Apple has changed its long-standing policy of not allowing game emulators on the App Store in a major change. The company recently tweaked its guidelines, stating that “retro game console emulator apps can offer to download games”. Apple users were unable to use iOS emulators due to Apple’s policy of banning these apps. However, there are a few caveats that developers will need to follow.
Classic Game Emulators Now Available On The App Store
After Apple’s policy changes, the first wave of game emulators made their way to the App Store. These include Delta, an emulator for NES, SNES, N64 and DS Games.
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Another popular emulator, iGBA, also briefly made its debut on the App Store but was removed due to “spam and copyright violations.” Moreover, the app was allegedly an unauthorized clone of another open-source emulator, GBA4iOS.
Despite the controversy, there are other emulator apps like Emu64 XL, a Commodore 64 emulator for iOS, iPadOS,macOS and Apple Vision Pro. These emulators are currently free to download on the Apple App Store and do not include any in-app purchases.
Why Is Apple Allowing Emulators Now?
Apple has been reluctant to allow emulators on the App Store; however, the recent anti-trust ruling and backlash by third-party developers have forced the company to change its stance.
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However, the company still has a wide range of guidelines that game emulator developers must follow, including adding filters for objectionable content, not sharing data with third parties, and following all privacy guidelines. Furthermore, according to MacRumors, the company only allows game emulators for retro console games.
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While game emulators are legal themselves, they should only allow content that the user legally owns. Any emulator that harbours illegal or pirated content could face action under Apple’s rules.
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