Nova

Polaris-aware game streaming for Android handhelds, phones, and TVs.

Stream PC games from Polaris or any Moonlight-compatible host with a client that understands handheld controls, live session state, launch intent, and host-side tuning instead of hiding everything behind a generic game grid.

Quick Start · What's New · Install · Compatibility · Tour · Polaris · Docs · FAQ · Security · Changelog · Roadmap

Support: Issues · Discussions

1. Install Nova from GitHub Releases, Obtainium, or GitHub Store.
2. Open Servers and add or discover a host. Polaris hosts appear automatically on the LAN when discovery is enabled.
3. Pair with Trusted Pair on a trusted Polaris subnet, QR pairing from the Polaris web UI, or normal manual PIN pairing.
4. Launch from the standard game grid or the Polaris-powered Library.
5. During a stream, open the quick menu for tuning, overlays, controller actions, and quit/disconnect controls. Guide/Mode + Start/Menu opens the quick menu, and Guide/Mode + Y shows or cycles NovaHUD.

If a sleeping host does not report a MAC address, open the host menu and choose Edit Wake-on-LAN MAC. Nova stores that address and reuses it for future wake requests, which helps VPN and routed setups where discovery metadata is incomplete.

Nova v1.1.0 is a stream performance and release-hardening update for Polaris-backed play.

• Lower-overhead HUD metrics: NovaHUD now consumes structured stream samples from the video renderer while preserving the legacy overlay path.
• Hot-path allocation cleanup: HUD sparkline samples use a fixed primitive buffer instead of rebuilding collection state during a stream.
• Smoother first-run surfaces: Baseline Profile generation now covers library detail, settings, and launch-adjacent Compose paths.
• Measured JNI policy: the JNI bridge now has a documented profiling gate for future @FastNative and @CriticalNative work.
• Retroid 6 validation: the ARM64 debug APK was smoke tested over wireless ADB with Polaris library launch, HEVC stream resume, NovaHUD, Command Center disconnect, and clean crash checks.

See the changelog for the full release history.

Use the public release APK that matches your device:

The Obtainium shortcut is preconfigured for the ARM64 public asset so updates resolve to one APK cleanly. Chromecast and other 32-bit ARM Android TV users should choose the armeabi-v7a asset manually or configure Obtainium to match Nova-Android-armeabi-v7a.apk.

The latest direct APKs are always available through GitHub's latest-release URLs: https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/releases/latest/download/Nova-Android-arm64-v8a.apk, https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/releases/latest/download/Nova-Android-armeabi-v7a.apk, and https://github.com/papi-ux/nova/releases/latest/download/Nova-Android-x86_64.apk.

F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid packaging notes are tracked in docs/fdroid.md, including current status, APK scan notes, and source-build blockers.

If you install manually, verify the download before sideloading:

sha256sum -c Nova-Android-arm64-v8a.apk.sha256

• Advanced launch modes, watch mode, live host tuning, richer session telemetry, and Polaris Sync are Polaris-specific.
• Nova is not on the Play Store. The public install paths are GitHub Releases, Obtainium, and GitHub Store.
• High refresh streaming is limited by the real display panel on the Android device, not just the selected setting in Nova.
• Steam Controller 2026 Bluetooth support depends on the HID shape Android exposes. Nova can recognize Valve keyboard/mouse HID presentations and route compatible controller-like keys, but Android does not expose full Steam Input profiles or hidden analog controls through a standard gamepad source.
• Today, only the Android client ships.

Most Android game-streaming clients stop at pairing, a grid, and a stream. Nova is built for the newer reality: handheld Android hardware, Linux streaming hosts, multiple clients, host-side optimization, and players who need to know what will actually happen before they launch.

Nova takes a different route:

• Handheld-first streaming: controller focus, TV navigation, OLED-aware themes, quick actions, and stream controls are designed for real handheld sessions.
• Session truth in the UI: NovaHUD and the quick menu can show actual FPS, target FPS, role, launch mode, and Polaris-backed tuning state.
• Launch intent instead of guesswork: Polaris-backed Library flows can show Headless vs Virtual Display options, host recommendations, per-game guidance, and risky MangoHud warnings before launch.
• Profiles that explain themselves: Nova Settings now separates global defaults from profile overrides, shows what applies instantly or next stream, and lets overrides reset back to fallback values.
• Shared and recoverable sessions: watch an active Polaris stream without taking ownership, reconnect after interruptions, or quit with owner-aware session controls.
• Host-aware tuning: Auto Quality, cached AI tuning, recovery tuning, stream defaults, and Polaris Sync are surfaced as explicit states instead of silent background magic.

Polaris is the Linux host built alongside Nova. Together they expose a streaming contract that typical Moonlight-compatible clients do not see.

Nova opens on a controller-friendly dashboard for servers, themes, help, and streaming entry points. Focus states are designed to stay visible on Android TV, handhelds, and phones.

The Polaris library gives Nova the context a plain app list cannot: cover art, filters, source badges, launch modes, Continue/watch states, and per-game guidance.

Library grid Search, filter, and scan a host-backed game library with clear controller focus.

Launch detail Choose the right mode, review host recommendations, and see next-launch tuning before starting.

During a stream, Nova shifts from browsing to operations: HUD modes, quick controls, reconnect state, tuning actions, and input helpers stay reachable without leaving the session.

Quick menu Tune, toggle overlays, disconnect, quit, or inspect the active session.

NovaHUD Cycle full, banner, and FPS-only telemetry with controller shortcuts.

Nova keeps the Moonlight-compatible stream path, then layers a Kotlin Android experience around host awareness, controller-first navigation, profile-aware settings, and Polaris session metadata.

The practical result: standard hosts still work, while Polaris hosts can tell Nova more about what is launching, who owns the session, what tuning is active, and what settings should apply next. The native streaming layer stays close to Moonlight lineage; the newer Nova behavior lives in the Android/Kotlin layer.

For the deeper source layout and build model, see Technical Overview.

Clone with submodules, then build the Android APKs:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/papi-ux/nova.git
cd nova
./gradlew assembleNonRoot_gameDebug

Local builds produce split APKs for arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a, and x86_64 by default. Release builds, test commands, local ABI overrides, and the architecture diagram live in Technical Overview.

Nova is built and released by me, with assistance from tools such as OpenAI Codex, Claude, and local models.

I use those tools for documentation polish, release workflow cleanup, store-readiness checks, build/test triage, implementation review, and to compare approaches while debugging. They do not decide what Nova or Polaris are, what features ship, or what releases are published. I review, edit, build, test, and approve the changes before release, and I own the final engineering and trust-boundary decisions.

Contributions are welcome, especially focused fixes, UI polish, docs, translations, and careful feature work. Nova is still a small maintainer-led project, so the easiest pull requests to review are the ones that explain the problem clearly and keep the change scoped.

1. Fork the repo and branch from master.
2. Build with ./gradlew assembleNonRoot_gameDebug.
3. Test on a real device or emulator.
4. Open a pull request that explains what changed, why it helps, and what you were able to test.

Nova is a fun project I build in my spare time simply because I want more people to make the switch to Linux gaming while making users safer, clearer, and easier to trust. If it becomes part of your setup, that alone makes my day, donations are appreciated but never expected. They help with my actual coffee budget, which coffee obviously keeps the project moving. Bug reports, testing notes, and thoughtful feedback help too.

Nova is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE.txt for the full text.

Nova builds on Artemis, Moonlight Android, and moonlight-common-c under GPLv3 lineage.