The Pocket Taco is the best way to turn your phone into a Game Boy

My ongoing quest to turn my iPhone into one of my favorite consoles of all time has led me to a curiously named controller. GameSir’s Pocket Taco is only barely pocketable, and distinctly lacking in taco fillings, but for $35, it’s an excellent and easy way to turn your phone into a Game Boy-inspired handheld for playing retro games that don’t require a pair of thumbsticks.

Unlike the Abxylute M4 mobile controller that attaches to phones using magnets, or the Backbone Pro that sandwiches your device between a split gamepad, the Pocket Taco uses a hinged mechanism that, for lack of a better description, bites onto the bottom half of your smartphone.

Inside the Pocket Taco, you’ll find soft silicone pads on either side that securely grip your device without scratching it or leaving any bite marks. The hold feels satisfyingly secure, and while my iPhone could slightly shift from side to side while inside the Pocket Taco, at no point did it ever feel at risk of falling out on its own.

The Pocket Taco’s hinge expands wide enough to attach to smartphones still inside bulky cases, and its open sides can accommodate phones and devices wider than the controller itself. You could use it with an iPad Mini, for example, although I didn’t have the chance to test the ergonomics of such a setup.

8BitDo announced a similar Game Boy-style controller for smartphones at CES 2026, featuring a front panel that can fully flip down. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want that feature, but after playing with the Pocket Taco for a week, I now understand why 8BitDo took that approach.

The front panel on the Pocket Taco can only hinge outward about 45 degrees, blocking the lower part of your smartphone’s screen while attached to your device. 8BitDo’s FlipPad gives you full access to your smartphone’s screen and UI while it’s attached, but I frequently found myself having to completely remove the Pocket Taco if I wanted to flip over to another app, or even just unlock my phone.

I haven’t tested the USB-C 8BitDo FlipPad yet, but a big advantage of the larger Pocket Taco is that it connects to your device over Bluetooth and has its own 600mAh rechargeable battery that won’t drain your phone. Opening the Pocket Taco powers it on and automatically pairs the controller with the last device you used — in my case, an iPhone 16 Pro. GameSir doesn’t list iOS as being officially supported, only Android, but I was able to connect to the Pocket Taco and my iPhone recognized it as a “DualShock 4 Wireless Controller.”

The Pocket Taco turns off automatically when you remove it from your phone. It powers up and reconnects quickly, though, so having to occasionally remove the controller to access your phone’s screen isn’t a huge inconvenience.

The Pocket Taco’s home button can also be used to manually power it on and off when it isn’t attached to a device, allowing it to be used as a standalone rechargeable Bluetooth controller. It was easy to pair with the Switch 2.

The controller’s four face buttons and D-pad all feel good with a solid click when pressed, and despite it being a little narrower than the original Game Boy, my large hands found the Pocket Taco extremely comfortable to play with. The double pair of shoulder buttons on the back were easy to reach, and the rounded edges on the bottom of the Pocket Taco didn’t dig into the fingers I was using to support the controller and my phone.

There are just a few things you’ll want to keep in mind when choosing what games to play, or how to play them. Unlike the Abxylute M4 or the Backbone controllers, GameSir made no attempt to squeeze thumbsticks or sliding joysticks onto the Pocket Taco. So it’s better suited for playing retro games from the 16-bit era and earlier that don’t have 3D environments with a camera to control.

I primarily tested the Pocket Taco with Game Boy, Super Nintendo, and GBA games played through the Delta emulator and RetroArch on iOS. The Pocket Taco worked great with both, but you’ll want to make sure you’re using an app with skins or layout options that can position the game closer to the top of your device’s screen. When I first tested the Pocket Taco with Delta, I turned off the emulator’s default skin to remove on-screen controls. That resulted in the game being vertically centered on my iPhone and partially covered by the Pocket Taco. It was easy to fix, but note that the controller can only be used in a vertical orientation.

8BitDo hasn’t announced pricing or a release date for its FlipPad yet, so I’m still curious how effective that smaller accessory will be at turning my smartphone into a handheld console, given its limitations. The Pocket Taco isn’t expected to ship until March 2026, but for $35, you get excellent controls, solid ergonomics, reliable Bluetooth connectivity, nearly universal smartphone compatibility, and the ability to use it as a standalone wireless gamepad.

Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge