The walled gardens of Manzana are becoming less and less so. The company has partially reversed the decision taken last month by which it refused to admit two emulators to its App Store, iDOS 3which allows you to use the DOS operating system, and UTM SEwhich does the same with a variety of distributions based on Linux as Ubuntu either Debianas well as with various versions of Windowsthe operating system of Microsoft: Windows XpWindows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 11. The latter, UTM SE, has finally received the green light from Apple and is now available for iOS, iPadOS and VisionOSthe operating system of virtual reality glasses Vision Pro; it was already for computers Mac.
Apple is in a year of changes by the application of the Digital Markets Act of the European Union. This has forced the company to cross lines that it would otherwise never have considered. Open iPhone to third-party app stores. Another of the changes, of lesser importance, has led him to accept the presence of emulators for video game platformsand UTM SE wanted to take advantage of this possibility. However, Apple refused to accept it, arguing that, although one of its uses may be to play retro titles, A PC is not a video game console.
The developer then said that it was not worth fighting to get the app approved. He explained that Apple’s restrictions on JIT (just-in-time) compilers meant that UTM SE would not be as powerful as other emulation platforms. Therefore, it was not worth the time it would take to modify the application to comply with Apple’s documentation, which it considers vague in several aspects.
Apple’s decision was criticised by several developers who warned that it could lead to fines for the company for violating the new European regulations. Whether this is the reason or another, Apple has changed its position and the app is now availableIn a message posted on X, the former Twitter, the developer thanks AltStore, one of the new third-party stores for iOS where the app will also be available, and credits another developer ‘whose implementation of QEMU TCTI was critical to this JIT-free build.’
Also shoutout to @ktemkin whose QEMU TCTI implementation was pivotal for this JIT-less build.
— UTM (@UTMapp) July 13, 2024
In the app description in the store Manzana It is presented as “A PC emulator that lets you run classic software and old-school games” capable of emulating architectures x86, PPC and RISC-V with support for VGA graphics. The application does not come with the operating systems included, the guide on how to install them is available on the UTM website, in some cases accompanied by the download of the same, as is the case with Windows XP, Windows 7, Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22.04. The requirement to make them work on an iPhone is that it is updated to at least iOS 14.