Many emulators are missing from the App Store or cut down by Apple's rules. In the EU, Japan and Brazil, you can get the ones Apple doesn't carry on Aptoide, with no jailbreak. Older consoles run best: PS2 and Switch stay slow on every iPhone.
Installs through Aptoide · EU, Japan and Brazil
Why the emulator you want may not be on the App Store
Apple's rules decide which emulators get in and what they're allowed to do. Emulators for computers and other systems, and versions with features Apple doesn't allow, are often rejected or limited. So the emulator you know from Android or PC may simply not be there.
What runs well on iPhone
Older consoles and handhelds run very well on recent iPhones: Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, NES, SNES, Nintendo DS and the first PlayStation. That includes the classic Pokémon games, which came out on Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and DS.
More demanding systems such as the PlayStation 2, GameCube or Nintendo Switch need a technique called JIT compilation to run at full speed. iOS doesn't allow any app to use it, wherever it's installed from, so those systems run slowly or not at all.
Get emulators on Aptoide
In the EU, Japan and Brazil, developers publish emulators on Aptoide, without App Store review. UTM SE is already there: it emulates a PC, so you can run classic operating systems such as DOS, early Windows or Linux, with their software and games. New emulators appear on this page as they're published.
- Open aptoide.com/ios in Safari on your iPhone.
- Tap Install and allow Aptoide as a marketplace when iOS asks.
- Install UTM SE or another emulator listed on this page.
How to add your games
Emulators don't come with games: you add the game files yourself, usually through the Files app. Save them to iCloud Drive or to the emulator's folder, then open them from the emulator. Xbox, PlayStation and other Bluetooth controllers work too: pair one in Settings, Bluetooth.
