Adam Birney / Android Authority
long story short
- Apple has changed its app guidelines on the App Store to allow console emulators for the first time.
- Although this is due to EU pressure on anti-competition issues, the policy changes are global.
- Android has had console emulation since the beginning.
There are many differences between iPhones and Android phones. One of the more striking differences is their respective app stores: The Apple App Store is tighter than a drum, while the Google Play Store is much more open. Thanks to the latter’s open doors, Android users have been enjoying console emulation since the platform’s inception. Some of the earliest Android apps were actually Nintendo emulators.
Today, however, Apple changed its App Store policies and will allow emulators in the store (h/t 9 to 5). This means that for the first time ever, iPhone users can visit the App Store and download an emulator without going through any hassle. Previously, they needed to jailbreak the iPhone and then sideload the emulator, or rely on questionable apps to bypass Apple’s review process and hide the emulator inside.
Why did this change happen? This is undoubtedly in response to ongoing scrutiny by EU regulators into Apple’s business practices, which the European Commissioner considers anti-competitive. Due to the new laws passed in Europe, Apple has had to make a series of changes, including changing the iPhone to the USB-C standard. Allowing third-party app stores and the ability to download apps from other sources is another thing Apple has to change, and the change to its policy is certainly a direct response to that.
In other words, Apple knows that people will flock to third-party platforms to get emulators, which is bad for Apple. This is purely a sign that competition is good for consumers.
To be clear, simply because this is a response to EU boycott, it is a global change. Even in the US, iPhone users will eventually be able to use the emulator.
Of course, emulators touch on some legal gray areas. While emulating systems has been held to be perfectly legal in courts in several countries, the use of proprietary software (and games in the case of console emulation) in emulators downloaded for free from the internet is highly illegal. . Apple (and developers) need to deal with this now.
However, Google has had to deal with this problem since 2008, so it’s obviously not impossible.
Since this change has just happened, it may be a while before the first emulator appears on the App Store. Our money is on a large emulator like RetroArch or Dolphin, but some smaller emulators may also succeed first. Regardless, the emulator is coming to iPhone, which is great news for retro gamers.