With just a couple weeks after its initial release in the App Store, the Delta emulator for iOS was received with great success, after Apple loosened up its rules in regards to video game emulators being available in their App Store at the start of the month.

However, despite the success of the emulator on the platform, one of the drawbacks from the Delta release was that it wasn't supported for iPad devices (alongside relying on the AltStore in order for people located in the EU to be able to use it). Thankfully, developer Riley Testut is currently working on providing iPad support for the next upcoming release of the emulator, providing an update through his Mastodon account in regards to the current state of the iPad support:

Updates on Delta for iPad:

• Yes, it’s coming!
• We’ve been working on it for a while and it’s near completion, just need to finish up controller skins + fix some last bugs
• We didn’t prioritize iPad because plan was to launch in just EU with AltStore PAL (which doesn’t support iPad)
• Obviously plans changed when Apple changed their rules, so we’re prioritizing iPad now and it will come with the next major Delta update (1.6)
• It’s available now for Patrons through regular AltStore

The current iPad beta is available for Patrons on the AltStore, and while Testut promises the iPad support to be available in the next Delta update v1.6, there's still no set date as to when it might come, but given the current development, it should be sooner rather than later.

Delta emulator App Store page
Riley Testut's Mastodon profile
Riley Testut's Threads profile

 

[ShadowOne333]

My phone can run Crysis. iPhone users just happy to run Super Mario Bros. NES

Spoiler

Shhhh don't let them know, so that 10 years down the line when they finally can run Crysis they can brag like its new and never done before.

 

[Flame]

Shhhh don't let them know, so that 10 years down the line when they finally can run Crysis they can brag like its new and never done before.

10 years?! You're optimistic today.

 

[CoolMe]

Next probably is "Nintendo is suing Apple for allowing Nintendo emulators on their App Store"..

 

[LNLenost]

DS is one of those consoles that you're better off playing it on the original hardware or on a decently sized screen.

You mean the EU?

Yes, in Italian it's Unione Europea so it's UE and not EU.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Yes, in Italian it's Unione Europea so it's UE and not EU.

It's the same in ES/PT/FR, too.

Who knew Apple users cared about this kind of stuff, they're always going on about "I don't do that type of illegal stuff. I don't want to get viruses." etc.

 

[Manurocker95]

So... a new paywall for EU users. Noice. I really hope Provenance gets into the official app store and forget about the alter store.

 

[LexDG]

I recently learned that delta can’t even save games properly without them crashing or needing to use save states instead

So while cool they are adding iPad support I kinda feel like that’s the wrong priority. Emulators figured out game saving years ago

Yeah, it’s pretty frustrating that some DS games that are wildly popular (Layton, some pokemon) won’t save natively but NOBODY seems to talk about it. There are youtube videos calling this a POLISHED emulator and thats just upsetting.

I was able to transfer a lot of my saves from my DS over to the emulator so it’s not like EVERYTHING is broken but the games that actually make the most sense to play on it (Like professor layton) are broken.

Still, I look forward to the ipad support because SNES and GBA games will be nice to be able to play on my nightstand ipad.

 

[urbanman2004]

Really good retro emulation developments on the horizon for iOS; the more the merrier

 

[LNLenost]

It's the same in ES/PT/FR, too.

Who knew Apple users cared about this kind of stuff, they're always going on about "I don't do that type of illegal stuff. I don't want to get viruses." etc.

Nah, personally I own a Samsung. But my dad owns an iPhone and he loves emulation. We are moving our 200GB+ games collrction to the Switch

 

[Marc_LFD]

Nah, personally I own a Samsung. But my dad owns an iPhone and he loves emulation. We are moving our 200GB+ games collrction to the Switch

Retro games?

 

[LNLenost]

Retro games?

from arcade ones to the ps3

 

[Marc_LFD]

from arcade ones to the ps3

Might as well make the best of that tablet.

I'd recommend Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. It's absolutely awesome.

 

[urherenow]

10 years?! You're optimistic today.

Are you kidding right now? Galaxy S24 Ultra is currently the ONLY phone more powerful than the 15 Pro Max. Exactly which crysis and on what phone are you talking about?

I really hope Provenance gets into the official app store and forget about the alter store.

It's being worked on. From comments I read by the main dev in charge, it's not going to be free. He's hoping to gain income from it and work on it full time. I personally think that's a naive idea, considering the rampage Nintendo is on...

 

[ZenIsFluffy]

Really happy to see this! I'm an android phone user, but still love my iPad. Gonna love playing games in higher res on that.

 

[LoggerMan]

If Apple wasn't being forced to open up, they wouldn't have.
It's idiotic that it had to come down to this so Apple users could have a fraction of what Android had for decades now.

Hey don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Our prayers have been answers, finally. No more jailbreaking or side loading or developer account tomfoolery. Sure Apple probably doing this because it'll stop millions from using alternate app stores, but better to have trusted emulators in the App Store than getting dodgy malware infected emulators from god knows where. Full of ads and spam links, nobody wants that.

 

[LexDG]

Hey don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Our prayers have been answers, finally. No more jailbreaking or side loading or developer account tomfoolery. Sure Apple probably doing this because it'll stop millions from using alternate app stores, but better to have trusted emulators in the App Store than getting dodgy malware infected emulators from god knows where. Full of ads and spam links, nobody wants that.

But our emulators aren’t full of spam anywhere else. We’ve done well since nesticle and bleem. Since UltraHLE and 9x. We have sites like this to come to to find out what’s what so the argument against ios doing what literally every other os has successfully done since the late 90’s is confusing.

I’m pure apple in my house except for the buggiest thing which is my googletv with chromecast and my wife's work computer. 99% of my workflow for photo processing, writing, and entertainment is ios or ipados but I know apple can be better.