About PS-X

What is PS-X?

PS-X (PS Experience) is a third-party mobile app for Pokémon Showdown. It connects to the same servers as the website, so you play against the same people, use the same ladder, and chat in the same rooms — just through an interface designed for phones.

This is a passion project, not an official Smogon or Pokémon Showdown product. There is no Play Store listing yet; you install it by downloading the APK from this site.

The goal is simple: make Showdown feel native on mobile. Bigger tap targets, tabs instead of browser panels, notifications when something important happens, and a home screen that shows your active battles at a glance.

What’s implemented

Version 1.1 is a real daily driver for many players. Here’s what works today.

Getting online

• Connect to the main Showdown server over WebSocket
• Play as a guest, log in with a password, or sign in with Google (for Gmail-linked accounts)
• Register a new account in-app
• Change your name, pick an avatar, log out
• Auto-reconnect when your connection drops, with a banner and optional push alert

Home & navigation

• Home tab with news, quick links, and your active battles
• Chats, Battles, and You tabs
• Ten color themes (dark, light, midnight, Showdown-style, and more)
• Onboarding intro for first-time users

Chat & rooms

• Lobby and public chat rooms — join, leave, browse rooms
• Private messages and a DM list
• Message bubbles, timestamps, compact mode, colored usernames
• User list per room; tap a name to open their profile
• Highlights and badges when someone mentions you or sends a PM
• In-app toasts and background push notifications (optional)
• Slash commands: /join, /pm, /nick, /ignore, and many more
• Challenge friends from PMs
• Moderation menu — long-press a message or tap ⋯ on a user’s profile (ignore, report; mute/ban/lock for staff)
• Server popups and many HTML room pages (ladder tables, help forms, etc.)

Battles

• Full move and switch controls with tap-friendly buttons
• Team preview, force switch, choice lock, forfeit
• Battle scene with sprites, HP bars, weather, and side conditions
• Turn animations — switches, faints, move effects, smooth HP drain
• Battle log with formatted text in the chat tab
• Battle timer, replay controls (seek, play/pause, switch viewpoint)
• Long-press moves and Pokémon for power, type, and effectiveness info
• Optional battle sounds
• Spectate battles you aren’t playing in
• Auto-open a new game when ladder search finds a match

Ladder & teambuilder

• Find a battle — pick a format, queue up, cancel search
• Build teams locally — add Pokémon, moves, items, abilities, natures, EVs
• Legality checks against common formats
• Save multiple teams on your device

Settings

• Chat, display, notification, and behavior preferences
• Autojoin rooms on connect
• Disconnect from the server manually

What’s not implemented (yet)

PS-X is not a pixel-perfect copy of the website. Some things are simplified, some are missing, and some will never need to exist on a phone.

• Full web battle engine — no per-move animation library like the desktop client; effects are generic but readable
• Double battles UI — may work server-side, but the layout is built for singles
• Upload teams to the server (/utm) — teams are stored on your device, not synced to your PS account
• Team folders, export/import, starred formats — basic teambuilder only
• Command autocomplete — no tab-completion for slash commands while typing
• Per-room highlight lists — global custom words only
• Full tournament browser — tournament panel in rooms is partial
• In-app YouTube / Twitch embeds — links open externally
• Custom server URL — connects to the default Showdown server only
• iOS / App Store / Play Store — Android APK sideload only for now
• Block PMs, friends list, full mod tools — core moderation exists; some social features from the web client don’t

If you rely on a specific web feature, try it — many things work through slash commands even without a dedicated button. If it’s missing, it might be on the roadmap below.

What’s planned

Development is ongoing. Priorities shift based on what players ask for, but the general direction looks like this:

Near term

• Polish battles — richer animations, undo button, better double-battle support
• Chat quality of life — search in room, message drafts, favorite rooms
• Mobile-native features — “your turn” alerts, return-to-battle bar, haptics
• Teambuilder — export/import teams, default team per format, server upload
• Format options — best-of-3, Tera preview toggles, starred formats on ladder search

Later

• Global tournament browser
• Replay download and sharing improvements
• Command autocomplete and deeper HTML page support
• Play Store release (if/when signing and policy work is done)
• iOS — possible, but not committed

There is no public issue tracker on this site yet. The app improves in bursts — when something breaks or enough people ask for the same thing, it tends to move up the list.

Suggestions & bug reports

Feedback is welcome. PS-X is built for people who actually play on their phones, and the best ideas usually come from players, not from a roadmap doc.

When you report something, these details help a lot:

• What you were trying to do
• What you expected vs. what happened
• Your app version (shown on the download page and in Settings → About)
• Phone model and Android version, if it’s a device-specific bug
• Screenshots or screen recordings, if you can

Send suggestions and bugs to p9 (however you normally reach the developer — Discord, PS PM, GitHub, etc.). There’s no formal support channel yet; responses may take a while, but everything gets read.

Please don’t report bugs to Smogon or the official Showdown staff — they don’t maintain this app. Server-side outages, ladder issues, and ban appeals still go through play.pokemonshowdown.com.

A few honest notes

• Unofficial. Not affiliated with Pokémon Showdown, Smogon, Nintendo, Game Freak, or The Pokémon Company.
• Sideloading. You install the APK yourself. Android may ask you to allow installs from unknown sources.
• Updates. Check this site for new APKs. The app does not auto-update from a store yet.
• Account safety. Use the same caution you would on any third-party client. When in doubt, log in on the official website.