App Store guidelines now allow game emulators; more
9to5mac.com
After the EU commission fined Apple $2 billion and announced that it’s not satisfied with the changes the company made...
    • laxe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      This is app store competition does. Apple didn’t want an emulator-friendly app store to become super popular.

  • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    Do we know if these emulators will support JIT? JIT has always been prohibited on iOS (which is why there are no browsers other than Safari - Firefox and Chrome on iOS are just a Safari WebView plus a crappy interface on top).

    Even when sideloading emulators, you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.

    Without JIT, sure, go nuts emulating the NES… But forget about anything more demanding than a GameCube, or using this to run a VM or something.

    • nave@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.

      Actually Altstore has AltJIT which works on all iOS versions altstore supports but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.

      run a VM or something

      UTM (which is based on QEMU) is already available on iOS.

      • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.

        So you mean iOS doesn’t natively support JIT for App Store apps and requires hacky workarounds?

        • WolfLink@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          iOS natively supports JIT (by which we mean writable and executable memory) but Apple locks it down to only two use cases:

          1. The JavaScript engine in Safari
          2. Support for running a debugger

          AltStore launches a debugger and connects it to your phone. Even though it’s not actually doing anything with a debugger, that’s enough to convince iOS to let your app use memory that’s both writable and executable (the key feature needed for JIT).

          Without JIT you need to either resort to a slower form of emulation or do something creative.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    2·
    6 months ago

    Apple warns that developers are “responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.” This raises the question of whether anyone can release a game emulator or only the companies that own the rights to the games distributed for it.

    A good move, and great for distribution, but this does look like it’s difficult to publish an emulator unless you could control the games too. I don’t see this clearly permitting a general purpose emulator. It’s possible, but knowing Apple, I would expect that this could let Nintendo publish an emulator but not necessarily an open source project.

    I’m glad to see it, but this to me feels more like testing the water then jumping into the deep end.

      • Sloogs@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Did they? I think I remember some authors no longer taking payment for them. Maybe some others took theirs down of their own accord. I don’t remember hearing about Google themselves taking anything down

    • TwinTusks@bitforged.spaceEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      Drastic is a fantastic DS emulator for android, it recently became free. I bought it over a decade ago and has been a blast.