DolphiniOS, a fork of the popular Dolphin emulator for Nintendo Wii and GameCube games, has confirmed that it will not be coming to the Apple App Store even though emulators are now supported. In a post on Fridaythe developer behind the emulator claims that's because Apple doesn't allow DolphiniOS to use its underlying performance-enhancing technology.
As developer OatmealDome explains, DolphiniOS – as well as other Wii and GameCube emulators – uses something called Just-in-Time (JIT). This is a compiler that “translates” the PowerPC-based code of the GameCube and Wii into a language that other devices can understand, making emulations much smoother.
But Apple doesn't allow third-party apps to use JIT compilers, as noted by OatmealDome. “The only exceptions are Safari and alternative web browsers in Europe,” the developer writes. “We submitted a DMA (Digital Markets Act) interoperability request to Apple for JIT support, but Apple rejected the request a few weeks ago.”
Although there is a way to bypass JIT using an “interpreter”, OatmealDome writes that it is “several times slower than the JIT compiler”. A pair of videos shared by OatmealDome show how a Mario Kart Wii emulation is carried out on an iPhone 15 when use an interpreter instead of JIT. The edge contacted Apple to ask for more information about its rules regarding JIT, but did not immediately receive a response.