Apple has recently made a surprising move by approving the first PC emulator for iPhone and iPad, UTM SE, on the App Store. This innovative app allows users to emulate old versions of Windows, macOS, and much more right from their iOS devices.
Back in April, Apple made a significant change to its App Store Guidelines by allowing game emulators, which led to the introduction of popular emulators like Delta for Nintendo. However, UTM SE faced rejection from Apple in June, raising questions and concerns among users and developers.
Initially, Apple’s reasoning behind the rejection was that only “retro game” emulators were permitted, not PC emulators, despite the overlap in functionality. This decision sparked controversy and even caught the attention of the European Commission.
In a surprising turn of events, the developers of UTM SE announced on social media that Apple had eventually approved the app for the App Store, marking a significant victory for the emulation community. The app will also soon be available on AltStore PAL in the EU, expanding its reach to more users.
UTM SE offers a range of features, including support for VGA mode for graphics, emulation of x86, PPC, and RISC-V architectures, and the ability to run pre-built machines or create custom configurations from scratch. Powered by QEMU, a widely-used emulator, UTM SE opens up a world of possibilities for running classic software and old-school games on iOS devices.
It’s important to note that due to Apple’s restrictions on JIT compilers, the performance of UTM SE may not be as powerful as on other platforms. Regardless, the availability of a PC emulator on the App Store is a significant milestone for emulation enthusiasts.
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