One of the world's most popular emulators won't be coming to iOS
Changes to allow emulators haven't swayed Dolphin devs
- DolphiniOS will not be making its way to the App Store it has been revealed
- This is due to Apple forbidding the use of a specific recompiler
- These restrictions would render DolphiniOS functionally useless
DolphiniOS, a fork of the popular Dolphin emulator, will not be making its way to the iOS App Store its developers have confirmed. This is despite recent changes made to the overall rules for including emulators on the app store. Recently we discussed whether or not the need to certify downloads of ROMs would be a problem, and predicted some future issues for emulators making their way to iPhones. It seems DolphiniOS has indeed run into some issues but not for what we might have thought.
Not in time
According to the developer's blog, the main issue is that Apple does not allow the use of a recompiler called JIT (Just-in-time) to interpret the code of older consoles like the GameCube and Wii, two of the most popular platforms for emulation. Due to the fact that the only other option available is a much less efficient option called Interpreter the group has instead chosen to put any plans for the DolphiniOS release on hold.
While the developers do express they still want to release DolphiniOS at some point, they also reiterate that without Apple loosening restrictions on iOS, it's functionally impossible.
Bad interpretation
Comparing the two videos provided to see the difference in performance, it's easy to figure out why the developers behind the DolphiniOS fork are staunchly against using Interpreter as opposed to JIT. Unfortunately, this is one issue we expected, which is that despite Apple being forced to slowly open their ecosystem to other players, they still maintain a stranglehold on many aspects of iOS.
Here's hoping Apple does see the writing on the wall and loosen these restrictions.
If you want to see what else is on offer for iPhone and Android, why not check out our definitive list of the top games of 2024 (so far) for indie hits, major releases and more?
