Multi-platform emulator, Provenance, is headed to the App Store. This means an iPhone running a legitimate, non-Jailbroken iOS operating system, will be able to run old console games without sideloading any apps.
Multi-system emulator Provenance headed to iPhone officially
In an email to iMore, Joseph Mattiello, project lead of Provenance, confirmed that an app for the multi-system emulator is headed to the iOS App Store. He has, however, cautioned that the Provenance team is treading carefully, presumably because it is Apple,
“[The Provenance] team is working on a release. [However], I need to investigate these new rules before an App Store submission and to improve some quality-of-life issues. Also, I need to change some things to adhere to the App Store’s rules, such as mentioning “beta”.
Back when I had my iPhone 11, I had jailbroken it, and Provenance is a multi-system emulator with support for SEGA games. It also supports MD5 URLs for home screen shortcuts.
Delta has recently been dropped onto the App Store, and while it’s moreso Nintendo, it supports this too
— Stardust Caret 🍉 (@SpeedustStarway) April 17, 2024
What this means is that a Provenance app for iPhone could arrive this year. However, there’s no confirmed release date yet. Regardless, the presence of emulation apps like Provenance is a huge deal for the iPhone and iOS ecosystem.
Provenance might not be as big or as wide as Retroarch. However, it is a multi-system emulation package. In other words, Provenance is a single program that can emulate multiple consoles from the late 20th and early 21st century.
Some of the notable gaming consoles Provenance supports include Sony PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Nintendo Gamecube, and many more. The team behind the platform reportedly confirmed it is working on adding support for SEGA Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and others.
Retro gaming on iPhone is possible with multiple emulator apps
Apple recently changed the rules of the App Store to allow emulators. Delta, another multi-system emulator, was the first to officially set foot inside Apple’s walled garden. Riley Testut, creator of the Delta emulator, released the app this week on the iOS App Store.
Owing to the amended rules, several multi-platform emulators should start trickling into the App Store. This is because many emulators were already working on the iPhone. Users, however, needed to sideload them. In other words, availability and compatibility weren’t stopping emulation on an iPhone.
Install Provenance Emulator iOS for iPhone, iPad pic.twitter.com/DR9HMFtwoy
— SnowLatch (@SnowLatch) February 26, 2024
It is important to note that emulation is a legally dicey issue. Companies like Nintendo have always taken the toughest possible approach to squash emulation. The company considers downloading a game a breach of copyright law even if users own a physical copy of the title.
Incidentally, the Apple iOS App Store has free, independently developed games. However, there’s no denying the appeal for multi-system emulation.