It’s been two years since Apple allowed emulators on the App Store.
And in that time, Appmagic estimates suggest emulators like Delta, PPSSPP, Manic Emu, RetroArch, Gamma and more have generated nearly 60m downloads on iPhone and iPad combined.
Those same estimates suggest the leading emulator Delta, developed by AltStore creator Riley Testut, has generated over 26m downloads since its April 2024 launch, while PPSSPP has generated over 6m. Others, like Manic Emu, RetroArch and Gamma are at around the 2m mark.
But as you’d perhaps expect, developers working in this field haven’t seen much support from Apple, despite the popularity of their apps.
Joe Mattiello released his emulator Provenance in 2024. It started life as a sideload project run by a small group of people using AltStore, but as Mattiello explains, the App Store launch saw it grow “well past that original enthusiast crowd”.
There’s a paid option, Provenance Plus, which unlocks more emulated systems to play with through IAP. The income from that has covered the costs of “developer accounts, infrastructure, services, hardware to test against – and time,” says Mattiello, though he insists Provenance “isn’t a business and never was.”
Given some of the legal grey areas these apps operate in, emulator developers must tread carefully on the App Store, and Mattiello is no different. “I’ve been pretty conservative about staying inside the lines from day one,” he tells us.
“The rules are well known at this point. No JIT, and you can’t emulate Apple hardware on Apple hardware. So Apple II and classic Mac support, which Provenance has on other platforms, is gated off in the App Store build. We did originally receive a rejection over this feature, but it was quickly rectified.”
“Beyond that, App Review hasn’t pushed back on anything specific to emulation. It’s been the normal stuff every developer deals with.”
However, with Tim Cook stepping down as CEO from September this year and John Ternus taking over, Mattiello wants to see improvements in how Apple treats all developers in the future.
“Every leadership change is an opportunity. I don’t know much about (Ternus) yet, so it’s hard to predict where it’ll go,” he tells us. “Tim’s tenure was very focused on the consumer side of things. Services, Apple TV, Music, the experience users see. The developer side felt like it ran on autopilot for a lot of that, and it shows.”
“The system needs work. AI has flooded the store with clone apps, and the sheer volume of submissions has to be overwhelming for human reviewers. Apple is in a unique position to use AI to help review, surface clones, catch policy issues, give developers faster and more accurate feedback, instead of just being something app makers ship with,” Mattiello continues.
“The developer portal, in general, feels dated next to what modern dev tooling looks like elsewhere. For the cut Apple takes, the platform underdelivers on developer experience, performance tooling and the basics,” he adds.
“So yes, new leadership is a real chance to rethink that relationship. I’d love to see it.”
