The best emulators available in Apple’s App Store

Key Takeaways

• The emulators on the Apple App Store each have their own pros and cons, so which one you pick really depends on what you’re looking for and how you like to game.
• Some common hang-ups like annoying ads, limited support for multi-disc games, and varying performance issues can make or break your experience with different emulators.
• Cool features in emulators like Delta and PPSSPP, such as easy controls and the ability to sync saves, really boost the fun of gaming on the go, showing just how far mobile emulation has come.

Around the beginning of April, Apple made the move to allow emulators on the Apple App Store. While it did take some time for some to start appearing, appear they certainly have. With a good variety of options available, and more on the way, you might wonder which one you should actually use. After all, some of these emulators overlap in terms of which consoles they can emulate.

While there is no clear “best” emulator available on the App Store, each one does have its specific advantages and disadvantages. As for which one will be best for you, that will depend on your wants out of an emulator.

Delta: The all-in-one Nintendo emulator

For simplicity, and for the love of Nintendo games

The first major emulator to hit the Apple App Store was the Delta emulator. Delta can emulate a number of different Nintendo consoles including:

• Nintendo Entertainment System
• Super Nintendo
• Nintendo 64
• Game Boy
• Game Boy Color
• Game Boy Advance
• Nintendo DS

All of these emulators make Delta a must for Nintendo fans. But, there’s more to love about Delta than its selection of consoles. The biggest factor, by far, is its simplicity. Delta is absurdly simple to use. If you’ve never used an emulator before, you’ll have no issues using Delta.

Beyond that, the user interface is beautiful. The on-screen controls provided for each system are fantastic to use, and feature haptic feedback to make them that much more usable. You can also download different skins for each controller on each console Delta can emulate. Emulating games on your phone is awesome. Being able to do it comfortably without needing to carry a controller around is even better. Another standout feature of Delta includes save syncing, which will be particularly handy when the iPad release of Delta hits the App Store in the near future.

As far as emulating Nintendo DS games goes, Delta is probably the best option available on the app store, but emulating Nintendo DS games will require you to get the BIOS files from a Nintendo DS.

Delta does have its drawbacks, however. The most significant drawback of Delta is the performance of Nintendo 64 games. Nintendo 64 games are generally plagued with texture issues across Delta, rendering them sometimes unplayable. Some Nintendo 64 games will only have minor texture issues, while others will have entire characters replaced with black blobs. Despite this one issue, Delta is pretty much positive in every other regard. If you mainly want to emulate handheld Nintendo games and classics from the NES and SNES, Delta will be the best emulator for you. Delta will be even better if you prefer an emulator with a great on-screen controller option.

Gamma: A conflicting PlayStation 1 emulator

Riddled with ads, but still has some redeeming qualities

Gamma is a more recent app store release, and it’s by far the most mixed bag in the bunch. Gamma is a PlayStation 1 emulator, and only a PlayStation 1 emulator. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is single use. This on its own wouldn’t be offensive if Gamma could make up for it in every other area. Unfortunately, Gamma is far too mixed to justify only emulating one console.

To its credit, Gamma has a fantastic user interface. Gamma is largely modeled after Delta, with the same UI and the same feature set. Everything great about Delta’s interface is present in Gamma’s. From the haptic feedback to the save syncing, and even to the controller skins. It’s all on Gamma. And, it even has iPad support already.

But, Gamma is not all positives. Unfortunately, Gamma is absolutely crawling with ads. Every time you launch a game, you will get an ad. Occasionally, you won’t get one, but I can’t seem to find a pattern to what determines when you don’t get one. I have left a game for less than twenty seconds to tweak some settings, and was greeted with an ad when I got back. Thankfully, gameplay is never interrupted with an ad, which would elevate this issue from negative to absolute dealbreaker.

One other small issue on Gamma is emulating multi-disc PlayStation games. Though it is possible to emulate games like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid using Gamma, it isn’t nearly as intuitive as it is on other emulators. However, if you want a very simple emulator to use for playing classic PlayStation games, Gamma might just be your best option right now.

PPSSPP: Bringing the PSP back

PlayStation is portable again

One of the most natural fits for emulation on an iPhone is games that were already on a portable platform. Where Delta finds itself as the perfect emulator for experiencing Game Boy and Nintendo DS titles on your iPhone, PPSSPP is the perfect emulator for experiencing PlayStation Portable games on your iPhone. Aside from being entertaining to say, PPSSPP is one of the most intuitive emulators on the App Store. Not quite as intuitive as Delta, you’ll almost never find yourself wondering how to do something in PPSSPP. It has a simple and user-friendly interface that shouldn’t give you any trouble to figure out.

Being a PlayStation portable emulator means that PPSSPP has a great library at its disposal. Almost every PSP game will translate well to emulating on your phone as they were all made with handheld devices in mind. Though many of them will work better with a blue controller on hand, the on-screen controls are surprisingly not that big of an issue for most games.

Of course, the biggest downside to PPSSPP is it status says something of a one trick pony. it would be much more novel to be an exclusively PlayStation portable emulator if there weren’t any other options on the App Store. Unfortunately for PPSSPP, there is another option out there.

Folium: A Nintendo handheld alternative

The only place to emulate the Nintendo 3DS, for now

Just about every major mobile console prior to the Nintendo Switch is available to emulate on the iPhone. The only actual exception is the PlayStation Vita. While there are a few options for emulating the Nintendo DS, there is genuinely only one option for the DS’ successor, the Nintendo 3DS. The only way to emulate Nintendo 3DS games right now is Folium.

Folium is a paid emulator that can emulate the GameBoy Advance and every version of the Nintendo DS. While the emulation of the GameBoy Advance and the DS on Folium are superb, the emulator’s main headline is Nintendo 3DS emulation. Unfortunately, the 3DS emulation from Folium leaves much to be desired. Many 3DS games you can emulate on Folium are prone to lots of slowdown, rendering quite a few games genuinely unplayable.

For those that have previously run Folium on their iPhone or iPad via sideloading, the performance issues may come as something of a surprise. Folium does, by all means, provide great 3DS emulation when sideloaded. The reason for this difference in performance is Apple not allowing emulators on the App Store to utilize JIT compilation. JIT compilation allows for much speedier performance, but Apple’s complete ban on JIT compilation is likely due to its application in Malware.

If you have your hands on an M4 iPad Pro or an iPhone 15 Pro Max, you might be able to get some enjoyable gameplay out of 3DS games on Folium. For anything less, you may be better off saving you $5.99 for the time being.

RetroArch: The ultimate emulator

Can play almost anything, but it’ll be a clunky experience

RetroArch might just be one of the best emulators out there. Not just on the iPhone, but on any platform. While that is a big claim, there is a lot to love about RetroArch. For starters, every other emulator on this list can be replaced by RetroArch. PlayStation games, PlayStation Portable games, and games from all the Nintendo consoles available on Delta can be played using RetroArch. Aside from those options, RetroArch can also emulate the following consoles:

• Atari 2600
• Atari 5200
• Atari 7800
• Atari Lynx
• ColecoVision
• Commodore 64
• Intellivision
• Neo Geo
• Sega Genesis
• Sega Saturn
• Virtual Boy

And that’s not even listing all of them. RetroArch can also emulate DOS and classic arcade games. The range of things you can emulate using RetroArch is frankly ludicrous. And for the most part, RetroArch’s emulation of these various consoles is better than what anything else has to offer. But, there are exceptions. Nintendo DS emulation is far better on Delta. PSP emulation on RetroArch is possible using PPSSPP’s core. However, in the areas where RetroArch is better, it is a huge jump in quality. While you can emulate Nintendo 64 games on Delta, RetroArch blows Delta out of the water in this regard. All the texture issues that pop up across various titles while emulating on Delta are nowhere to be found when using RetroArch.

With all of that being said, there are still negatives to using RetroArch. Possibly the biggest caveat is that RetroArch is extremely unintuitive compared to its counterparts on iOS. For users diving into emulation for the first time, I would even recommend using a tutorial on how to use RetroArch before completely diving in. But the steep learning curve does come with the reward of some of the best emulation available at all. Given that RetroArch is available on Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux, if you’ve already used it on one of those platforms, you’ll probably wanna stick with it on your iPhone. And that’s very easy to do, because the interface for RetroArch is exactly the same on iPhone and iPad as it is anywhere else.

However, there is one quality of RetroArch that puts it leagues above every other emulator available on the App Store. That one thing is that it’s available on Apple TV. This feature alone is enormous. Not only can you use RetroArch to emulate games on your iPhone or your iPad, but you can also use it on any TV you can hook up to your Apple TV.

While it may not be the prettiest or most refined emulator of the bunch, it is by and far the most versatile and powerful. If you want a one size fits all emulation solution in your pocket, RetroArch is easily the best choice.

FAQ

Q: Are there any other emulators on the App Store?

At the moment, you can also download emulators such as XGBA, AD Boy, Emu64 XL, iMSX2, and SameBoy from the Apple App Store.

Q: Are more emulators coming to the App Store?

Provenance is most prominent emulator that is still awaiting approval to be listed on the App Store. Provenance can emulate a variety of consoles, similar to RetroArch. Others awaiting approval include iDOS, Ignited, and MAME4iOS.

Q: Do all of these emulators support Bluetooth controllers?

Yes. All the emulators on this list do support Bluetooth controllers. For button remapping, RetroArch has the best options.

Q: How do you decide which is the best emulator for your iPhone or iPad?

I tested these iPhone emulators alongside other Pocket-lint editors, and here’s what we found:

• Delta is awesome for its ease of use and great interface, especially for Nintendo fans, though it struggles a bit with Nintendo 64 games.
• Gamma has a slick design but is annoying with its constant ads and isn’t the best for PlayStation games that need multiple discs.
• I personally liked PPSSPP for PSP games because it’s straightforward and user-friendly.
• As for Folium, it’s the only option for Nintendo 3DS games right now, but it tends to lag, which can be a letdown.
• I also looked into RetroArch, which is super versatile and can emulate almost anything, but it’s not the most user-friendly, especially for first-timers.

Ultimately, the best emulator really depends on the specific games you want to play and how much you can tolerate certain drawbacks.