Summary
- Apple now allows retro gaming emulation apps on its App Store, including RetroArch.
- RetroArch serves as a frontend for multiple emulators, offering a wide range of gaming options.
- Apple’s loosening of app store rules may signal larger changes in its software ecosystem.
Apple has been making excellent phones for years now (we’ve even covered a few of them), but they have always been hobbled by the fact that Apple ruthlessly curates the software it does and doesn’t allow on its App Store. One type of app that wasn’t permitted in the past was retro gaming emulators under the principle that uploading ROM files to the phone presented an inherent security risk. Thankfully, Apple changed its mind last month and updated its rules about the kinds of software allowed on its store to make room for retro emulation. Now, one of the biggest names in retro emulation has landed on iOS.
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RetroArch has landed
To be fair, RetroArch isn’t exactly an emulator, it’s more of a frontend for lots of different things, but mostly emulators, which are called cores in RetroArch parlance. If you want to check it out, it’s live on the App Store right now (via Android Authority), and because it’s completely open source, there’s no money involved and no ads to worry about.
These changes seem to be part of larger changes to Apple’s software ecosystem. Sideloading apps on iPhones, once verboten, is now possible if you live in the EU, and alternatives to the App Store are starting to show up as well. It could be that Apple is loosening its rules to stem the potential loss of App Store users to outside app stores.
If you’ve never heard of RetroArch before, think of it as a scaffold for a comprehensive emulator program. RetroArch is the pretty window dressing that lets you choose which game to play without you having to think too hard about setting up the software needed to run the ROM. Cores are kind of like browser plugins except they’re emulators, and they’re designed to simulate the hardware of video game consoles. RetroArch cores can emulate everything from the ancient Atari 2600 to the more modern Nintendo 3DS and lots in between.
That’s really just scratching the surface of what you can do with RetroArch because we haven’t talked about online multiplayer, achievements, gameplay recording, save states, and AI translation. Really, we could write a whole article on RetroArch (comment if you want one). The only downside to RetroArch is you’re going to have to handle finding ROMs and transferring them to your phone yourself. It’s not hard, per se, but you will have to be comfortable navigating your phone’s file system.
