Madeira: x86-64 Windows games on non-jailbroken iOS

TL;DR: Madeira is a GPL-3.0 C project that runs x86-64 Windows PC games on non-jailbroken iOS. It does it by stacking three existing pieces, FEX-Emu, Wine, and DXMT, and it reached 828 stars in roughly seven months.

What it is

Madeira’s description is unusually specific for a trending repository: “Run x86-64 Windows PC games on jailed iOS via FEX-Emu + Wine + DXMT”. Every claim in this post traces back to that line and the repository metadata.

The three components named there are the whole architecture, and each one solves a different problem:

Component	Job in the stack
FEX-Emu	Emulates x86-64 instructions on ARM, which is what Apple Silicon runs
Wine	Reimplements the Windows API layer the game calls into
DXMT	Translates Direct3D 8 and 9 calls to Metal, the graphics API on iOS

Read top to bottom, that is the standard shape for running a Windows game on an iPhone. Translate the CPU, provide the Windows API, then translate the graphics. The repo is written in C, which fits, since both the emulator core and the Direct3D translation layer are C projects in their own right.

The GPL-3.0 license is worth a pause. It obliges you to redistribute source if you ship a modified build, but it places no restriction on using the project for your own purposes. A GPL license on a compatibility layer is normal and not a red flag.

The numbers

Field	Value
Stars	828
Forks	152
Open issues	25
Language	C
License	GPL-3.0
Created	2026-03-07
Last push	2026-09-25
Homepage	none listed

The fork count is the interesting one. 152 forks against 828 stars is roughly 18 percent, more than double what you would expect at this size. Emulation and porting work attracts forks because people tune a build for their own device or their own game, and the low open-issue count of 25 on a seven-month-old project points to a focused user base rather than a mass-market one.

The repository lists no topics and no homepage, so the description really is the only orientation you get.

Before you try it

Two things worth being straight about. First, Madeira is a compatibility layer, not a content source. You supply your own legally-obtained copies of the games, and the project is indifferent to where they came from. Second, performance is the open question. Emulating a desktop CPU on a mobile one and then translating the graphics is a lot of work for a phone to do, and which titles run at a playable frame rate is exactly the kind of thing you only learn by building it and testing against your own library.

If you would rather read the source before committing any hardware to it:

git clone https://github.com/willfaust/Madeira.git
cd Madeira
ls

There is no published package or installer in the repository metadata, so treat this as a source project rather than a turnkey app.

When to use it

It fits if you are a developer targeting iOS and want a compatibility reference, or if you own a Windows game library and a recent Apple Silicon device and want to see how far the combination gets you. Because the three layers are separable, reading how Wine and DXMT are wired into an iOS host is useful on its own, even if you never launch a game.

It does not fit if you need install-and-play. There is no homepage, no topics, and no listed build instructions in the metadata, and a GPL C project at 828 stars is early-stage by any measure.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Project page: https://github.com/willfaust/Madeira
• Source repository: willfaust/Madeira (verified via GitHub API html_url)
• License: GPL-3.0 (verified via GitHub API license.spdx_id)
• Stars at time of writing: 828