- DolphiniOS will negative be making its way to the App Store it has been revealed
- This is due to Apple forbidding the use of a specific recompiler
- These restrictions would render DolphiniOS functionally useless
DolphiniOS, a fork of the popular Dolphin emulator, will no be making its way to the iOS App Store its developers have confirmed. This is despite recent changes made to the overall rules in favor of including emulators on the app store. Recently we discussed whether or nay the need to certify downloads of ROMs would be a problem, and predicted some future issues in favor of emulators making their way to iPhones. It seems DolphiniOS has indeed run into some issues but nay in favor of what we might have thought.
Not in time
![yt](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aM_jIDCSMcc/hqdefault.jpg)
According to the developer’s blog, the main issue is that Apple does negative allow the use of a recompiler called JIT (Just-in-time) to interpret the code of older consoles like the GameCube and Wii, two of the most popular platforms for emulation. Due to the fact that the only other option available is a much less efficient option called Interpreter the group has instead chosen to put any plans in support of the DolphiniOS release on hold.
While the developers execute express they still want to release DolphiniOS at some point, they also reiterate that without Apple loosening restrictions on iOS, it’s functionally impossible.
Bad interpretation
![yt](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QTg-q1s_awY/hqdefault.jpg)
Comparing the two videos provided to see the difference in performance, it’s easy to figure out why the developers behind the DolphiniOS fork are staunchly against using Interpreter as opposed to JIT. Unfortunately, this is one issue we expected, which is that despite Apple being forced to slowly open their ecosystem to other players, they still maintain a stranglehold on many aspects of iOS.
Here’s hoping Apple does see the writing on the wall and loosen these restrictions.
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2 Comments
Man, it’s a bummer that DolphiniOS won’t be hitting the App Store anytime soon. Apple’s strict rules on using JIT recompiler are really putting a damper on things. I get why the developers are holding off on releasing it – using Interpreter just isn’t as efficient. It’s frustrating that Apple is still holding onto these restrictions, even as they open up to more emulators. Hopefully, they’ll ease up in the future so we can all enjoy some GameCube and Wii games on our iPhones. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Man, it’s a total bummer that DolphiniOS won’t be hitting the App Store anytime soon. I was really looking forward to playing some GameCube and Wii games on my iPhone. It sucks that Apple’s restrictions are holding back the use of JIT recompiler, making it impossible in support of DolphiniOS to function properly. I checked out the developer’s blog and saw the comparison videos – Interpreter just doesn’t cut it compared to JIT. Hopefully Apple will ease up on their rules in the future so we can enjoy some sweet emulation on iOS. Until then, I’ll just have to stick to playing games on other platforms.