A PS5 sitting under the TV is only useful when you’re in the same room as the TV. That mismatch is why Chiaki-ng, a free and open-source PlayStation Remote Play client, has quietly become one of the most-installed tools in the Steam Deck and handheld-PC community. It logs into your PSN account, pairs with your console over the same protocol Sony’s own app uses, and streams your PS4 or PS5 library to a Steam Deck, a Windows laptop, a Mac, or basically any Linux box with a GPU and a network connection.
This tutorial walks through the entire process across 13 steps: enabling Remote Play on the console side, installing Chiaki-ng on whichever platform you actually own, pairing it with an 8-digit PIN, dialing in resolution and bitrate, mapping a DualSense controller with working haptics, and getting it working when you’re away from home rather than sitting on the same Wi-Fi network. Budget about 55 minutes if this is your first time; a second setup on another device takes closer to 10.
Who this is actually for: anyone who owns a Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go, or similar handheld and wants their PS5 or PS4 library available on it without buying a second piece of Sony hardware; anyone running Linux as a daily driver who’s discovered Sony simply doesn’t ship a Remote Play client for it; and anyone who wants more control over bitrate, resolution, and controller behavior than the official app exposes. If none of that describes you, the official PS Remote Play app on Windows, Mac, or mobile will get you streaming with far less setup — Chiaki-ng earns the extra steps specifically by covering platforms Sony doesn’t.
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What Is Chiaki-ng? From chiaki4deck to a Cross-Platform Remote Play Client
Chiaki-ng is a fork of the original Chiaki project, an open-source, reverse-engineered client for Sony’s PS4 and PS5 Remote Play protocol. The original Chiaki repository is still online but is now effectively in maintenance mode, with most active development having moved to the fork. That fork started life as chiaki4deck, a name that made sense when the entire project was scoped around getting PlayStation Remote Play working well on Valve’s then-new Steam Deck. As the project grew to properly support Windows, macOS, and general-purpose Linux distributions rather than just SteamOS, the maintainers renamed it to Chiaki-ng (“next generation”) to reflect that broader scope. That trajectory has kept going: with v1.10.0 now the current stable release as of April 2026, Chiaki-ng has grown from a Steam Deck side project into the de facto actively maintained Remote Play client across Windows, macOS, and Linux alike.
The project has picked up a meaningful following since the rename, with the GitHub repo crossing 2,575 stars and 225 forks as of 2026, making it the most popular of the Chiaki forks by a wide margin. Development has stayed steady and well-documented: release-monitoring.org tracked v1.9.4 and v1.9.5 landing in January 2025, v1.9.6 in February 2025, and v1.9.7 and v1.9.8 both arriving in May 2025, with that whole 1.9.x run adding PSN-based remote connection fixes, automatic console wake-up when you start a session, and touch-based D-pad emulation for Steam Deck’s touchscreen. The current stable release, v1.10.0, shipped in April 2026 and rolled out an OpenGL renderer backend, custom upscaling filters, and fixes to the audio, microphone, and DualSense haptics pipeline. As of September 2026, the GitHub releases page also lists wake and sleep functionality for Windows and macOS among its shipped features. Because release numbering has shifted around a bit between the GitHub releases page and the project’s own changelog, don’t take a specific version number from any single source as gospel — check the releases page directly before you install, or run the version-check command in Step 4 below.
Functionally, Chiaki-ng talks to your console using the same Remote Play handshake as Sony’s own app and the PS Portal handheld, which means it inherits the real ceiling of that protocol rather than reinventing streaming from scratch. What it adds on top is platform reach: official PS Remote Play apps exist for Windows, Mac, and mobile, but nothing from Sony runs natively on Steam Deck’s SteamOS or on a generic Arch or Debian install. Chiaki-ng fills that specific gap, and it’s the reason so many Steam Deck and ROG Ally owners keep it installed alongside their emulation and Windows-gaming setups.
How PS Remote Play Actually Works Under the Hood
It helps to understand the protocol Chiaki-ng is implementing before you start troubleshooting it, because most “weird” behavior makes a lot more sense once you see the shape of the handshake. Remote Play as a feature has existed on PlayStation hardware since the PS Vita era, and a session is really three separate things happening over the network at once: a registration/authentication exchange tied to your PSN account, a discovery step that locates the console (either by local broadcast on your LAN or through PSN’s relay when you’re remote), and then the actual streaming session itself, which carries video, audio, and controller input as separate channels running concurrently rather than one bundled feed.
That separation is exactly why the two most common failure modes look so different. A registration problem (wrong PIN, mismatched PSN account, console not discoverable) fails immediately, before a stream ever starts, and no amount of fiddling with bitrate will fix it. A streaming problem (dropped frames, audio drift, controller lag) happens after registration succeeds and is almost always a bandwidth, decode, or Bluetooth issue on the client side rather than anything wrong with the pairing itself. Knowing which bucket your problem falls into before you start changing settings saves a lot of wasted troubleshooting time.
The controller channel is worth calling out specifically because it’s bidirectional in a way video and audio aren’t: your button presses and stick movements travel to the console, and haptic feedback and adaptive trigger resistance travel back to a DualSense in the other direction. That round trip is what makes DualSense support meaningfully more complex to implement correctly than simple button mapping, and it’s also why haptics tend to be the first thing that breaks when a connection briefly hiccups — the feedback channel is more sensitive to interruption than the video stream, which just re-buffers.
Prerequisites: What You Need Before You Start
Chiaki-ng is free, but it isn’t zero-configuration. Before you touch the installer, confirm you actually have the pieces below — most failed first attempts trace back to one of these being skipped rather than anything wrong with the software itself.
| Requirement | What You Need | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Console | PS4 or PS5, powered on or in rest mode with Remote Play enabled | Chiaki-ng connects to the console directly; it cannot pull a library from PSN alone |
| PSN account | Active PlayStation Network account, signed in on the console | Pairing requires logging into the same PSN account inside Chiaki-ng |
| Client device | Steam Deck (SteamOS), Windows 10/11 PC, macOS machine, or a Linux distro | Determines which install method you’ll use in Steps 3–6 |
| Network | Same Wi-Fi/LAN for first pairing; broadband with a decent upload for remote use later | Initial registration is far more reliable on local network before you try remote connections |
| Controller | DualSense, DualShock 4, or any Steam Input-compatible pad | Needed to actually play; DualSense unlocks haptics and adaptive triggers |
| Time | About 55 minutes for a first-time setup | Includes console-side settings, install, pairing, and tuning video quality |
One more thing worth deciding upfront: are you setting this up mainly to stream PS5 games to a Steam Deck on your own couch, or do you want to play away from home over the internet? Both are supported, but the away-from-home path (covered in Step 11) adds a few extra minutes and, occasionally, a trip into your router’s settings.
A note on routers and network gear
You don’t need anything special, but it’s worth knowing what you’re working with before Step 11. ISP-supplied combo modem/router units are usually fine for local-network play but occasionally sit behind carrier-grade NAT, which makes the automatic PSN relay connection less reliable for playing away from home. Mesh Wi-Fi systems generally handle this better than older single-router setups, and if you’ve ever had to manually forward a port for a game console before, you already have everything you need to do the same thing here if the automatic path doesn’t cooperate. None of this blocks local-network setup — it only becomes relevant once you get to Step 11.
Quick Steps: Chiaki-ng Setup at a Glance
Here’s the entire process condensed into 13 steps, still accurate as of September 2026 against the current v1.10.0 release. Skim this list first, then jump to the detailed walkthrough below for whichever step is giving you trouble.
- Enable Remote Play on your PS5 or PS4 — toggle it on under Settings → System → Remote Play (or Settings → Remote Play Connection Settings on PS4).
- Turn on the rest-mode network toggles — enable “Stay Connected to the Internet” and “Enable Turning On PS5 from Network” so Chiaki-ng can wake a sleeping console.
- Install Chiaki-ng on Windows — download the release archive from GitHub, extract it, and run the executable, bypassing SmartScreen if prompted.
- Install Chiaki-ng on macOS — download the release build and right-click → Open to get past Gatekeeper on first launch.
- Install Chiaki-ng on Steam Deck — grab it from Discover or run the Flathub install command in Desktop Mode.
- Install Chiaki-ng on Linux — use the same Flatpak command on Ubuntu, Fedora, Bazzite, and similar, or the AUR package on Arch-based distros.
- Log in with your PSN account — authenticate inside Chiaki-ng through Sony’s own login page.
- Pair your console — enter the 8-digit registration PIN shown on the console’s Link Device screen.
- Dial in resolution, frame rate, and bitrate — set video quality in Chiaki-ng’s per-console settings tab.
- Map controllers and enable DualSense haptics — confirm adaptive triggers and rumble work over USB or Bluetooth.
- Set up Remote Play over the internet — try PSN’s automatic relay first, falling back to manual port forwarding if needed.
- Add Chiaki-ng as a non-Steam game — so it launches from Game Mode without a Desktop Mode detour.
- Test the connection and save your profile — confirm the session holds, then save your settings as the default.
Step 1-2: Enable Remote Play on Your PS5 or PS4
Everything starts on the console, not the client app. On a PS5, open Settings → System → Remote Play and toggle Remote Play on. While you’re in that menu, also check Settings → System → Power Saving → Features Available in Rest Mode and make sure “Stay Connected to the Internet” and “Enable Turning On PS5 from Network” are both switched on — without that second toggle, Chiaki-ng can’t wake a sleeping console to start a session, which is one of the most common “it just doesn’t connect” complaints.
On a PS4, the equivalent path is Settings → Remote Play Connection Settings → Enable Remote Play, with the wake-on-network option living under Settings → Power Save Settings → Set Features Available in Rest Mode. Confirm you’re signed into PSN on the console with the same account you plan to use inside Chiaki-ng later — mismatched accounts are the single fastest way to get stuck at the pairing screen in Step 8.
If you want a second device to be able to wake the console from a cold start rather than rest mode, leave the PS5 or PS4 plugged in and connected via Ethernet where possible. Wi-Fi works fine once a session is running, but a wired console is noticeably more reliable at the wake-up and handshake stage, especially over PSN’s remote-connection path rather than the local network.
Step 3-4: Install Chiaki-ng on Windows or macOS
Chiaki-ng doesn’t currently ship through the Microsoft Store or a signed macOS installer in the way mainstream commercial apps do, so on both platforms you’re pulling a build straight from the project’s GitHub releases page. On Windows, download the latest release archive, extract it somewhere permanent (not your Downloads folder), and run the executable inside — Windows SmartScreen will likely flag it as an unrecognized publisher on first launch, which is expected for an unsigned open-source tool; click “More info” and “Run anyway” if you’re comfortable with that, or build from source via the project’s documentation if you’d rather avoid it entirely. As of September 2026, the releases page packages both Windows and macOS builds for amd64 and arm64, so ARM-based Windows devices and Apple Silicon Macs each get a native build instead of running under emulation.
On macOS, download the corresponding release, and if Gatekeeper blocks the app on first open, right-click the app and choose “Open” rather than double-clicking, which gives you an override prompt that a plain double-click won’t. Apple Silicon and Intel Macs are both supported, but hardware video decoding performance varies by chip generation, so older Intel Macs may need to drop resolution a notch to keep up in Step 9.
Whichever platform you’re on, it’s worth confirming exactly what build you just installed before you go further — as of April 2026 the current stable line is v1.10.0, up from the run of 1.9.x point releases (v1.9.4 through v1.9.8) that shipped between January and May 2025, so if the command below returns something noticeably older it’s worth grabbing a fresh build. This single command hits GitHub’s public API and prints the tag name of the current release, so you’re always checking against the live version rather than a number that might already be out of date by the time you read it:
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/streetpea/chiaki-ng/releases/latest | grep tag_nameExample output looks like this (the actual tag will vary depending on when you run it):
"tag_name": "v1.9.9",Step 5-6: Install Chiaki-ng on Steam Deck and Linux
This is the platform Chiaki-ng was originally built for, and it shows: installation is a single Flatpak, and the project’s own documentation now points users toward its official Flathub listing rather than the old standalone Steam Deck package, since Flathub ships pre-installed on SteamOS and costs the maintainers nothing to host. The Flathub listing is also a decent gauge of how active development is — its 2026 release notes call out 11 separate improvement areas, spanning the renderer, upscaling, and haptics fixes mentioned above. If you’d rather not use Flatpak at all, the project also publishes a standalone chiaki-ng.AppImage_x86_64 build on its downloads page, weighing in around 162 MB as of 2026, and the GitHub releases page separately lists native Linux packages covering both amd64 and arm64 hardware for anyone who’d rather skip the Flatpak sandbox entirely. On a Steam Deck, the simplest route is opening the Discover store in Desktop Mode and searching “chiaki-ng,” which is the name to look for as of September 2026. This matches the exact method shown on the project’s official Installation docs at streetpea.github.io/chiaki-ng. You may still see “chiaki4deck” in the listing or its app ID (io.github.streetpea.Chiaki4deck) — that’s left over from the project’s old name, not a separate or outdated app. Either label installs the same actively maintained release. If you’d rather skip the GUI, the same install works from a terminal in Desktop Mode:
flatpak install flathub io.github.streetpea.Chiaki4deckOn a general Linux desktop (Ubuntu, Fedora, Pop!_OS, Bazzite, and similar), the same Flatpak command works as long as Flathub is already added as a remote. If it isn’t, add it first, then run the install line above:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub io.github.streetpea.Chiaki4deckArch-based distributions, including CachyOS and Bazzite’s Arch-derived builds, also have a community-maintained AUR package if you’d rather not use Flatpak sandboxing. Using an AUR helper such as yay, the install looks like this:
yay -S chiaki-ngAUR packages are community-maintained rather than published by the Chiaki-ng team directly, so if you hit a build failure, the Flatpak route is the safer fallback since it’s the one the maintainers actively support. Either way, once installed, launch it once from Steam Deck’s Desktop Mode or your Linux app menu before switching to Game Mode — the very first launch initializes a config directory that later steps depend on.
Official install channels by platform
Steps 3 through 6 cover four platforms individually. Here’s the same information side by side, current as of September 2026:
| Platform | Official Channel | Maintained By |
|---|---|---|
| Steam Deck / SteamOS | Flathub flatpak (Discover store or CLI) | Chiaki-ng project |
| General Linux | Flathub flatpak, or amd64/arm64 package on GitHub releases | Chiaki-ng project |
| Arch-based Linux | AUR package (chiaki-ng) | Community |
| Windows | amd64/arm64 package on GitHub releases | Chiaki-ng project |
| macOS | amd64/arm64 package on GitHub releases | Chiaki-ng project |
The Flathub listing and GitHub releases page are the two channels the maintainers actively support. The AUR package works well too, but it’s community-maintained rather than official, which is why it’s the fallback for Arch-based distros rather than the first recommendation.
Step 7-8: Log In With PSN and Pair Your Console
With Chiaki-ng open, look for the PSN login option, usually reached from a menu icon or an “Add Account” prompt on first launch. This opens either an embedded browser view or your system’s default browser, pointed at Sony’s actual PSN login page — Chiaki-ng never asks for your PlayStation credentials directly inside its own window, which is worth knowing since it’s a reasonable thing to be suspicious of in a third-party client. Log in normally, approve any two-factor prompt if you have one enabled, and the app will capture an authentication token once the browser redirects back.
Next comes console registration, which is a one-time pairing step separate from the PSN login you just did. On your PS5, go to Settings → System → Remote Play → Link Device, which displays an 8-digit PIN that stays valid for about 300 seconds (roughly five minutes) as of September 2026. Back in Chiaki-ng, choose “Register” or “Add Console,” and if the app doesn’t auto-discover your PS5 on the local network, enter its IP address manually (found under Settings → Network → View Connection Status on the console). Type the 8-digit PIN before that window closes, and Chiaki-ng should report a successful registration.
PS4 pairing works the same way, with the PIN screen at Settings → Remote Play Connection Settings → Add Device. If registration fails on the first try, the most common cause isn’t Chiaki-ng at all — it’s the PIN timing out because you switched windows to copy the console’s IP address. Get both screens visible at once if you can, so the PIN entry happens in one continuous motion rather than a scramble.
Step 9: Dial In Resolution, Frame Rate, and Bitrate
Once a console is registered, open its settings inside Chiaki-ng (usually a gear icon next to the console entry) to reach the video tab. You’ll find a resolution dropdown, an fps toggle, and a bitrate slider, plus a codec choice where hardware decoding is available on your device. These controls map directly onto the same Remote Play video pipeline Sony’s own app uses, so treat whatever your installed build actually shows in that dropdown as the authoritative ceiling — release notes and third-party write-ups (this one included) can lag behind small changes the maintainers make to the encoder settings.
As a starting point rather than a hard rule: on a strong local Wi-Fi or wired connection, push resolution and fps up first and only pull bitrate down if you see compression artifacts. On a weaker connection — and especially anything routed over the internet rather than your home network — Chiaki-ng’s maintainer, Streetpea, keeps a current Configuration guide live on the project’s official documentation site at streetpea.github.io/chiaki-ng, updated as of September 2026, and it points at frame rate first: switching down to 30fps is the recommended fix, since 30fps requires less bandwidth than 60fps. Try dropping resolution as a second step if 30fps alone doesn’t stabilize things; a slightly softer 60fps image can still read as smoother than a sharp 30fps one on fast-paced games, so it’s worth testing both rather than assuming one is always right for your connection. If you’re on a Steam Deck’s built-in screen, you’re rendering to a 7-to-8-inch panel, so there’s very little visible benefit to maxing resolution at the cost of a stable frame rate.
Hardware decoding matters more than most people expect here. Steam Deck’s APU, recent Intel and AMD laptop chips, and Apple Silicon Macs all handle H.264/HEVC decode in dedicated silicon, which is why they can sustain 60fps streams without pegging the CPU. Older Intel Macs and low-power Windows laptops without a dedicated decode block will visibly struggle at the same settings — if you notice the fan spinning up and frames dropping at once, that’s a decoding bottleneck, not a network problem, and the fix is lowering resolution rather than troubleshooting your router.
Step 10: Map Controllers and Enable DualSense Haptics
Chiaki-ng includes its own controller mapping layer, separate from whatever input remapping your OS or Steam Input might already be doing, which is exactly why the two can conflict if you’re not careful. On Steam Deck specifically, the built-in controls and any DualSense connected over Bluetooth or USB can both try to claim the same inputs at once; the cleanest fix is setting Chiaki-ng’s own launch configuration (or its Steam Input profile, if you’ve added it as a non-Steam game per Step 11) to pass controller input straight through rather than double-mapping it.
DualSense owners get two features that DualShock 4 and generic pads don’t: adaptive triggers and HD haptic feedback. Recent Chiaki-ng builds have specifically targeted the haptics and rumble recovery path after connection drops, since earlier versions had a known issue where haptics would silently stop working after the app lost and regained the stream. If your DualSense connects and plays fine but haptics feel dead, disconnecting and reconnecting the controller (rather than restarting the whole session) is usually enough to reset that specific pipeline.
Wired USB connections for the controller are more reliable than Bluetooth for this specific use case, mostly because you’re already asking the system to handle a demanding video stream, and adding Bluetooth controller latency and occasional dropout on top of that stacks two separate failure points instead of one. If you’re playing anything timing-sensitive, plug the DualSense in.
Step 11-12: Set Up Remote Play Over the Internet and Auto-Launch
Everything up to this point assumes you’re on the same network as the console. Playing from outside your home network is where Chiaki-ng leans on Sony’s PSN infrastructure: recent builds support connecting through PSN’s remote-play relay directly, including NAT traversal improvements (port guessing and hole-punching) aimed specifically at making this work without you manually touching router settings. Try this path first — open Chiaki-ng away from home, log in with the same PSN account, and see if your registered console shows up and connects on its own.
If automatic PSN relay connection doesn’t work reliably on your network (some ISPs and carrier-grade NAT setups make hole-punching unreliable), the fallback is manual port forwarding on your home router, pointed at your console’s local IP. Exact port numbers can vary slightly by firmware version, so check your router’s manual or the project’s own wiki rather than trusting a random number pulled from an old forum post — a stale port list is a common reason people give up on this step unnecessarily. Whichever path works, expect noticeably more compression and occasional frame drops over the internet compared to local play; that’s the nature of streaming through your home upload bandwidth rather than a LAN, not a sign you’ve misconfigured something.
To make launching less of a chore on Steam Deck, add Chiaki-ng as a non-Steam game so it shows up in Game Mode alongside everything else. From Desktop Mode, open Steam, choose Games → Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library, select Chiaki-ng (or the Flatpak entry if it doesn’t appear by default), and give it a grid image and a name you’ll recognize later. Switch back to Game Mode and it launches like any other title, no Desktop Mode detour required for day-to-day use.
Step 13: Test Your Connection and Save Your Profile
Before you consider setup finished, run through a deliberate test rather than just jumping into a game. Start a session, let it sit on the PS5’s home screen for 30 seconds to confirm the connection holds without dropping, then launch something you know well so you can feel input lag rather than guess at it. If everything looks stable, save these settings as the default profile for that console inside Chiaki-ng, so you’re not re-entering resolution, fps, and bitrate every time you connect.
It’s also worth doing this same local-network test on the primary device you’ll use most, since latency and decode performance vary enough between a Steam Deck, a gaming laptop, and a Mac that a “good” bitrate on one is not automatically a good bitrate on another. A quick network sanity check before you even open Chiaki-ng can save a troubleshooting detour later — this simply confirms your client device can actually reach the console’s local IP on your network before you blame the app itself:
# Linux/macOS
nc -zv 192.168.1.50 9302
# Windows PowerShell
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName 192.168.1.50 -Port 9302Replace the IP with your console’s actual address from its network settings screen. A failed connection here points at a router or firewall issue before you’ve even opened the app, which saves you from chasing a phantom “Chiaki-ng bug” that’s actually a blocked port on your network.
Chiaki-ng vs Official PS Remote Play vs PS Portal
Chiaki-ng isn’t the only way to stream a PS4 or PS5 to another screen, and it’s worth being clear-eyed about what you’re trading for the extra setup steps above. Sony’s own PlayStation Network ecosystem includes an official Remote Play app for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, plus the dedicated PS Portal handheld, which only does Remote Play and nothing else.
| Factor | Chiaki-ng | Official PS Remote Play App | PS Portal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, open source | Free | One-time hardware purchase |
| Steam Deck / SteamOS support | Native, purpose-built | Not officially supported | Not applicable (separate device) |
| Linux desktop support | Yes, via Flatpak or AUR | No official client | Not applicable |
| Windows / macOS support | Yes, community builds | Yes, official | Not applicable |
| Setup complexity | Moderate: manual install and pairing | Low: signed installer, guided pairing | Low: turns on and pairs like a PS5 controller |
| Support channel | Community (GitHub, Discord) | Sony official support | Sony official support |
| Extra hardware needed | None — reuses a device you own | None | Dedicated ~8-inch handheld required |
The honest framing: if you already own an official Sony device or don’t mind installing the Windows or mobile app, there’s no strong reason to switch. Chiaki-ng earns its keep specifically for Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go, and general Linux users who have no official Sony client at all, and for anyone who’d rather not carry a second dedicated handheld just for Remote Play when they already own a device capable of doing it.
5 Common Pitfalls When Setting Up Chiaki-ng
- Skipping the rest-mode network settings. Remote Play alone isn’t enough — if “Enable Turning On PS5 from Network” is off, Chiaki-ng can see the console but can never wake it, which looks identical to a broken connection.
- Letting the PIN timeout during pairing. The 8-digit registration PIN is only good for about 300 seconds. Have both the console’s PIN screen and Chiaki-ng’s registration prompt visible at the same time instead of alt-tabbing between them.
- Mixing up PSN login and console pairing as the same step. They’re two separate processes — logging into PSN authenticates the app, while pairing with the 8-digit PIN registers that specific console. Completing one does not complete the other.
- Fighting Steam Input and Chiaki-ng’s controller layer at once. Running both unconfigured leads to double inputs or dead zones that seem random. Pick one layer to own controller mapping and disable remapping in the other.
- Judging image quality on a weak connection before checking hardware decode. A choppy stream on a strong Wi-Fi network is more often a CPU/GPU decode bottleneck on an older laptop than a bandwidth problem — check Task Manager or Activity Monitor before you start tuning your router.
Troubleshooting: 8 Chiaki-ng Problems and Fixes
Most Chiaki-ng problems fall into a small, repeatable set of categories. Work through the table below before assuming something is fundamentally broken.
| Problem | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Console never appears for registration | Not on the same network, or console fully powered off rather than in rest mode | Confirm both devices share a network for first pairing; enter the console’s IP manually |
| Registration PIN rejected | PIN expired before entry finished | Regenerate the PIN and enter it immediately with both screens visible |
| Console won’t wake from rest mode | “Enable Turning On PS5/PS4 from Network” disabled | Re-enable it under the console’s power-save settings from Step 1 |
| Stream connects then drops after a few seconds | Weak Wi-Fi signal or an overly aggressive router firewall/QoS setting | Move closer to the router, switch to 5GHz, or move the console to Ethernet |
| Video is blocky or smeared | Bitrate set too high for available bandwidth | Lower the bitrate slider a step at a time rather than dropping resolution first |
| Audio drifts out of sync with video | Decode bottleneck on an underpowered client device | Drop resolution or fps; confirm hardware decoding is actually active |
| DualSense haptics stop working mid-session | Known haptics-path issue after a stream interruption | Disconnect and reconnect the controller rather than restarting the whole app |
| Works at home but not away from home | PSN remote-relay hole-punching failing on carrier-grade NAT | Try manual port forwarding on your router as a fallback per Step 11 |
If you’ve worked through the table and a specific build is still misbehaving, check the project’s wiki and open issues before assuming it’s something unique to your setup — as an actively developed fork, regressions do occasionally slip into a release and get fixed within a point update or two.
Advanced Tips for Lower Latency and Better Image Quality
Once the basic setup is stable, a few adjustments squeeze out a noticeably better experience without any extra hardware. First, wire the console. Every layer of this stack — Remote Play’s protocol, Chiaki-ng’s client, and your own perception of input lag — benefits more from a stable, low-jitter connection than from raw peak bandwidth, and Ethernet beats even a strong Wi-Fi signal on jitter every time.
Second, if your client device is also on Wi-Fi, put it on the 5GHz or 6GHz band rather than 2.4GHz whenever the router supports it. The 2.4GHz band’s range advantage doesn’t matter if you’re already in the same house as the router, and it’s far more congested from neighboring networks, which shows up as periodic micro-stutter that’s easy to misdiagnose as a Chiaki-ng problem.
Third, back up your configuration once you’ve got settings you like, especially on Steam Deck where a SteamOS update occasionally resets Flatpak app data. The config directory is small, and copying it somewhere safe takes seconds:
cp -r ~/.var/app/io.github.streetpea.Chiaki4deck/config ~/chiaki-ng-config-backupFinally, don’t sleep on custom per-game profiles if Chiaki-ng’s version on your platform supports saving more than one settings preset. A turn-based or narrative game can run at a higher resolution and lower frame rate than a competitive shooter, and switching presets takes a few seconds versus manually re-tuning sliders every session.
One more tip that’s easy to overlook: if your router supports Quality of Service (QoS) rules, prioritizing traffic to and from your console’s local IP address can noticeably smooth out a Remote Play stream on a busy home network, especially if someone else in the house is uploading video or downloading a large game patch at the same time. You don’t need to understand every QoS option your router exposes — setting the console’s IP as a high-priority device is usually enough to stop a big background download from stealing the bandwidth your stream needs.
Building a Complete Steam Deck Remote Play Station
Putting everything above together, here’s what a finished setup looks like end to end, using a Steam Deck as the example client since it’s the platform Chiaki-ng is most associated with.
The console side
A PS5 wired to the router via Ethernet, Remote Play enabled, “Enable Turning On PS5 from Network” switched on, and signed into the PSN account you’ll use everywhere else. That’s the entire console-side configuration — it doesn’t change again after this point, regardless of how many client devices you pair.
The Steam Deck side
Chiaki-ng installed via Flathub, added as a non-Steam game with a proper grid image so it sits in Game Mode next to your Steam library, a saved profile at whatever resolution and bitrate held up cleanly in your Step 13 test, and a DualSense paired over USB-C for anything that needs tight timing or working adaptive triggers. For casual couch play on the Deck’s own controls, the built-in gyro and trackpads work fine without an external pad at all.
With that combination, turning on the PS5 stops being a requirement — you open Chiaki-ng from Game Mode, it wakes the console over the network, connects, and you’re in your PS5 library from wherever the Deck happens to be, including outside the house if you’ve got the PSN remote-relay or port-forwarding path from Step 11 working. It’s the same underlying idea as Sony’s own PS Portal, built instead on hardware you already own.
The same blueprint works with almost no changes if your client is a Windows gaming laptop instead of a Steam Deck: same console-side settings, same PSN login and pairing flow, and the only real difference is that Chiaki-ng runs as a normal desktop app rather than a Steam Big Picture entry. A Mac in the living room hooked up to a TV works identically. The point of walking through the Steam Deck version in detail is that it’s the most-asked-about case, not that the process meaningfully changes on other hardware — once you’ve done this setup once, repeating it on a second device is mostly copy-pasting the same steps in a different window.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chiaki-ng legal to use?
Yes. It’s an open-source client that authenticates through your own PSN login and your own registered console, the same way Sony’s official app does. It doesn’t circumvent DRM or access anyone else’s account or hardware.
Do I need a PS Plus subscription to use Chiaki-ng?
No. Remote Play to your own console is a base PSN feature and isn’t gated behind a PS Plus tier. You only need PS Plus for the things it normally covers, like online multiplayer in specific games.
What’s the difference between Chiaki, chiaki4deck, and Chiaki-ng?
Chiaki is the original project, now largely in maintenance mode. Chiaki4deck was a Steam Deck-focused fork of it. Chiaki-ng is that same fork renamed once it grew beyond Steam Deck to properly support Windows, macOS, and general Linux — it’s the actively developed one to install today. The Steam Deck’s Discover store can still list it under the old chiaki4deck app ID. That’s just a naming leftover, not a different app — it’s the same current release either way.
Can I use Chiaki-ng on a phone or tablet?
Chiaki-ng’s actively maintained builds target Linux, Windows, macOS, and Steam Deck. If you specifically need a mobile client, Sony’s own official PS Remote Play app for iOS and Android is the more reliable choice today.
Why does my controller input feel delayed even though video looks smooth?
That’s usually a Bluetooth latency stack-up rather than a video problem. Connect the controller over USB instead of Bluetooth and test again before touching any video settings.
Can two people use Chiaki-ng to stream from the same PS5 at once?
No. Remote Play, whether through Chiaki-ng, the official app, or PS Portal, supports one active remote session per console at a time. A second connection attempt will fail or disconnect the first session.
Does Chiaki-ng work with a PS4 as well as a PS5?
Yes, both are supported, and the setup process (enabling Remote Play, registering with an 8-digit PIN) is nearly identical between them, just under slightly different settings-menu paths.
How much data does a Remote Play session use?
It scales directly with whatever bitrate you’ve set in the video tab — a higher bitrate looks better but consumes more data per minute, which matters most if you’re streaming over a mobile hotspot or a capped connection rather than a home network. Dropping the bitrate slider is the most direct way to cut data usage, and switching to 30fps helps too, since 30fps requires less bandwidth than 60fps according to Chiaki-ng’s official Configuration docs at streetpea.github.io/chiaki-ng.
Does Chiaki-ng need any special setup for a PS5 Pro?
No separate setup path exists for it. Remote Play targets the console’s output stream rather than its internal rendering hardware, so registration and pairing work the same way regardless of which PS5 model you own.
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