Apple [RELEASE + TUTORIAL] Giovanni - GBC Emulator for Apple Watch

[Manurocker95]

Hey, I didn't know why anyone posted this before. 2 years ago Gabriel O'Flaherty-Chan (Gabrieloc) started his open-source project Giovanni Emulator for Apple Watch and now I'm here to bring it to anyone interested. I know there is an old Reddit post, but hey, why not having one here. JAILBREAK IS NOT NEEDED AND THIS IS NOT MINE SO I CAN'T HELP WITH NOT-WORKING GAMES NOR ISSUES WITH THE EMULATOR.

Some games may crash during gameplay but I tested a few games (Pokémon Gold, Crystal, Yellow, Keitai Denjuu Telefang and DK Country) and execpting a few slowdowns and gamepad-issues, the emulator works like a charm.

I tested the emulator on an iPhone X with iOS 14.3 + Apple Watch 4 with WatchOS 7.2 but the general requirements for installing the emulator are:

- Apple Watch with WatchOS 3+.
- iPhone with iOS 10+ paired with the apple watch.
- MacOS.
- XCode 8.0+ (For Apple Watch 4 and above, you need XCode 10+ as they come with WatchOS 5.1).
- Apple Developer account (can be the free one).
- Git + Github account for cloning the repo.

There are a few steps to install the app:

Clone the repo:

Turn on your mac and clone the repo by git:

git --recursive [email protected]:gabrieloc/GIOVANNI.git

or

git --recurse-submodules [email protected]:gabrieloc/GIOVANNI.git

You don't need any ssh stuff for getting this cloned and working.

Open xCode's Project:

Connect the iPhone to your mac. Open XCode and look for GIOVANNI.xcodeproj or go to the cloned folder by your favourite explorer and open it.

Building the app:

You will need to change some building settings like linking in WatchOS, iOS App and WatchkitExtension the developer team. You can change the app name and bundle identifier if you want too. Once you click build in XCode, the app will install in your iPhone. Even if it tells you that you can't install it correctly, the app will install in iOS 14.3+.

ROMs:

- Dump from your physical games (or download roms from your favourite pirate site) and place them in your computer. They must be .gb or .gbc.
- Connect your iPhone to the computer and open iTunes.
- In iTunes select your phone > Shared Files > Giovanni
- Drag your ROMs there.

Have Fun:

- Open the app in your Apple Watch. If your game list is not refreshed automatically, open the app in your iPhone and try again. The list will display all your games. Now just tap in the game you want to play.

- The game will run.

- Enjoy. <3

For the controls:

If you want to see videos of the emulator working, check this:



Updates:

V1.1: I updated the code to latest iOS and WatchOS, so it no longer shows weird logs. I need to delete deprecated functions tho.



Source Code:

- Original repo: https://github.com/gabrieloc/GIOVANNI

WARNING: The project from the original repository won't work with latest iOS without some tweaks. I fixed XCode issues and uploaded the code to my github: https://github.com/Manurocker95/GiovanniEmulator.

 

[Deleted User]

NGL This is pretty awesome

 

[Manurocker95]

NGL This is pretty awesome

yeah, i was so surprised it worked nice even on beta iOS

 

[Manurocker95]

I forgot to mention I fixed xcode 10+ issues and uploaded the code to my github. Added to the OP

 

[_imaxi_]

Hi,

when i try to run my build failed with error message "error: Build input file cannot be found: '/Users/maximilianstingl/Downloads/GIOVANNI-master 2/gambatte/libgambatte/src/interrupter.cpp' (in target 'Gambatte_watchOS' from project 'giovanni')"

Could you help me?

Thanks!!

 

[_imaxi_]

Hi,

when i try to run my build failed with error message "error: Build input file cannot be found: '/Users/maximilianstingl/Downloads/GIOVANNI-master 2/gambatte/libgambatte/src/interrupter.cpp' (in target 'Gambatte_watchOS' from project 'giovanni')"

Could you help me?

Thanks!!

 

[DannyBoi22456]

Is it possible for you to add a compiled IPA in the releases on the github page? My Macbook is running El Capitan rn so I can't install Xcode 10.

 

[DannyBoi22456]

Is it possible for you to add a compiled IPA in the releases on the github page? My Macbook is running El Capitan rn so I can't install Xcode 10.

 

[DannyBoi22456]

Is it possible for you to add a compiled IPA in the releases on the github page? My Macbook is running El Capitan rn so I can't install Xcode 10.

 

[Stealphie]

what the fuck and why the fuck

 

[Manurocker95]

what the fuck and why the fuck

For the first question: A GB Emulator
For the second: Because... yes. I mean, it's kinda fun.

 

[CrCrate]

can you please add a precompiled ipa for the macless of us?

 

[Manurocker95]

can you please add a precompiled ipa for the macless of us?

I don’t have a full developer account, so I would need to make a new one every week...

 

[Keylogger]

Looks so fun, too bad I can’t try it because I only have a PC :s

 

[CrCrate]

I don’t have a full developer account, so I would need to make a new one every week...

sorry, im dumb. i meant a precompiled ipa for sideloading yourself (an unsigned one)

 

[Manurocker95]

sorry, im dumb. i meant a precompiled ipa for sideloading yourself (an unsigned one)

If you don't have a paid developer account, the expiration time for each free account-ipa is 7 days, so if I compile it now, I would need to compile a new one next week.

You can't compile an app without signing it afaik

 

[CrCrate]

If you don't have a paid developer account, the expiration time for each free account-ipa is 7 days, so if I compile it now, I would need to compile a new one next week.

You can't compile an app without signing it afaik

stackoverflow thread 25396299 has some info how to build an ipa file without signing it. (nevermind this, please just sign the ipa for one week) im really sorry if im bothering you but if that fails, could you just make a signed one for one week? i have a jailbroken iphone and am able to export an unsigned from that.

 

[MetoMeto]

I wish that Pokémons retire already....

 

[Manurocker95]

Updated the project to xcode 12, supporting iOS 14.3 and WatchOS 7.2.



I tried to generate the IPA for newcomers but Apple no longer allows IPA archive generation without paid account :/

 

[SSJoker]

Any idea why it crashes when trying to load a game that was alrerady loaded after closing the app for the first time ?

 

[Manurocker95]

Any idea why it crashes when trying to load a game that was alrerady loaded after closing the app for the first time ?

Hmm, it should not happen. Does it happen with a specific ROM?. I will take a look just in case. It worked just fine with Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Prism.

What fw are you using for both iOS and WatchOS?

 

[SSJoker]

Hmm, it should not happen. Does it happen with a specific ROM?. I will take a look just in case. It worked just fine with Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Prism.

What fw are you using for both iOS and WatchOS?

I tried with both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Yellow. iOS 14.3 and WatchOS 7.2.

 

[Manurocker95]

I tried with both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Yellow. iOS 14.3 and WatchOS 7.2.

That's weird then. It should not matter but are you signing with developer account or the free one?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I tried with both Pokémon Red and Pokémon Yellow. iOS 14.3 and WatchOS 7.2.

I will debug the Watchkit outputs in case something weird happens in specific cases. It might be related with a memory leak I haven't handled. But it's weird bc it's working for me.


Edit: It happened to me. I will try to check what's the issue.