Emulators on tvOS
| |
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | Apple TV Software 1.0 (2007) |
| Latest release | / tvOS 18 (2024) |
tvOS is Apple, Inc.'s streaming media player operating system. It is a derivative and counterpart to iOS, and a sibling operating system to iPadOS. It was introduced with the Apple TV as Apple TV Software in 2007, then revamped and rebranded to tvOS 4th generation Apple TV as tvOS 9 (to match then current iOS 9 numbering scheme). With tvOS 9's introduction, Apple opened the platform to third-party developers and introduced the tvOS App Store. It continues to be updated and runs on the Apple TV 4K (5th generation) and Apple TV 4K, 2nd generation (6th generation).
- 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 tvOS, which can be the better than emulators for their specific games.
Background information
Reasons to emulate on tvOS include: powerful processing (Apple Silicon) and graphics (leveraging (typically) the Metal API), instant large screen TV set-up, and support for Nintendo Switch Online controllers, PlayStation 4 and 5 controllers, and Xbox One S and X/S controllers (along with MFi, Siri Remote and multi-player support). Reasons not to or to be cautious about emulating on tvOS include: difficulty of installation (requires either a Jailbreak (not available on all Apple TV models or tvOS versions), a sideloading (see Sideloadly) or building/compiling yourself and installing onto the Apple TV (via Xcode)), limited storage capacity (circumvented with cloud storage), and keeping various emulators up-to-date.
Installation methods
- Xcode
- Sideloadly
AirPlay
Most emulators on iOS can be screen mirrored to tvOS through native code, which doesn't provide native emulation or inputs but can provide some functionality for viewing purposes and such.
Multi-Systems
| Name | Latest version | FLOSS | Active | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAME | ||||
| MAME4iOS (ArcadeMania) | git | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| libretro | ||||
| RetroArch | 1.22.2 Website |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Provenance | TestFlight git |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
An open-source, multi-platform libretro frontend written in C or C++. It is designed to be fast, lightweight, and portable. The tvOS port includes some features to sidestep local functionality, such as installing ROMs from a web server.
An open-source, multi-system emulator for iOS and tvOS.