OpenNOW - Android

Unofficial GeForce NOW client for Android, built with Capacitor + React + WebRTC.

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Warning
OpenNOW is under active development. Bugs and performance issues are expected while features are finalized.

Trademark & Affiliation Notice
OpenNOW is an independent community project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NVIDIA Corporation.
NVIDIA and GeForce NOW are trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. You must use your own GeForce NOW account.

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Prerequisites

Tool	Version	Notes
Node.js	18 or newer	https://nodejs.org
Android Studio	Hedgehog or newer	https://developer.android.com/studio
Android SDK	API 36 (compile), API 24 (min)	Install via SDK Manager in Android Studio
JDK	17	Bundled with Android Studio
ADB	any	Part of Android SDK platform-tools

After installing Android Studio, open it once and let it finish the initial SDK setup.

Add ADB to your PATH so it works from a terminal:

# Add to your PowerShell profile or system environment variables
$env:PATH += ";$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Android\Sdk\platform-tools"

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First time setup

cd opennow-stable
npm install

The android/ folder is already checked in. You do not need to run cap init or cap add android.

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Build and install

Step 1 - Build the web bundle

npm run build

Step 2 - Sync web assets into the Android project

npx cap sync android

Copies dist/ into the Android project and updates Capacitor plugins. Run this every time after npm run build.

Step 3 - Build the APK

cd android
.\gradlew assembleDebug

Output: android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Step 4 - Install on device

Make sure your device is connected with USB debugging enabled.

# Check device is visible
adb devices

# Install (use -r for reinstall/update)
adb install -r app\build\outputs\apk\debug\app-debug.apk

Note: Local debug builds use your machine's debug keystore. If you previously installed a CI-built APK, you may need to uninstall first due to signature mismatch: adb uninstall com.zortos.opennow

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Quick rebuild (after any code change)

Run all steps from the project root:

cd opennow-stable
npm run build
npx cap sync android
cd android
.\gradlew assembleDebug
adb install -r app\build\outputs\apk\debug\app-debug.apk

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Open in Android Studio

npx cap open android

Or open the android/ folder directly in Android Studio.

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Logcat (debug output)

# Live output filtered to app logs
adb logcat | Select-String "Capacitor|chromium|WebRTC|GfnPlugin"

# Last 200 lines then exit
adb logcat -d | Select-String "Capacitor|Console|error" | Select-Object -Last 200

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CI Build Artifacts

GitHub Actions builds APKs automatically on pushes and PRs. When CI signing is configured (see below), the workflow produces signed release APKs that can be upgraded in-place without uninstalling.

Installing CI builds

1. Go to Actions → select a successful workflow run
2. Download the opennow-android-release artifact (or opennow-android-debug if signing isn't configured)
3. Extract and install: adb install -r app-release.apk

Successive CI builds use the same signing certificate, so you can install updates directly without uninstalling first.

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CI Signing Setup (for maintainers)

Why is this needed?

Android requires APKs to be signed, and only allows in-place upgrades when both the package name AND signing certificate match. By default, debug builds use an auto-generated debug keystore unique to each machine. Since GitHub Actions runners are ephemeral, each CI run would generate a new keystore, causing signature mismatches that force users to uninstall before installing a new CI build.

This repository uses stable CI signing to solve this: a single keystore is stored as a GitHub secret and used for all CI builds, ensuring consistent signatures.

Setting up CI signing

1. Generate a keystore (one-time)

keytool -genkey -v -keystore ci-release.keystore -alias ci-key -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000

Remember the passwords you set for the keystore and key.

2. Encode keystore as base64

base64 -i ci-release.keystore -o keystore-base64.txt

3. Add GitHub secrets

Go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions and add these secrets:

Secret Name	Value
ANDROID_KEYSTORE_BASE64	Contents of keystore-base64.txt
ANDROID_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD	Keystore password
ANDROID_KEY_ALIAS	Key alias (e.g., ci-key)
ANDROID_KEY_PASSWORD	Key password

4. Verify

Push a commit or trigger the workflow manually. The workflow will now produce opennow-android-release artifacts signed with your stable keystore.

Without CI signing configured

If the secrets are not set, the workflow falls back to building a debug APK signed with the runner's ephemeral debug keystore. These APKs will still require uninstall/reinstall between CI builds due to signature mismatches.

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Local Release Signing

For local release builds (e.g., for Play Store), create android/keystore.properties:

RELEASE_STORE_FILE=path/to/your-release.keystore
RELEASE_STORE_PASSWORD=your-keystore-password
RELEASE_KEY_ALIAS=your-key-alias
RELEASE_KEY_PASSWORD=your-key-password

Then build with:

cd android
.\gradlew assembleRelease

Important: Never commit keystore.properties or keystore files to version control.

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Android details

• App ID: com.zortos.opennow
• Min SDK: API 24 (Android 7.0)
• Target/Compile SDK: API 36

How it works

Feature	Implementation
Auth (login)	Kotlin GfnPlugin.kt -- opens a WebView activity for NVIDIA OAuth PKCE. Tokens stored in EncryptedSharedPreferences
Games API	Browser fetch running directly in the WebView -- no Kotlin involved
Session management	Browser fetch running directly in the WebView -- no Kotlin involved
Signaling	BrowserSignalingClient -- native WebSocket in the WebView -- no Kotlin involved
WebRTC	Browser built-in WebRTC stack inside the WebView
Settings	Kotlin GfnPlugin.kt -- stored in SharedPreferences