Emulators on iOS

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iOS
IOS.png
Developer Apple Inc.
Type Operating systems
Earliest release iPhone OS 1.0 (2007)
Latest release iOS 18 (2024)
This page is about emulators that run on IOS.
For software that emulates IOS on other hardware, see iOS emulators.

Outdated note: update info and links due to App Store rules change

Before diving in;
  • See each Wiki Category Consoles, Computers and Arcade for individual dedicated system pages to see more detailed comparisons and information about software emulators. Dedicated system pages provide more up-to-date listings and in-depth information on specific aspects like hardware features, peripheral support, and compatibility etc.
  • Some games have Game engine recreations and source ports that run on iOS, which can be the better than emulators for their specific games.

iOS[edit]

System Specific[edit]

Name Latest version System License Active Recommended
PPSSPP App Store
Website 		Playstation Portable GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

Multi-Systems[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
RetroArch App Store
Website 		GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓
Delta App Store
git 		AGPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓
Ignited[1] git AGPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ TBD
Provenance git BSD-3-Clause (Permissive) ✓ ✓
Folium App Store
Website 		GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ~
Retroarch

Supported Consoles list

  • Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
  • Game Boy / Game Boy Color
  • Game Boy Advance (GBA)
  • Nintendo 64 (N64)
  • Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
  • Sega Master System
  • Sega Game Gear
  • PlayStation 1 (PSX)
  • PlayStation Portable (PSP)
  • Atari 2600
  • Atari 7800
  • Atari Lynx
  • Neo Geo Pocket / Neo Geo Pocket Color
  • PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16
  • WonderSwan / WonderSwan Color
  • MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
  • DOS (via DOSBox)
  • Commodore 64
  • ScummVM
Delta

Supported Consoles list

  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Nintendo 64
  • Gameboy / Gameboy Color
  • Gameboy Advance
  • Nintendo DS
Ignited

Supported Consoles list

  • Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Nintendo 64
  • Gameboy / Gameboy Color
  • Gameboy Advance
  • Nintendo DS
  • Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
  • Sega Master System
  • Sega Game Gear
Provenance

Supported Consoles list

  • SG-1000
  • Master System, Game Gear
  • Sega Genesis/MD, Sega CD, 32X, Sega Saturn
  • Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom Disk System
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System
  • Gameboy / Gameboy Color
  • Gameboy Advance
  • PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16)
  • PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System / TurboGrafx-CD
  • PC Engine SuperGrafx
  • PC-FX
  • SNK Neo Geo
  • PlayStation
  • Bandai WonderSwan
  • Atari 2600
  • Atari 5200
  • Atari 7800
  • Atari Lynx
  • Atari Jaguar
Folium

Supported Consoles list

  • Gameboy Advance
  • Nintendo DS
  • Nintendo 3DS

Eclipse[edit]

Eclipse is a web-based emulator for iOS devices. It supports classic Nintendo systems (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA) as well as Sega Game Gear and Master System.

It's very easy to use since it doesn't require any third-party app store or jailbreak, instead the website can simply be added to the home screen from Safari. It also works offline. However, it doesn't have as many features as other emulators.

Sony[edit]

PlayStation 2[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Play! Automated Builds BSD-2-Clause (Permissive) ✓ ✓ ✗

PlayStation Portable[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
PPSSPP App Store
Gold
Builds 		✓ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

Nintendo[edit]

NES (Famicom)[edit]

Name Latest version Accuracy License Active Recommended
Nesemu git High MIT (Permissive) ✓ ✓
Gearnes git High GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ ✗

Game Boy / Color[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
GearBoy git ✓ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓
GBA4iOS 2.1 ✗ Proprietary ✗ ✓
Game Play Color 2.3.6 ✗ Proprietary ✗ ?

Wii / GameCube[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Dolphin iOS 3.2.1
git 		✗ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

Nintendo DS[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
iNDS
(nds4ios derived) 		git ✗ ? ✗ ✓
NDS4iOS 1.3.5 ✗ Proprietary ✗ ~

Nintendo Switch[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Pomelo git ✗ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓
Sudachi
 git ✗ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ ~

Sega[edit]

Saturn[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Yaba Sanshiro (Yaba三四郎) 2.1.2.0 ✗ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

MasterSystem / GameGear[edit]

Name Latest version SG-1000 Libretro Core License Active Recommended
GearSystem git ✓ ✓ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

Dreamcast[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Flycast Build ✓ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ~

Microsoft[edit]

DOS[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
iDOS git ✗ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ~ ~
nDOS git ✗ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ~

NEC[edit]

PC9801[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
NP2-iOS git ✗ ? ✗ ~

PC8801[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
XM8-iOS git ✗ ? ✗ ~


Motorola.[edit]

6609[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
my6609 1.2 ✗ Proprietary ✓ ✓

Sinclair[edit]

ZX80/ZX81 & TS1000[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
ZX81 1.13.2 ✗ Proprietary ✓ ✓

Apple Inc.[edit]

Macintosh 68k[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
Mini vMac latest ✓ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓
BasiliskII 31/05/2020 ✓ ? ✗ ~

Apple llGS[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
ActiveGS git ✗ ? ✓ ✓


Arcade[edit]

MAME[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
MAME4iOS git ✗ GPLv2 (Copyleft) ✓ ✓

Programming based[edit]

Martin Magni[edit]

Name Latest version License Active Recommended
Fancade HTML51.12.4 Proprietary ✓ ✓

Game Engine[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
OpenBOR-iOS git ✗ Non-commercial ~ ✓
Doom3-iOS git ✗ GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ ✓

CHIP-8 / SCHIP[edit]

Name Latest version Libretro Core License Active Recommended
iPhone-Chip-8-Emulator git ✗ 3.0 (Non-commercial) ✗ ~

Other[edit]

Will add to relevant sections later

iPadOS[edit]

IPOS is an iOS based operating system developed for the iPad line of tablet computers.

WatchOS[edit]

WOS is an iOS based operating system developed for the Apple Watch.

Nintendo[edit]

GameBoy Advance[edit]

Name License Active Recommended
GBA4Watch MIT (Permissive) ✗ TBD

GameBoy/GameBoy Color[edit]

Name Latest versions License Active Recommended
GIOVANNI WatchOS 5.2 fork
Original version 		MIT (Permissive) ✗ TBD
PlutoBoy git GPLv3 (Copyleft) ✗ TBD

NES[edit]

Name Latest versions License Active Recommended
NESEmulator WatchOS 8 fork
Original version 		MIT (Permissive) ✗ TBD

CHIP-8[edit]

Name License Active Recommended
Chip-8-WatchOS MIT (Permissive) ✗ !

See also[edit]

Emulators on other systems
Calculators
Casio • NumWorks • TI • HP
Handheld computers
Pandora • DragonBox Pyra • PocketChip
Mobile
Android • iOS • MRE • Java
Microcontrollers
STM32 • ESP8266 • ESP32 • TM4C
Home computers
Commodore 64 • VIC-20 • BBC Micro • Tandy Color Computer 2
Dragon 32/64 • Coleco Adam • ZX Spectrum • Cambridge Z88 • Atari 8-bit • Atari ST • PC-8800 • PC-9800
Other
Rockbox • iPod • tvOS • UEFI • browsers • RetroFW • Arduino • PocketSprite • PICO-8 • TIC-80
Operating systems
Modern: Windows • Linux • macOS • Windows on ARM • Raspberry Pi • BSD

Legacy (Microsoft): DOS • Windows 3.x • Windows 9x • Enterprise Windows NT• Windows XP • Windows 7
Legacy (other): IRIX • BeOS • Towns OS • Classic Mac OS • NeXTSTEP • OS/2 • TempleOS • SunsOS

Legacy mobile (Microsoft): Windows CE • Pocket PC • Windows Mobile • Windows Phone • Windows RT
Legacy mobile (other): MeeGo • Palm OS • Symbian • EPOC • Blackberry OS • MediOS • Zaurus

Other: AmigaOS • RISC OS • QNX • KaiOS • KolibriOS • MorphOS • Haiku • Maemo • ToaruOS • Solaris • ZealOS • Redox
  1. ↑ Ignited is a fork of Delta with a focus on more up to date and modern cores.
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