The Anbernic RG DS now has official Google Play Store support

Anbernic released the V1.18 Android update for the RG DS yesterday, officially bringing Google Mobile Services and the Google Play Store to the dual-screen handheld. According to Anbernic, the firmware also adds dual-screen app support, cross-system game data reading, and a new front-end image recognition logic.

The RG DS launched late last year as Anbernic's hardware answer to Nintendo DS emulation. It is a clamshell device built around two 4-inch 640x480 IPS screens. Inside, it runs on a Rockchip RK3568 CPU paired with 3GB of RAM. The RK3568 is a familiar chip in the retro handheld space. It offers enough power to handle up to Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast emulation comfortably. Out of the box, the system dual-boots Linux and Android 14. Until now, the Android partition was functional but lacked official Google certification. Users had to rely on alternative app repositories or manual APK sideloading to get their emulators and standalone Android games running.

Anbernic has a history of shipping Android devices without GMS to save on licensing and certification hurdles. This usually leaves the community to figure out workarounds. Sideloading works fine for a one-time setup, but it makes updating standalone emulators like DraStic or RetroArch a tedious chore. The V1.18 update fixes this by baking the GMS package directly into the OS. You can now download apps straight from the Play Store, and they populate directly on the home screen.

Apps on both screens

The update allows standard Android apps to display across both the top and bottom screens. This is a basic necessity for DS and 3DS emulation, where you need touch functionality on the bottom panel and the primary action on top. Having native Android apps recognize the dual-screen layout means users can experiment with Android games built around foldable or dual-screen form factors.

The patch notes also mention cross-system game data reading. The RG DS can now read game data across its different operating environments. This should simplify save management for users who bounce between the Linux and Android sides of the device.

Scraping gets a little smarter

Anbernic tweaked how the system's front-end finds game art. The new image recognition logic follows a strict priority order. It looks for a gamelist file first. If it does not find one, it checks for a matching image inside an Imgs or images folder within the game directory. If that fails, it just looks for a matching image file sitting directly next to the ROM. It supports standard PNG and JPG formats.

Having a predictable fallback order saves me from having to rebuild an entire XML file just to fix one missing thumbnail. You can drop a correctly named JPG next to the game file and the front-end will pick it up.

The mandatory data wipe

There is a catch to the installation process. Flashing the V1.18 firmware will completely erase all user data on the Android partition. You need to back up your save files, states, and any local configurations before running the update tool.

The firmware package and flashing instructions are hosted on a Google Drive link, as provided in the official operation demonstration video's description. The update is live now for all RG DS owners.