- Apple approved and then pulled an infringing Game Boy emulator app this week.
- But not for the reasons you think.
- Alternative app stores would avoid this nonsense.
Last week, Apple allowed game emulators in the App Store for the first time ever. This week, it has already banned one.
The first officially-approved game emulator in the App Store has already been pulled. The game—a Game Boy emulator called iGBA—is a spammy rip-off of Riley Testut’s GBA4iOS. Testut is also the creator of the Alt Store, an alternative iOS app store that will soon launch in Europe. As we shall see, this mess shows not only the arbitrariness of Apple’s App Store rules but also shows that the App Store is not the safe space it claims.
“Apple claims that its App Store is safer for users and credits its strict review process for this. Apple also states that it prevents malicious or harmful apps from reaching users,” Lucas Wyland, founder of gaming site Steambase, told Lifewire via email. “However, the approval of the rip-off emulator contradicts this argument. It suggests that even with the stringent review processes, some questionable apps slip through the cracks, leading to users questioning the effectiveness of Apple’s safety measures.”
Spamulation
Last week, Apple relented on its lifelong ban of game emulators in the App Store, changing its rules to explicitly allow them. Soon after, it approved iGBA for the store. This turned out to be a knock-off of Testut’s GBA4iOS.
“So apparently Apple approved a knock-off of GBA4iOS—the predecessor to @delta I made in high school—in the App Store. I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads+tracking),” said Testut on Mastodon.
Testut’s old project is open source, but the license explicitly prohibits putting it in the App Store without written permission.
After a weekend of fuss on social media, Apple, on Monday, removed the offending app from its store, citing the fact that it was a knock-off app.
This whole debacle shows exactly why alternate app stores are so important. For one, Apple has prohibited game emulators from its platform for over 15 years, apparently without any reason other than that it didn’t like them.
Apple’s approval of a dubious Game Boy emulator while delaying a legitimate application like Riley Testut’s Alt Store raises significant concerns about the App Store’s vetting process.
Then, Apple’s biggest argument for its tight control of the App Store is that it makes it a safer place for both developers and users, but the approval process that guarantees that safety is often fickle, unreliable, and arbitrary. In fact, the false sense of security it encourages could make people more susceptible to scams and bad actors, not less.
“Apple’s approval of a dubious Game Boy emulator while delaying a legitimate application like Riley Testut’s Alt Store raises significant concerns about the App Store’s vetting process. This situation illuminates potential flaws in the App Store’s security measures,” Alex Safavinia, CEO of Explainer Videoly Pte. Ltd. and co-founder of SEOGIN, told Lifewire via email.
Chilling Effect
One good thing has come out of this business. Apple has made clear that the removal of iGBA was because it was violating Testut’s software license, and not because it was violating Nintendo’s copyright by playing Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Color ROMs (the game files). Apple told news site Mac Rumors that emulators are free to download ROMs off the internet, as long as they are “emulating retro console games only.”
This is important because the alternative would probably snuff out the iOS emulator market before it even began.
“The removal of the rip-off GBA emulator due to copyright concerns could have a chilling effect on developers. They might become more cautious about creating or distributing emulators or similar software. The fear of legal repercussions can stifle innovation and discourage developers from exploring creative projects,” says Wyland.
Still, the stipulation that only “retro” games can be used with App Store emulators is a typical Apple rule, open to interpretation as it sees fit. We all know what a retro game is, but how might one actually define it?
“My guess is that retro means ‘any console emulator the manufacturer allows,” writes Apple fan MallardDuck in a MacRumors forum thread.
Although Apple’s new emulator rules are effective worldwide, it’s the continued pressure from the EU’s Digital Markets Act that’s cracking things open like this. It’s a messy process, but one that is starting to show just how important government regulation is for users.
Thanks for letting us know!
News Summary:
- Messy Game Boy Emulator Ban Highlights App Store Mistakes
- Check all news and articles from the latest Tech updates.
- Please Subscribe us at Google News.