App Store guidelines now allow game emulators; more
9to5mac.com
After the EU commission fined Apple $2 billion and announced that it’s not satisfied with the changes the company made...
  • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    362·
    9 months ago

    Do we know if these emulators will support JIT? JIT has always been prohibited on iOS (which is why there are no browsers other than Safari - Firefox and Chrome on iOS are just a Safari WebView plus a crappy interface on top).

    Even when sideloading emulators, you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.

    Without JIT, sure, go nuts emulating the NES… But forget about anything more demanding than a GameCube, or using this to run a VM or something.

    • naveEnglish
      14·
      9 months ago

      you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.

      Actually Altstore has AltJIT which works on all iOS versions altstore supports but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.

      run a VM or something

      UTM (which is based on QEMU) is already available on iOS.

      • kadu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        9 months ago

        but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.

        So you mean iOS doesn’t natively support JIT for App Store apps and requires hacky workarounds?

        • WolfLink@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          iOS natively supports JIT (by which we mean writable and executable memory) but Apple locks it down to only two use cases:

          1. The JavaScript engine in Safari
          2. Support for running a debugger

          AltStore launches a debugger and connects it to your phone. Even though it’s not actually doing anything with a debugger, that’s enough to convince iOS to let your app use memory that’s both writable and executable (the key feature needed for JIT).

          Without JIT you need to either resort to a slower form of emulation or do something creative.

        • naveEnglish
          11·
          9 months ago

          I was just pointing out that OPs list was incomplete. Also theoretically someone could include altjit in their app because the App Store guidelines don’t explicitly say you can’t (ofc this would most likely not work).

    • Lojcs@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      which is why there are no browsers other than Safari

      Wasn’t that explicitly forbidden? Browsers don’t need jit to be fast enough

      Edit: was jit explicitly forbidden? Or is it that running dynamically loaded code was forbidden in general and jit falls under that category? If they’re letting emulators and other browser engines in that ban seems to be at least partially lifted

      • echo64@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        Yes, op is a little confused.

        • Browsers (were, still are in many regions) forbidden from using any engine other than the iOS provided webkit.
        • Dynamic recompilation is not possible on iOS because of how iOS does code signing. This basically blocks the entire concept of executing instructions that weren’t part of the original signed code.
    • pivot_root@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      The GameCube also needs a JIT for decent performance. On a phone, that will especially hurt to emulate the CPU in software.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    23·
    9 months ago

    Apple warns that developers are “responsible for all such software offered in your app, including ensuring that such software complies with these Guidelines and all applicable laws.” This raises the question of whether anyone can release a game emulator or only the companies that own the rights to the games distributed for it.

    A good move, and great for distribution, but this does look like it’s difficult to publish an emulator unless you could control the games too. I don’t see this clearly permitting a general purpose emulator. It’s possible, but knowing Apple, I would expect that this could let Nintendo publish an emulator but not necessarily an open source project.

    I’m glad to see it, but this to me feels more like testing the water then jumping into the deep end.

    • jbk@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      17·
      9 months ago

      Man that rule is such bullcrap. Imagine a photo editor that only allowed you to edit your own pictures and only those matching the app’s content rating.

      • Sloogs@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        7·
        9 months ago

        Did they? I think I remember some authors no longer taking payment for them. Maybe some others took theirs down of their own accord. I don’t remember hearing about Google themselves taking anything down

        • HiddenLychee@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          No, I didn’t mean to say Google did that. Not like Google is a great company, but I’m saying there was a scare a bit ago from the emulator publishers themselves when that happened. At least I thought that’s why aesthersx got taken down, and I thought I remembered others as well. Obviously people seem to disagree

    • TwinTusks@bitforged.spaceEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      Drastic is a fantastic DS emulator for android, it recently became free. I bought it over a decade ago and has been a blast.

  • cyanners@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    9 months ago

    Looks like my next phone will be an SE. Literally the one and only reason I swapped to Android was to have easy access to GBA games.