Why Dolphin Isn’t Coming to the App Store (Spoiler: It Needs a JIT)

“OatmealDome”, developer of an iOS fork of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin:

Two weeks ago, Apple modified their App Store guidelines to allow retro game emulators in the App Store. This week, Delta, a multi-system emulator that was previously only available via AltStore, was released on the App Store. Since these events happened, we’ve been asked many times if we will submit DolphiniOS (our fork of Dolphin) to the App Store.

Unfortunately, no.

Apple still does not allow us to use a vital technology that is necessary for Dolphin to run with good performance: JIT. [...]

Unfortunately, Apple generally does not allow apps to use JIT recompilers on iOS. The only exceptions are Safari and alternative web browsers in Europe. We submitted a DMA interoperability request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple denied the request a few weeks ago.

Swift Playgrounds is an exception too. Apple trusts itself to use JIT compilation safely, but not third-party developers. That’s not unreasonable — but I’m not sure it’s compliant with the DMA.

★ Tuesday, 18 June 2024