What to Know About Apple Allowing Game Emulators in the App Store
Apple updated its App Review Guidelines this month to allow "retro game console emulator apps" on the App Store for the iPhone and other devices. Below, we outline everything to know about these emulators and available options so far.
This information is up to date as of April 2024, but Apple's policies could change over time.
What is Allowed
Apple told us that emulators that can load games (ROMs) are permitted on the App Store, so long as the apps are emulating "retro console games" only.
now available on the App Store, and it can emulate games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64, and Nintendo DS.
There is also a Commodore 64 emulator on the App Store called Emu64 XL.
removed an emulator called iGBA from the App Store for ripping off Testut's code for Delta and its predecessor GBA4iOS, while the developer of NES emulator Bimmy decided to remove the app from the App Store to avoid the risk of legal action from Nintendo.
Legality
While a U.S. court ruled that emulators are legal, downloading copyrighted ROMs is typically against the law in the country. On its customer support website in the U.S., Nintendo says that downloading pirated copies of its games is illegal:
Pirate copies of game files are often referred to as "ROMs".
Nintendo recently sued the developers of Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu for "facilitating piracy at a colossal scale," leading to a reported $2.4 million settlement. Nintendo has yet to comment on the availability of emulators in the App Store, but Delta and its predecessor GBA4iOS have been available on the iPhone outside of the App Store for over a decade now without being shut down. Nintendo did issue a DMCA takedown notice against the GBA4iOS website in 2014, but the emulators have continued to remain available.
"homebrew" games available in the public domain.
Tags: App Store, Emulator
This article, "What to Know About Apple Allowing Game Emulators in the App Store" first appeared on MacRumors.com
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