,” which emulates Windows on Android devices. Before you go ahead, make sure you have a PC along with you too, as that would make installing the game much easier. Follow the steps mentioned below to play GTA 5 on your device:

Installing the emulator on Android:

First, let’s install the emulator on the phone. Before that, take a look at the official requirements for running the emulator on your mobile device. This was taken from Winlator’s official blog post:

CPU: Snapdragon is highly recommended for the best experience.
RAM: At least 6GB for smooth gameplay.
Storage: PC games take up space! 256GB or more is ideal.

You can download the APK file for the emulator from the downloads page of their website and install it like any other app. Make sure you download the latest version of the emulator for the best performance on your device.

Configuring the emulator:

Next up, we would need to configure the emulator. Now this is a very important step, as otherwise, you might face some performance issues with your game. In case your emulator is not set up properly.

Open the emulator and give it a few minutes to set itself up. Next, you’ll need to set up ‘Containers,’ which are necessary for running your Windows games. To create one, tap on the Plus (+) icon at the top-right corner of the app.

You can choose the device resolution based on the specifications of your device. Further, you’ll have to choose the Graphic Driver preset for your smartphone from the Graphics Driver menu. You’ll need to choose ‘Turnip’ if your device has an Adreno GPU. Otherwise, you can select ‘VirGL’ for other GPU models. In the DX Wrapper settings, you’ll need to select ‘DXVK,’ as it gives the best performance with Direct3D 9-11 games. For further settings, you can check out this post!

Installing GTA 5 on the emulator:

Now to install the game, you can’t just use the Steam or Rockstar Games copy of the game you might have purchased previously. As the emulator doesn’t support it, however, the developers have said that they are working on that too. As of now, you’ll need to have a backup of your games. Remember, the emulator requires the backup of the game, so the installation files won’t work with it. You’ll need to transfer the files of your installed game from your PC to the mobile phone on which you’re running the emulator.

After you’ve downloaded the file, you’ll need to add it to your emulator. That can be done by adding the file to the Downloads folder of your device. You’ll need to run a container by selecting the three-dot icon and choosing Run. Inside the container, navigate to the D drive and locate the downloaded game’s setup.exe file. Right-click on the file and from there select ‘Create Shortcut,’ which would help with easier access to the game.

We cannot link the backup files, but they are widely available on the internet. Just make sure that the backup files you downloaded have the “GTA5.exe” file, and you should be good to go. After this step, you can play the game.

Setting up a Controller/Keyboard and Mouse:

But wait, you wouldn’t want to play the game with touch controls, right? The emulator supports both a keyboard and mouse, along with controllers. First, let’s set up the keyboard and mouse on the emulator.

1. First, connect your keyboard and mouse to your Android phone. Both wired and wireless options work fine.
2. Next, open Winlator and load the game you want to play.
3. Next, download the free program Key Remapper, which would be used to tackle issues like the Enter and Esc keys not working.
4. Download the program in the Download folder of the phone, then on Winlator run the setup.exe file to install Key Remapper.
5. Once installed, click on the Start button inside Winlator, navigate to Programs > ATNSOFT Key Remapper, and launch the program.
6. In the program, select ‘Insert Action’ to manually map the keys that might not work natively to their proper bindings.

That is it; you should be able to use your keyboard and mouse with the emulator now. If you want to use a controller instead, you can follow the steps below:

1. Connect your controller to your Android device; both wired and wireless controllers work for this.
2. Once your controller is connected, launch Winlator and enter a container. Then tap the back button on your phone while inside the container and click on Controls from the menu.
3. Tap on Input Controls, and a drop-down menu will appear. There you can use the custom controller profile, which will be available if you have an external gamepad connected.
4. You can customize the controller further by clicking the Settings icon next to the custom profile option.

Once all of this is done, you will be able to play the game on your mobile device. In-game settings largely depend upon your device. We would recommend experimenting around with different settings for the best possible performance. We hope this guide was helpful, and that you have a good time playing the game on your device!