Apple says no to PC emulators on iOS

Apple may finally allow retro video game emulators on the App Store, but this month the company rejected submissions of iDOS 3, a new version of the popular DOS emulator, and UTM SE, an app that lets you emulate operating systems like Windows on iOS . . In both cases, Apple said the new releases violate guideline 4.7 of the Application Review Guidelineswhich is the one that allows retro game emulators.

Chaoji Li, the developer of iDOS 3, shared some of Apple’s arguments for rejection with On the edge. “The app provides emulator functionality, but does not specifically emulate a retro game console,” according to Apple’s notice. “Only retro game console emulators are appropriate under guideline 4.7.”

“When I asked what changes I should make to be compliant, they had no idea, even when I asked what a retro game console is,” Li said in a blog post. “It’s still the same old irrational ‘we know it when we see it’ response.”

UTM posted about its rejection on , according to the post.

UTM also noted that Apple is preventing UTM SE from authenticating to third-party app stores because the app appears to have infringed guideline 2.5.2. This rule states that applications must be independent and cannot run code “that introduces or changes features or functionality of the application, including other applications.”

Apple typically does not allow just-in-time (JIT) compilation. However, somewhat confusingly, UTM said that UTM SE does not include just-in-time compilation. Additionally, Apple clarified that guideline 4.7, which allows apps to offer “certain software that is not embedded in the binary,” is “an exception that applies only to App Store apps,” but is not one for which the UTM SE qualifies, UTM said in a follow-up post.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in other App Store fights, developers are at the mercy of Apple’s fickle decision-making. “In short, as the sole creator and enforcer of rules in [the] In the iOS ecosystem, they don’t need to be consistent,” Li said via email. And UTM said it will no longer push for UTM SE to be on the App Store because it feels the app “is a subpar experience and not worth fighting for.”

Apple likely opened the door to retro game emulators in April in response to antitrust scrutiny, while also launching support for third-party app stores in the EU in March so it could comply with the Digital Markets Act.