The arrival of emulators on the App Store opens the door to the Game Boy on iPhone and Apple Watch


After years of resistance, Apple finally allows emulators on the App Store. This already gives some ideas to players.

Since its launch in 2008, the Apple App Store has strictly banned emulators. To play Game Boy, Nintendo DS or PSP titles on an iPhone, you necessarily have to go through unofficial solutions, such as jailbreak or company certificates. This is not ideal, which makes emulation not a common practice in the iOS ecosystem.

Soon, all that could change. The DMA, the new European regulation, requires Apple to authorize the installation of applications outside the App Store, which will allow emulators to easily arrive on iPhone. Even more surprising: Apple has decided to authorize emulators on the App Store, globally and on all platforms, even if certain conditions remain to be defined. We do not know, for example, if these emulators will be able to load games retrieved online (ROMs) or if they will have to be limited to a fixed catalog. A rule that could change everything.

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While waiting to see emulators land on iOS (on the App Store or elsewhere), a video published on Reddit on April 8, 2024 caught our attention. We see a person playing the Game Boy Advance version of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on an Apple Watch Ultra hooked into the middle of a Bluetooth controller.

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The video of this watch hides a lie

A connected watch in the middle of a controller? It’s ingenious. The screen of an Apple Watch generally takes the format of the first Game Boy, which makes the product rather suited to this type of emulation. The video published by R3V3RB_7 is proof that this idea is interesting, even if it actually hides a big lie.

Those most familiar with Apple have probably noticed: this is not an Apple Watch (the grid under the screen does not normally exist). R3V3RB_7 bought a Chinese copy running Android, which allows him to install whatever he wants. His video aims more to prove the potential of the format than to achieve a technological feat.

Android on an Apple Watch Ultra?
Android on an Apple Watch Ultra? // Source: Reddit

Will there ever be a Game Boy emulator on watchOS? GBA4iOS, the most popular emulator, will soon arrive on European iPhones via the AltStore, a rival store to the App Store. Its arrival on iOS, iPadOS and visionOS is also possible on the App Store, if Apple authorizes it. The public’s appetite for the Apple Watch could lead its developer to adapt the application. In short, anything is possible!

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