How Delta Game Emulator Took Over the App Store

Apparently, only donuts could dethrone Delta from the top of Apple’s App Store. Before that, the game emulator was the most popular app on iOS for two full weeks after being released following an unexpected change in Apple policy that finally gave emulators the green light. But Delta’s history is actually much older. Riley Testut, the developer behind the app, has been working on emulators for a decade and has seen firsthand exactly how the App Store works — and how it’s changing.

About this episode of The Vergecast, Testut joins the show to tell us the full Delta story. He describes his first attempts at building emulators, the first time he almost made it to the App Store, the process of building the alternative app store AltStorewhat it was like to see regulators around the world take aim at Apple and much more.

After that, we break off our coverage of crappy AI gadgets to talk about a genuinely interesting use we’ve found for AI: voice notes. Whether you want to keep a diary, talk about your to-do list, or get automatic notes on all your calls, there are several good gadgets and apps that make transcribing and summarizing easy.

Finally, we answer a Rabbit-related question on the Vergecast Hotline about whether AI gadgets should really be gadgets.

If you want to learn more about everything we discussed in this episode, here are some links to get you started, starting with Delta: