DolphiniOS, a fork of the popular Dolphin emulator for Nintendo Wii and GameCube games, has confirmed that it will not be coming to the Apple App Store despite recent changes in Apple’s policies allowing emulators. The developer behind the emulator has stated that Apple’s denial of access to its underlying performance-boosting technology, Just-in-Time (JIT), is the reason for this decision.
JIT is a compiler that translates the GameCube and Wii’s PowerPC-based code into a language that other devices can understand, resulting in smoother emulation. However, Apple doesn’t allow third-party apps to use JIT compilers, with the exception of Safari and alternative web browsers in Europe. oatmealDome, the developer of DolphiniOS, has submitted a Digital Markets Act interoperability request to Apple for JIT support but was denied.
While there is a workaround to use an interpreter instead of JIT, it is significantly slower. Videos shared by oatmealDome demonstrate the poor performance of emulation on an iPhone 15 when an interpreter is used. Apple has not yet responded to a request for more information about its rules surrounding JIT.
Despite Apple’s recent policy changes, which have seen other emulators rise to the top of the App Store, it appears that the full potential of emulation on iOS devices may be limited by Apple’s restrictions on performance-boosting technologies like JIT.
