Earlier this month, Apple quietly tweaked its Apple Store review guidelines, adding new language that specifically states, “retro game console emulator apps may offer game downloads,” marking the first time the company has allowed emulators on iOS. hooray!
It didn’t take long for anyone to take advantage of this new convenience: iGBA, a Game Boy emulator, debuted on the App Store over the weekend, quickly rising to the top of the free apps chart. The introductory emulator seems to have played by Apple’s new rules: since piracy is apparently illegal, the app would only run ROMs that you downloaded yourself to the Files app on your iPhone. iPhone gamers rejoiced. Then, Apple removed the emulator from its market, just a few days after it was launched. iPhone gamers mourned.
While we still don’t know exactly why Apple took the iGBA away, there seems to be a likely explanation—and it has nothing to do with pirated games. Developer Riley Testut took to Threads on Sunday to highlight the fact that iGBA appears to be a copy of their own emulator, GBA4iOS. Despite Testut not giving permission to use its code, the iGBA somehow managed to pass Apple’s strict app review process to make it onto the App Store itself.
Tetsut has been trying to launch its alternative app store, AltStore, in the European Union for over a month now, and plans to release Delta, a revised version of GBA4iOS, when that happens. With all of this up in the air, Testsut says he’s especially frustrated that Apple was so quick to approve the rip-off of his app.
Still, Apple seems to have taken Testuto’s claims seriously. My guess is that the company launched an investigation, and when Apple confirmed that the iGBA was indeed made from stolen code, it was immediately removed from the App Store.
The process appears to have followed what was outlined in the company’s app review guidelines:
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Make sure your app only includes content you’ve created or licensed to use. Your app may be removed if you have exceeded the limit and used content without permission. Of course, this also means that someone else’s app can be removed if it “borrows” from your work.
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Much can be learned from this experience. First, don’t steal. This is wrong and Apple will boot you from the App Store if you do this, no matter how successful you are. Second, and more important for most of us, is that we don’t download the first emulator that pops up in the iOS App Store. Tetsut says the iGBA was riddled with ads and tracking, meaning those lucky retro gamers playing Pokémon on their iPhones this weekend likely had their privacy invaded. There is no evidence that the iGBA was maliciousbut it’s easy to imagine another emulator app sneaking onto the App Store with bad intentions.
Although you can’t download iGBA in the future, it won’t disappear from your iPhone if you’ve already installed it. Although you can continue to use it, given the situation, I recommend that you simply delete it. While this change in Apple’s policy is positive, it’s important to take a breath: I’m sure Apple will be even stricter with emulation reviews in the future, but it might be best to wait until the emulator is further vetted before diving into your favorite retro game.