Apple said today that it has removed the Game Boy iGBA emulator from the App Store for violating the company's app review guidelines related to spam (Section 4.3(and copyright)Section 5.2), but did not provide any specific details.
iGBA was a knockoff of developer Riley Testut's The GBA4iOS app is open source, which has long been distributed outside the App Store. The emulator soared toward the top of the App Store charts after its release this weekend, but users on social media complained that the app was a blatant ad-covered scam.
“It appears that Apple has approved a copycat of GBA4iOS,” Testot said. Share topics on saturday. “I didn't give anyone permission to do this, and yet it's now at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads and tracking).” He quipped that he was “very glad the app review exists to protect consumers from scams and theft like this.”
It's not clear if Apple removed iGBA because it felt the app was copied from GBA4iOS. We've asked Apple for clarification on the app's removal, and will update this article if we receive any additional information about the decision.
iGBA allows iPhone users to play Game Boy games by loading free ROMs downloaded from the web. ROMs can be found online for a wide range of games, including those in the popular Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda franchises. The emulator can still be used by those who installed it on their iPhones before removing it from the App Store.
on him Customer support website In the United States, Nintendo says downloading pirated copies of its games is illegal. It's not clear whether Nintendo sent a complaint to Apple about iGBA, and whether that was a factor in the app's removal.
Excerpt from Section 5.2 of the Intellectual Property Application Review Guidelines:
Make sure your app only includes content that you created or that you have a license to use. Your app may be removed if you cross the limits and use content without permission. Of course, this also means that someone else's app may be removed if it “borrows” from your work.
iGBA has appeared in the App Store just over a week after Apple updated its app review guidelines to allow “legacy game console emulators,” but it's not yet certain what exactly Apple will allow after the app's immediate removal.
As for Testut, he has created another emulator for Nintendo games called Delta, which is distributed outside the App Store. Delta will also be available through Testut's alternative app marketplace AltStore on iPhones in the EU. It's not clear if it plans to make Delta available in the App Store after the rule change.
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