In a nutshell: Apple has allowed the first PC emulator on the App Store just weeks after shooting it and a similar app down in a move that confused developers. UTM SE is a retro PC emulator capable of emulating x86, PPC, and RISC-V architectures (in 32-bit and 64-bit variants) to run classic software, and supports both VGA mode for graphics and terminal mode for text-only operating systems.
According to the App Store listing, users can run pre-built machines or create custom configurations from scratch. It is available now for free for iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro.
While a win for emulation, UTM SE isn’t exactly what the app’s developer had in mind. Ideally, the emulator would utilize just-in-time (JIT) compilation to compile code as a program is running. Apple, however, sees this as a security risk and doe not allow it.
To get around this, the team came up with a threaded interpreter that gets the job done but is slower than JIT. As such, the “SE” in UTM SE stands for “slow edition.”
We are happy to announce that UTM SE is available (for free) on iOS and visionOS App Store (and coming soon to AltStore PAL)!
Shoutouts to AltStore team for their help and to Apple for reconsidering their policy.https://t.co/HAV5JnT5GO
– UTM (@UTMapp) July 13, 2024
OMG Ubuntu notes that for “ancient” operating systems, the JIT bottleneck won’t be as much of an issue as those platforms were built for slower hardware. Newer operating systems that are more resource intensive are going to present more of an issue.
The devs have some handy guides available to help users get up and running on their preferred OS, but you will need to provide your own installation ISO for Windows.
Apple only recently warmed up to the idea of allowing retro game emulators in the App Store. Prior, the only way to run such software on Apple mobile hardware was to sideload it on a jailbroken device.
One of the first apps to take advantage of the opportunity was Nintendo emulator Delta, and quickly became the top free app. Even now, roughly three months later, it sits at number 35 on the entertainment charts. UTM SE, meanwhile, is at number 22 on the same entertainment chart.
