RetroArch is now available in the Apple Store for iOS devices

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Another day, another great emulator that makes its way into the Apple Store for more users to enjoy. With Apple opening its store up to videogame emulators earlier this year, emulators didn't take long to start appearing into the official store, with the Delta emulator being the first one to pop up, and the PS1 emulator Gamma following up just a few days ago, and with the portability of emulator being a key factor, it was only a matter of time before we could start seeing more heavy-hitters in the emulation scene appear in the Apple Store.

The latest frontend for emulators to appear in it is none other than the famous RetroArch that operates with files called "cores", which are the emulators themselves, and users can switch between cores to select which device to emulate, be it from the old days of computer gaming from the 70s/80s, all the way up to games from a decade or-so go, including Colecovision, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Master System, Genesis, PS1, N64, Game Boy and its variants, and many, many more. Not only does it offer cores for a wide variety of consoles, but it also offers options when it comes to what emulators to use for each console, like using VBA or mGBA for Game Boy Advance titles.

Users can also expect the usual features from such an emulation application, like native saves, save states, controller configurations and controller support, shaders, fast forward/rewind, cheats and netplay, to name a few, and RetroArch also has compatibility with RetroAchievements, which is a fan-made achievements system for everything retro-games.

Apple users can now download and install RetroArch through the official Apple Store, requiring iOS version 14.2 and above in order to play.

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x65943

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I don't know why people are excited for emulators on iPhone. There are so many cheap emulator handhelds you can buy - they are more fun and easier to play than on a touchscreen.
Because we all have our phones in our pockets 24/7 and charged anyways, so there is a huge convenience factor there

It's not practical to always have a phone and a gaming handheld in your pockets - I feel like between keys, wallet and phone my pockets are pretty much already 100% utilized
 
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nl255

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Apple is probably afraid people will play switch on their iphones

No, the problem is that JIT/dynarec requires the ability to execute data as if it were code which is very difficult to do securely. For example, there are very few JITs that work properly with PaX which disallows the usual W^X workarounds like calling mprotect to switch between executable and writable and back again or dual mapping where you map the same block twice, once as writable and once as executable.
 

The Catboy

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I don't know why people are excited for emulators on iPhone. There are so many cheap emulator handhelds you can buy - they are more fun and easier to play than on a touchscreen.
I own many of these emulation systems and a Steam Deck. All of them are great for days off, vacations, and other nonsense. But I prefer to keep them home when I working. I always have my phone on me, and I choose to keep my iPhone on me and leave my Android phones at home for backup. Since my iPhone is on me when I get off work and I am waiting for my wife, it's been nice to start up a DS emulator and play the last best generation of Pokemon (gen 5) while waiting for my wife.
 

x65943

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I own many of these emulation systems and a Steam Deck. All of them are great for days off, vacations, and other nonsense. But I prefer to keep them home when I working. I always have my phone on me, and I choose to keep my iPhone on me and leave my Android phones at home for backup. Since my iPhone is on me when I get off work and I am waiting for my wife, it's been nice to start up a DS emulator and play the last best generation of Pokemon (gen 5) while waiting for my wife.
Honestly confused to learn someone who is always posting about Linux and free/open software is choosing to use a locked down iPhone as daily driver
 
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The Catboy

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Honestly confused to learn someone who is always posting about Linux and free/open software is choosing to use a locked down iPhone as daily driver
There are two reasons.
1: I own Android phones and I have stupidly low impulse control. If I can hack them, if I can install custom ROMs, then I am going to constantly be doing that. Which means risking missing important calls, messages, appointments, and so on. So having a locked-down phone means I simply don't have those options. I do have my Android phones for when I want to play around but I can't afford my daily driver being that phone.
2: Cameras, sorry not sorry, but no matter how good an Andriod phone camera is, the software is COMPLETE trash. I really wish Samsung or someone would fork Android so can actually have properly optimized camera software. Either that or Google makes a phone isn't trash in every other department beyond the camera.
Seriously, Google, make a good phone.

Simply put, I have my Android phones for other reasons but I prefer my daily driver to be something more boring and functional. Until someone brings in a compromise, it's pretty easy for me to stick to boring iOS for the time.

I've looked into Linux phones and I just can't justify the prices for the hardware. Shit phones with mid-high phone prices aren't worth the novelty of Linux on a phone.

Edit: Seriously, my impulse control is awful. I am supposed to be reading about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and I am talking about phones on the Temp.
 
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Ryab

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Admittedly as a long time android user this does kinda put a dent in one of the reasons I have never owned an iPhone

Still wouldn't consider it given the other apps that are locked out, but a step in the right direction. Maybe one day it will actually be free and open and the ecosystem will be less toxic
I mean the only reason they are allowing this is because they were being forced to.
 

nl255

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I own many of these emulation systems and a Steam Deck. All of them are great for days off, vacations, and other nonsense. But I prefer to keep them home when I working. I always have my phone on me, and I choose to keep my iPhone on me and leave my Android phones at home for backup. Since my iPhone is on me when I get off work and I am waiting for my wife, it's been nice to start up a DS emulator and play the last best generation of Pokemon (gen 5) while waiting for my wife.

There is no way you are going to be running a DS emulator on an iPhone at anywhere close to full speed given that JIT/dynarec is not allowed. Only the old style fetch, decode/translate, execute interpreter emulation cores are allowed.
 

The Catboy

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There is no way you are going to be running a DS emulator on an iPhone at anywhere close to full speed given that JIT/dynarec is not allowed. Only the old style fetch, decode/translate, execute interpreter emulation cores are allowed.
Bruh, full speed DS emulation has been on iOS longer than emulators have been in the App Store. I’ve not experienced any lag in DS games on my phone.
 

MarkDarkness

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Apple plebs who had to wait until 2024 to run RetroArch on their phones... OMEGALUL
Post automatically merged:

Honestly confused to learn someone who is always posting about Linux and free/open software is choosing to use a locked down iPhone as daily driver
This.
 

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Finally Mario 64 and Zelda OOT on my iPhone
I wonder how these will run. I have tried Cros on PS1 and that runs fine.
Post automatically merged:

Don't forget that JIT/dynarec is still not allowed so forget about any of the more powerful systems like NDS, PS1 and above.
As stated before, Cros on PS1 plays fine. But maybe that is not a demanding game, I don't know. It was the first and only game I tried.
 

AndorfRequissa

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good luck with having any actual battery on ur iphone. when it comes to convenience yes it would be nice to play video games on a singular device but apple uses shitty batteries and u always have to charge ur iphone/ipad if u use it a little bit. i can only imagine how many people cant take phone calls because their phone is dead because they played games on it for an hour or two.

and to those who say just carry around a power cell. well the power cell is about the same size as a cheap emulation device that i can get 4-6hrs of gaming out of without worrying about phone battery
 

Rahkeesh

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good luck with having any actual battery on ur iphone. when it comes to convenience yes it would be nice to play video games on a singular device but apple uses shitty batteries and u always have to charge ur iphone/ipad if u use it a little bit. i can only imagine how many people cant take phone calls because their phone is dead because they played games on it for an hour or two.

and to those who say just carry around a power cell. well the power cell is about the same size as a cheap emulation device that i can get 4-6hrs of gaming out of without worrying about phone battery

Playing a modern 3D game will destroy your iphone battery (or maybe running Dolphin without JIT), the paltry Retroarch cores aren't going to touch it.
 

nl255

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Bruh, full speed DS emulation has been on iOS longer than emulators have been in the App Store. I’ve not experienced any lag in DS games on my phone.

Software, including emulators, when run via a jailbreak are not prevented from using JIT as that prohibition is an Apple policy, not something enforced by the OS. Go into the settings of your DS emulator and disable the JIT recompiler (if you can) and that is what it will be like with the App Store verison.
 
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Reecey

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I have an iPhone 15 pro how do I set it up? I know you download the app from the store but how do I go about installing the rom etc.. to my iPhone? What folder do I put the n64 rom into on my iPhone to boot it up on the retroarch app I’m dying to try out Mario 64
 
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