Emulators on iOS

iOS

Developer	Apple Inc.
Type	Operating systems
Earliest release	iPhone OS 1.0 (2007)
Latest release	iOS 17 (2023)

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Outdated note: update info and links due to App Store rules change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

Multi-Systems

RetroArch

Nightly

GitHub

iOS RetroArch Cores

RetroArch BIOS/ROMs

Name	Version	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Delta	App Store git	✓	✓	✓
Ignited	git	✓	✓	TBD
Provenance	git	✓	✓	✓
Happy Chick Emulator (小鸡模拟器)	1.5.4	✗ (stolen emulators)	✓	✗

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

Happy Chick Emulator
Supported Consoles list	PlayStation PlayStation Portable Nintendo DS Nintendo 64 Nintendo GBA Nintendo GB/GBC Nintendo SNES Nintendo NES Sega Genesis/MD Sega Game Gear & Master System Sega DreamCast NEC PCE/PCECD/SuperGrafx SNK NeoGeo Pocket/Pocket Color Bandai WonderSwan/WonderSwan Color MAME FinalBurn Alpha ONScripter

Eclipse

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

PlayStation

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
PSX4iphone	1	✗	✗	✗	✗

PlayStation 2

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Play!	Automated Builds	✓	✓	✓	✗

PlayStation Portable

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
PPSSPP	Builds	✓	✓	✓	✓

Nintendo

NES (Famicom)

Name	Version	Accuracy	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Nesemu	git	High	✓	✓	✓
Gearnes	git	High	✓	✗	✗

Game Boy / Color

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
GearBoy	git	✓	✓	✓	✓
GBA4iOS	2.1	✗	✗	✗	✓
Game Play Color	2.3.6	✗	✗	✗	?

Wii / GameCube

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Dolphin iOS	3.2.1	✗	✓	✓	✓

Nintendo DS

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
iNDS (nds4ios derived)	git	✗	✓	✗	✓
NDS4iOS	1.3.5	✗	✗	✗	~

Nintendo 3DS

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Limón	1.0.8.5 (Build 1)	✗	✓	✓	✓

Sega

Saturn

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Yaba Sanshiro (Yaba三四郎)	2.1.2.0	✗	✓	✓	✓

MasterSystem / GameGear

Name	Version	SG-1000	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
GearSystem	git	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Dreamcast

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Flycast	Build	✓	✓	✓	~

Microsoft

DOS

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
iDOS	git	✗	✓	~	~

NEC

PC9801

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
NP2-iOS	git	✗	✓	✗	~

PC8801

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
XM8-iOS	git	✗	✓	✗	~

Motorola.

6609

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
my6609	1.2	✗	✗	✓	✓

Sinclair

ZX80/ZX81 & TS1000

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
ZX81	1.13.2	✗	✗	✓	✓

Apple Inc.

Macintosh 68k

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Mini vMac	latest	✓	✓	✗	✓
BasiliskII	31/05/2020	✓	✓	✗	~

Apple llGS

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
ActiveGS	git	✗	✓	✓	✓

Arcade

MAME

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
MAME4iOS	git	✗	✓	✓	✓

Programming based

Martin Magni

Name	Version	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Fancade	HTML51.12.4	✗	✓	✓

Game Engine

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
OpenBOR-iOS	git	✗	✓	~	✓
Doom3-iOS	git	✗	✓	✗	✓

Chip8 / Schip8

Name	Version	Libretro Core	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
iPhone-Chip-8-Emulator	git	✗	✗	✗	~

Other

• VirtualKim - 6502 Emulator https://apps.apple.com/us/app/virtualkim-6502-emulator/id1548356829
• ScummVM - Old Game engines https://docs.scummvm.org/en/latest/other_platforms/ios.html
• UTM - Emulate via virtual machines https://getutm.app/

Will add to relevant sections later

iPadOS

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

WatchOS

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

Nintendo

GameBoy Advance

Name	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
GBA4Watch	✓	✗	TBD

GameBoy/GameBoy Color

Name	Versions	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
GIOVANNI	WatchOS 5.2 fork Original version	✓	✗	TBD
PlutoBoy	git	✓	✗	TBD

NES

Name	Versions	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
NESEmulator	WatchOS 8 fork Original version	✓	✗	TBD

Chip8

Name	FLOSS	Active	Recommended
Chip-8-WatchOS	✓	✗	TBD

See also

• Emulators on Vita
• Emulators on PSP
• Emulators on PS4
• Emulators on Switch
• Emulators on 3DS
• Emulators on Java
• Emulators on Symbian
• Emulators on Android
• iOS emulators

Ignited is a fork of Delta with a focus on more up to date and modern cores.