I spent the day using GameSir’s new GameHub app, potentially corrupting my phone and gaming PC, so you don’t have to

Handheld PC gaming has rather exploded since the launch of the Steam Deck and other Switch-like machines. As someone devoid of such a device, the closest I typically get to this style of portable PC gaming is using Steamlink to stream games to my phone. This is why GameSir’s simultaneous controller and mobile gaming app launch announcement caught my attention this morning. After spending some time with the GameHub app, all I can say is I hope the new GameSir X5 Lite gaming controller is much, MUCH better than GameHub.

The dual launch makes sense as the X5 lite is a phone cradle style controller, purpose built to transform a phone into a Switch-style handheld. Despite the decent specs, like Hall effect sticks and membrane triggers, the bad experience of the GameHub app has already tainted my opinion of this controller by association. That or it has to be amazing to help move installs of the app.

It’s a shame, because GameSir has made some neat controllers over the years, especially for those on a budget. At $35 USD it’s not a bad price for what sounds like a quality mobile cradle. I guess it’s a good thing it doesn’t have to be used with GameHub, so it could still be okay for some users.

GameHub, on the other hand, is not. And my frustrating day can attest to this.

The software itself exists as free app for Android, but it’s free only in the same way a monkey’s paw from your local froghurt purveyor is free. The only way to get it is a download on the website as opposed to a verified app download. This is a bit of a red flag, especially when combined with the amount of permissions it wants. It will also demand you create a login to use the app, and then will want logins to other services it connects to like Steam. The logins are also cursed.

I think it took about ten solid minutes to finish the initial installation process, which seemed completely ridiculous for what I was doing. My only assumption is that either the app is really poorly built or it’s doing some sneaky stuff on the side.

Once installing the app on my surely now corrupted device I can get a better look at what’s on offer. Essentially it’s a launcher that combines various other services like SteamLink in the one place, as well as advertising compatible games. Before you’ve added any games to your library it basically looks like a storefront, but I have to admit the UI is nice to scroll through. Though it’d be better if the localisation was more effective given most things are in Chinese, or just badly translated.

It also acts as a social hub, but I didn’t want to ask anyone else to install the app to try that out.

I use SteamLink a bit already, so I wanted to try that out first, but every time I tried to login to Steam via the GameHub app it would completely freeze up. Then would say the request had stopped or there was an error. I gave up on this after a few more goes.

One of the features GameHub also touts is the ability to move your Windows games to your Android device by downloading the GameHub manager tool to your PC. So yes, my PC is also likely infected now. It pulls a list of compatible games from your device and in no particular order displays them for download to your phone. Your phone has to be connected via USB and have permissions allowed, but then you can move games from your list to your phone supposedly run there. I know phones are beefy, and emulators are much more capable than they used to be, but I don’t think it’s going to make Doom Eternal run just like it does on Windows.

For the sake of time and storage I tried Deep Rock Galactic first, figuring my phone had a shot at running it without making it too easy a test. It got part way through the install and then Unreal 4 needed some other Windows package (which opened in a Windows notification, thanks Winlator) and despite several tries it would freeze at the midway point on install.

I gave up and decided to try something easier—though apparently I hadn’t because the Deep Rock Galactic sounds started playing out of my device 30 minutes later and wouldn’t stop until a complete restart. I tried opening it again but it once again demanded the update it couldn’t complete. I had similar experiences with a few other games of the same tier so I decided to try something much simpler.

Lowering the stakes considerably I gave Trombone Champ a try and had much better luck. This game was able to install and load just fine, though with only a black screen for the first few times. Then magically as I was about to give up it started working, so I can only assume a game needs a certain baboon quota met before it will run. It still didn’t seem worth the effort involved, let alone the security questions I have. I think Trombone Champ put it best, the app is nasty.

And though I’ve purged it from my device, I’m actually a little sad about it. The app did look and feel fairly nice, but doesn’t offer anything new or, y’know, worthwhile. And that’s when it works. You can do most things better through the individual bespoke apps, such as SteamLink on its own, and that feel a whole lot safer than this one.