The free Delta game emulator for iPhones is live on Apple’s App Store (www.theverge.com)

submitted 1 month ago by brie@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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Caveat: It isn't available in the app store in the EU, and is instead only available via the developer's marketplace, AltStore¹. As far as I can tell, this genuinely isn't because of greed, but because of a little detail in Apple's EU rules (possibly wrong):

[...] Developers can choose to remain on the App Store’s current business terms or adopt the new business terms for iOS apps in the EU.

Developers operating under the new business terms for EU apps will have the option to distribute their iOS apps in the EU via the App Store, Web Distribution, and/or alternative app marketplaces. [...] Developers who achieve exceptional scale on iOS, with apps that have over one million first annual installs in the past 12 months in the EU, will pay a Core Technology Fee. ²

The problem being, if you're under the old terms, there is no "Core Technology Fee." However, in order to distribute on another marketplace, you must opt into the new terms, meaning you now have to pay the fee even on apps that are distributed on Apple's app store. Thus, if you distribute on the iOS app store in the EU for free, and lets say it gets 2 million installs, you get 1 million installs free... and you now owe Apple half a million dollars.

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[-] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Need an "emulator"(sandbox really) for old IOS apps. All the best games I ever played on IOS, games I paid for, were retired from the app store and replaced with substandard, ad/subscription based knockoffs, years ago.

Now I think about it, I've got a lot of android apps I keep sideloading to new devices that won't work if I try to actually use them, but at least I have convenient ways to preserve those.

[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Unfortunately the only functional iOS emulator for games I've ever seen is TouchHLE, ~~though that's only for PCs~~ and rather experimental at the moment.

[-] vox@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

it also supports android and works really well on there

homescreen

monkeyball

screenshot

well, katamari specifically has some rendering issues with text but they're really minor and don't affect gameplay.
sucks that most of these use gyro tho, feels really awkward to use (left stick on any controller can be used instead but it's still not ideal) (unless you're like sitting on a toilet or sth lol, where you can comfortably hold the phone flat)

[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

How embarrassing, I double checked their Github and still managed to miss Android support 🤦‍♂
Thanks for the correction.

[-] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago

Wow! I wonder if it can play the original cover orange 🍊

[-] vox@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

i mean there's an official android port of it and it's still being kept up to date, or is there anything wrong with it? (i see it has ads, but it doesn't really matter if you block them on like dns level)

also i haven't actually checked, but seemingly it may be bit too modern, don't think ios 3 is fully supported yet

[-] WolfLink@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I would love to play Infinity Blade again

[-] vox@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

touchhle!

[-] PoliticallyIncorrect@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Can't understand why people pay for such a closed platform as apple ecosystem.

[-] astraeus@programming.dev 15 points 1 month ago

Because it works. I don’t have to figure out what (A01839: Device error has occurred.) means or weird Android nonsense all the time. If I wanted a constant project I already have plenty with work and actual things I enjoy wasting my time on. If it’s my computer I can mess around, if it’s my phone it’s just a pain in the ass. Even Samsungs can get weird like that sometimes, although the lower quality and price Android phones are the worst for it.

[-] SuperSpecialNickname@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This isn't 2010 with Android Froyo where you need task manager to kill apps. And lower quality? All this comment needs is something about camera quality and we have a bingo.

Edit: word

[-] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 month ago

outdated bullshit** bingo yeah

[-] astraeus@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah lower quality as in the Android phones that cost less than $1000. Because flagship Samsung Galaxy phones generally run more than that. The cheaper Samsung phones also fall into this category.

I had these problems with Android up until 2018 when I got fed up with dealing with each phone having problems that required a time commitment to resolve. Six years later and I have no regrets at all.

[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Lol, as the others already commented, you clearly have no clue. I have an old Pixel 4 (bought it refurbished for like 300€ 3 years ago) and run a custom rom on it. It just works great, no complaints. Meaning that I never ever had to fiddle around or seen any error codes like you described. I don't see ads, ever. It is much more privacy respecting, I don't have any Google/Apple app stores. I can run cracked software on it so I don't have to pay for premium. I can also have much more control over what apps are allowed to do and what not. And everyone is envious of the pictures it takes, too (I do a lot of macro photography on it). So how is this any worse than an iPhone that constantly spies on you and has a closed ecosystem?

[-] astraeus@programming.dev 6 points 1 month ago

You had to hack your phone to make this happen. I already explained that I don’t want to be bothered having to put time and effort into making my phone work. Maybe it would be fine as a fun little project, but I’m not going to depend on a jailbroken phone as my main phone, even if the risk it fails is rather low.

[-] flora_explora@beehaw.org 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It took me like 10 minutes but you do you

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 9 points 1 month ago

After 10 years on Android, I just switched back. Because I admire Apple's commitment to privacy, and simply don't trust Google any more.

[-] DdCno1@beehaw.org 13 points 1 month ago

Yeah, about that:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/apples-hypocritical-defense-data-privacy/581680/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/23/apple-user-data-law-enforcement-falling-short

https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/apple_apps_privacy_study/

The correct choice would have been a custom ROM for an Android smartphone, without any Google apps and services.

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I need to use my phone for work, which means I can’t use custom ROMs due to our BYOD policies.

For me, iOS is still by far the better option, especially as I use privacy-respecting apps and services (Firefox, self-hosted Immich, etc).

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 4 points 1 month ago

Do you share your phone for work and private life?

Anti Commercial-AI license

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 2 points 1 month ago

Yep - not sure what point you're making, though?

A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation

My phone isn't used "primarily for commercial advantage or monetary compensation". It's my own phone that my company reimburses me some of the monthly cost of running, for being able to use it to contact me.

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

Work life separation is what I'm getting at. A work phone = used during working hours --> you can do whatever you like with your private phone. You can use a privacy respecting phone OS if you wanted to.

Also, places of employment probably have the right to control work phones. One of my jobs meant endpoint security was necessary to monitor and control the phones. A friend working for the government and another working for a bank actually had fellow employees get into trouble for the stuff they had installed on their work phones. Others actually lost data because their phones were remotely wiped prior to being fired.

I have friends with work phones and they use whatever was given to them for work, but as soon as work is over, the phone is off. The private phones they have do run privacy respecting ROMs like LineageOS, eOS, and GrapheneOS.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 4 points 1 month ago

Yep. I get all that, but that’s not an option with my employer.

I’m comfortable with the separation I have, and iOS is key to part of that satisfaction.

[-] DdCno1@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago

How did you solve the issue of adblocking?

[-] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I have an always-on Wireguard VPN, and use my Piholes at home. So far, so good!

[-] WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago

apple is as bad as googlethey are just lessopen about it.😬

[-] YuzuDrink@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago

The fact that popular free apps in the EU are subject to fees unless they come up with their own app store is bullshit and clearly Apple trying to punish developers over there. Like, “if you don’t want to owe us money, then make it so the only people who can find your app are those who already know about it”?

[-] brie@beehaw.org 5 points 1 month ago

It's more the other way around. Both distribution on the App Store and through third parties will incur the fee. However, if you don't distribute on third parties, you can stay under Apple's old terms, avoiding the fee. It's a way of monetarily punishing third party app distribution.

[-] bwhough@beehaw.org 1 points 1 month ago

That's... not what's happening at all. Developers of apps in the EU can keep the same old terms, the same terms they've always had any the US still has. They have to opt-in to the new terms, which incurs the CTF. Its not mandatory.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 1 month ago

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:

Click here to see the summary

The app marks the first significant and officially sanctioned game emulator for the iPhone since Apple began allowing them, with wide-ranging console emulation from the original Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo 64 (and even the Sega Genesis, for when you want to play those games that Nintendon’t).

Delta developer Riley Testut told The Verge via email that the app is identical to the version debuting with AltStore PAL.

The app features on-screen buttons that change their layout and appearance to match whatever system you’re emulating.

It supports Bluetooth controllers like Xbox One Series S or PS5 controllers, too, and the app lets you customize their layout or set extra buttons for things like quick save states (essentially letting you pause a game whenever you want and load it up from that point later) or fast-forward through an old-school game’s all-too-often unskippable cutscenes or endless stream of startup logos.

Both were short-lived, though, with Apple taking down iGBA over spam and copyright App Store rule violations and Bimmy’s developer getting cold feet in light of Nintendo’s recent crackdown on emulators.

That means the app has already been through five years of feature and bug-fixing iterations, so it will likely be one of the most polished emulation experiences on the iPhone for a while.

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