Apple officially allows emulators to be added to the App Store. You will soon be able to play retro gaming even better on your iPhone, although there is a condition that makes it a bit more difficult to find them. Only emulators may be added for which the company actually has the rights to the console on which the emulator is based.
Apple probably opted for this new policy for the App Store in connection with the Digital Markets Act or Nintendo’s campaign against emulators, although there are experts who link the adjustment to an antitrust lawsuit in the United States in which Apple is accused of cloud gaming. GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming have now been admitted to Apple’s app store.
Emulator on iPhone
But soon there will also be more emulators, making iPhones increasingly better gaming devices. Apple writes in its updated guidelines: “Apps may offer certain software that is not embedded in the binary, especially HTML5 mini-apps and mini-games, streaming games, chatbots and plugins. In addition, emulator apps for retro game consoles can offer to download games.”
On iPhones you used to actually have to jailbreak to use an emulator, but that’s over. As long as an app uses HTML5 and is not native, mini-games and mini-apps are also possible within the App Store. We are curious whether this will mean that there will immediately be a lot more ‘junk’ in the Apple app store. However, it can of course also provide nice additions and for many people more choice is also more pleasant.
Spotify happy
Another change has been announced in the App Store, although it is only available in the EU: the ability to allow links in music streaming apps that can direct people to a purchase outside the App Store, but directly at the appmaker. Price information can now also be displayed: something Apple previously stopped, but will probably have to do anyway under pressure from the new Digital Markets Act. In any case, Spotify will be very happy with it.
Android users are already familiar with emulators: they have always been available in the Play Store, although they are regularly removed because they often toe the line between legal and illegal.
