With Apple having recently updated their guidelines for the App Store, iOS users have been left to speculate on specific wording and whether retro emulators as we know them would truly have a place in the great walled garden. Today it seems our questions have been answered with the arrival of what appears to be the first traditional emulator on the App Store: iGBA. Having downloaded it myself I can confirm it is a functional GBA and GBC emulator, so what’s the catch?

​

Well to be blunt, this really just looks like the classic iOS emulator GBA4iOS, with unavoidable advertisements thrown in for good measure. This comes from a developer with an extensive library of apps ranging from barcode scanners to money trackers, all oddly four years old. It comes across as a quick cash in while there are no other accessible alternatives and it isn’t something that should be supported, especially as more feature-rich and actively developed emulators like Ignited have been rejected as spam.

​

If you are interested in emulation on iOS I’d encourage you to look into sideloading, with apps like AltStore making the process surprisingly painless nowadays, and allowing you to install up to two other apps alongside AltStore itself. This comes with a caveat that you need to check in with a PC every seven days to keep your apps playable, but it’s a price worth paying when you consider you’re getting ad-free emulation. And ad-free emulation that supports both DS and N64 games with no issues.

Emulation on iOS can actually be pretty great!​

iGBA could yet be a positive sign of things to come, with this potentially demystifying Apple’s latest guidelines. It’s a space worth watching for any iOS users out there, even if the first to make it through isn’t quite what we’d hope to have seen.

Update: Other Emulators on the App Store
Note that outside of iGBA, other "emulators" have been appearing on the App Store. The ones I'm aware of are "My Boy! - GBA Emulator", "John GBA", and "DraStic DS Emulator 3D", all by Anas Zakarneh. These each cost £6.99 and and are not emulators. Scrolling through their screenshots reveal that they are cheap games trying to cash in on the emulation hype before the real apps hit the scene. Be cautious, do research, and don't get caught out.

 

[Quore]

Oh btw, they removed this emulator from AppStore

 

[Marc_LFD]

It's these if you are interested: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1389473787/

They're not the cheapest, but they're probably the most flexible controller you'll find online since you can just clamp them onto anything. I got them for the iPad Mini 6 in particular since the 3:2 screen is perfect for GBA when landscape and DS when vertical.

That doesn't look very comfortable, especially how he holds the controller. My hands would feel cramped up.

 

[Thejax]

IMO NEVER trust any service which claims to be "lifetime", especially when it isn't 'official', just hope you get enough value from it.

Once had a "lifetime" 1TB backup service which folded within a year (which at the price I paid meant I wasn't too annoyed).

It’s more just from the discord server for sidestore, and cheap enough it’s fine for me.

Well that didn't take long, iGBA is no longer accessible on the App Store. No concrete word as to why it might be at the moment, but there is some speculation about GBA4iOS's developer (and by extension Delta's developer) having quite recently updated the license of GBA4iOS to say that written permission is required to use the code on anything submitted to the App Store. Not a licensing expert myself to know how enforceable such things are however.

It wasn’t taken down by Apple but the developer, I can still reinstall the app from my purchases, but can’t with any of epic games stuff for example.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

As someone who has used both Apple and Android based devices, I have to be brutally honest, I think the idea to run emulators on a phone is an over hyped concept, especially the big deal people are making about the App Store terms of service changes. Look, I get it, accessibility is great and all, but from my perspective, so many people already run emulators of various retro consoles on multiple devices, home consoles, handhelds, and computers to be more exact. What do you have, 10 freaking devices running a GBA emulator, maybe five with a SNES emulator, etc.. I just can't see the overkill appeal, I have jailbroken multiple Apple devices, rooted multiple Android devices, and even have experience dealing with homebrew for game consoles, getting custom firmware installed on some of those too. While this isn't to brag, toot my own horn, etc. I can say I certainly have had a fortunate enough life to experience some of this stuff first hand, thing is I don't see the appeal having all this stuff on a phone when I have other devices that can do the same damn things, if not more than others, and we live in an age where we have devices literally intended for emulation now, so I really have a hard time seeing this point. The only way I can see it is if you absolutely don't have another device that's powerful enough to handle retro emulation of some kind, but even then, this topic is about Apple services for Apple products, you mean to tell me you can spend a lot on an Apple phone, but can't spend the money on other systems that may or may not be around the same price, some cheaper than others, especially if you are the type to spend a crap ton on a phone model that just comes out? A tablet has more of a purpose for stuff like this than a dang phone in my opinion, at least with that it has intentions for multipurpose tasks and is relatively portable still, the hype over a phone doing it though.... I just never found the appeal, with the accessibility I have had to these things, I just never found myself seeing any real purpose for it. I kind of look at it like my Wii with something particular, I have a couple Game Boy Advance emulators on my Wii, at the time I modified it for homebrew, someone sent me a bunch of homebrew to throw on the SD card, mGBA and Visual Boy Advance GX being in the mix of that, and the more I think about it over time, I wonder why I even need either of them there, what's the point? I have a Nintendo 3DS, a PlayStation Vita, a freaking computer, some of my other home consoles that could also have it, why do I need yet another device to house the same exact stuff? One could use those resources for other things, probably much more beneficial than an emulator. Again, I really can only see this being a benefit if an Apple device was literally all you had, and to be frank, I find that rather confusing considering how expensive they are, reminds me of all the people I ever met who have these expensive devices, or an expensive vehicle (or two somehow), yet lives in a crappy neighborhood or a really run down house, bad priorities or something I don't know, I still can't figure that one out. Only other thing I see some people do is go nuts installing a whole bunch of stuff on most if not all their devices just to brag about it online, as if the world needs to know for some reason.

Maybe use cases differ, I don't know, I can't really pinpoint, I think and operate differently than majority where this stuff is concerned. I think the appeal kind of dwindled years ago whenever multiple devices started getting powerful enough to handle these sorts of things, so you weren't really relegated to specific platforms anymore, it certainly isn't like years ago where other than a decent computer, maybe a hacked console with some hardware legroom to work with and with a mature emulator of sorts to boot, Android devices were really the only other reliable method for most of the emulation stuff of older systems. These days even a low end budget laptop could probably handle many of these things now, ironically boasting better processors and such than even my six year old, what used to be considered high end, main rig. Likewise with the game consoles these days, a Nintendo Switch could run all these retro emulators (NO it isn't to bash its specifications, it's to point out that even the least powerful currently supported console can handle most if not all of what people actually play).

I mean correct me if I am wrong somewhere, help me to understand even. Great for the term changes I guess, but this didn't really change how I use phones at all personally, I can't jump up and down for something that I never even really took advantage of in the first place on said devices even when I had the chance to in some form (sideloading, jailbreak tweaks, etc.).

 

[Marc_LFD]

As someone who has used both Apple and Android based devices, I have to be brutally honest, I think the idea to run emulators on a phone is an over hyped concept, especially the big deal people are making about the App Store terms of service changes. Look, I get it, accessibility is great and all, but from my perspective, so many people already run emulators of various retro consoles on multiple devices, home consoles, handhelds, and computers to be more exact. What do you have, 10 freaking devices running a GBA emulator, maybe five with a SNES emulator, etc.. I just can't see the overkill appeal, I have jailbroken multiple Apple devices, rooted multiple Android devices, and even have experience dealing with homebrew for game consoles, getting custom firmware installed on some of those too. While this isn't to brag, toot my own horn, etc. I can say I certainly have had a fortunate enough life to experience some of this stuff first hand, thing is I don't see the appeal having all this stuff on a phone when I have other devices that can do the same damn things, if not more than others, and we live in an age where we have devices literally intended for emulation now, so I really have a hard time seeing this point. The only way I can see it is if you absolutely don't have another device that's powerful enough to handle retro emulation of some kind, but even then, this topic is about Apple services for Apple products, you mean to tell me you can spend a lot on an Apple phone, but can't spend the money on other systems that may or may not be around the same price, some cheaper than others, especially if you are the type to spend a crap ton on a phone model that just comes out? A tablet has more of a purpose for stuff like this than a dang phone in my opinion, at least with that it has intentions for multipurpose tasks and is relatively portable still, the hype over a phone doing it though.... I just never found the appeal, with the accessibility I have had to these things, I just never found myself seeing any real purpose for it. I kind of look at it like my Wii with something particular, I have a couple Game Boy Advance emulators on my Wii, at the time I modified it for homebrew, someone sent me a bunch of homebrew to throw on the SD card, mGBA and Visual Boy Advance GX being in the mix of that, and the more I think about it over time, I wonder why I even need either of them there, what's the point? I have a Nintendo 3DS, a PlayStation Vita, a freaking computer, some of my other home consoles that could also have it, why do I need yet another device to house the same exact stuff? One could use those resources for other things, probably much more beneficial than an emulator. Again, I really can only see this being a benefit if an Apple device was literally all you had, and to be frank, I find that rather confusing considering how expensive they are, reminds me of all the people I ever met who have these expensive devices, or an expensive vehicle (or two somehow), yet lives in a crappy neighborhood or a really run down house, bad priorities or something I don't know, I still can't figure that one out. Only other thing I see some people do is go nuts installing a whole bunch of stuff on most if not all their devices just to brag about it online, as if the world needs to know for some reason.

Maybe use cases differ, I don't know, I can't really pinpoint, I think and operate differently than majority where this stuff is concerned. I think the appeal kind of dwindled years ago whenever multiple devices started getting powerful enough to handle these sorts of things, so you weren't really relegated to specific platforms anymore, it certainly isn't like years ago where other than a decent computer, maybe a hacked console with some hardware legroom to work with and with a mature emulator of sorts to boot, Android devices were really the only other reliable method for most of the emulation stuff of older systems. These days even a low end budget laptop could probably handle many of these things now, ironically boasting better processors and such than even my six year old, what used to be considered high end, main rig. Likewise with the game consoles these days, a Nintendo Switch could run all these retro emulators (NO it isn't to bash its specifications, it's to point out that even the least powerful currently supported console can handle most if not all of what people actually play).

I mean correct me if I am wrong somewhere, help me to understand even. Great for the term changes I guess, but this didn't really change how I use phones at all personally, I can't jump up and down for something that I never even really took advantage of in the first place on said devices even when I had the chance to in some form (sideloading, jailbreak tweaks, etc.).

I only have my phone and that's what I use. I'm tired of seeing retro handhelds being released like weekly and they're practically all the same.

Recently I bought the Backbone One PS Edition, so just connect to it and it's a handheld.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

I only have my phone and that's what I use. I'm tired of seeing retro handhelds being released like weekly and they're practically all the same.

Recently I bought the Backbone One PS Edition, so just connect to it and it's a handheld.

"I only have my phone and that's what I use. I'm tired of seeing retro handhelds being released like weekly and they're practically all the same."

This I can understand, the amount that comes and being practically the same is absolutely wasteful on the resources and stuff going into these devices. If maybe a very small amount of variations existed, then maybe could I justify it, but 20+ different looking but the same internally systems, nope. The technology isn't going in the right direction at all, most of it is instant cash grabs, there are SOME retro based devices however that do come from reputable developers and such however that aren't bad at what they do, though sadly most of them are almost as much if not as much as a first party console in general.

 

[SuperGamer64]

Wish is wasn’t 17+ my phone is restricted. (Sadly)

 

[Memfis]

Update: Other Emulators on the App Store
Note that outside of iGBA, other "emulators" have been appearing on the App Store. The ones I'm aware of are "My Boy! - GBA Emulator", "John GBA", and "DraStic DS Emulator 3D", all by Anas Zakarneh. These each cost £6.99 and and are not emulators. Scrolling through their screenshots reveal that they are cheap games trying to cash in on the emulation hype before the real apps hit the scene. Be cautious, do research, and don't get caught out.

Yeah. That's why Apple say, that alternative Stores are unsafe and only their own Store can provide user for getting Spam and fraud, because they carry out strict tests before releasing in the store. Oh wait...

 

[Marc_LFD]

Yeah. That's why Apple say, that alternative Stores are unsafe and only their own Store can provide user for getting Spam and fraud, because they carry out strict tests before releasing in the store. Oh wait...

Alternative stores that they'll have full control of and monetize.

 

[Scarlet]

It wasn’t taken down by Apple but the developer, I can still reinstall the app from my purchases, but can’t with any of epic games stuff for example.

I've had access to things removed by Apple before to be fair. These guys seem to say Apple confirmed it was them, but obviously take it with a pinch of salt as there's no source given:

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/15/apple-removes-igba-from-app-store/

 

[JeepX87]

I have no respect for anyone ripped and stole someone's work to make emulator and load with tons of ads.

I don't blame on Apple but it was on someone stole the work.

 

[AdRoz78]

One of his apps - a supposed DS emulator, has a whopping...

...one star?! LMAO

 

[Viri]

Was already removed. lol

 

[Bladexdsl]

that didn't last long but than again nothing ever does with CRapple

 

[LoggerMan]

It's gone now. But why exactly it was rejected unclear whether or not Apple are against this particular app or still against emulators as a whole.

 

[SylverReZ]

One of his apps - a supposed DS emulator, has a whopping...

View attachment 431837
...one star?! LMAO

It'd be worse if they paid for it.

 

[andersoncardoso]

LOL apple took it down already from the store

 

[AdRoz78]

It'd be worse if they paid for it.

To leave reviews, you have to buy it... i think
feel bad for them

 

[raxadian]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024...-emulator-released-under-new-app-store-rules/.

Just use Android if you want emulators in your phone, there are several open source alternatives.

 

[aquova]

that didn't last long but than again nothing ever does with CRapple

It's gone now. But why exactly it was rejected unclear whether or not Apple are against this particular app or still against emulators as a whole.

LOL apple took it down already from the store

This was a licensing thing. As the article here states they ripped off a pre-existing emulator without credit (which is required under its licensing) and the original author rightfully got Apple to take it down