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Summary
The days of jailbreaking your iPhone to play emulated games are over.
Heres how easy it is to play retro games on iOS and iPadOS, for free.
This included allowing retro game console emulator apps for the first time.
Tim Brookes / How-To Geek
Before the change, installing emulators required a jailbreak or building andsideloading the appyourself.
Though emulators are legal, the games they run are a point of contention.
It isillegal to download ROMs for games that you do not own.
Tim Brookes / How-To Geek
Downloading or ripping ROMs for titles that you do own is a grey area.
You are responsible for following the laws in your part of the world.
Emulators you download from the App Store will not come with any copyrighted materials.
So why the sudden change?
Apple is probably jumping before it is pushed.
Theres also nothing inherently illegal about emulators, even though big players like Nintendo are vehemently opposed.
There are also plans to support the Sega Genesis in a future update.
Delta brings together many different emulation projects likeNestopia,Snes9x,mupen64plus, andmelonDSunder one simple software.
You candownload Delta from the App Storefor iPhone, though it also works on iPad and macOS.
Kris Henges / How-To Geek
As per Apples guidelines, the emulator doesnt come with anything in playable form.
First, upload your ROMs in their native (unzipped) format, making a note of the location.
Now navigate to wherever your ROMs are located.
You should be able to tap on a ROM file to automatically have it open in Delta.
Transfer Games via AirDrop
AirDrop works in much the same way.
The file will be saved in your devices Downloads folder.
On a Mac, you will use Finder, while Windows users will need to download and install iTunes.
Now select Files or File Sharing from the list of options.
Find the Delta app and drag and drop your ROM files over.
They should be copied to the root folder.
Now open Delta and tap on the plus + icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
Select iTunes and then tap Import when prompted and Delta will ingest the ROMs into its database.
Swipe left and right to change platforms and find other ROMs.
Delta will default to touch controls, which places a virtual controller on the screen.
This works about as well as youd expect.
Its fine for some games, passable in others, and not so great when precise input is required.
Wait for the list of devices to refresh, and then tap on your controller when it appears.
It should pair automatically and be ready for use immediately.
Now head back to Delta and tap on the tweaks cog in the top-right corner of the screen.
Under the Controllers section you’ve got the option to nominate a control scheme for each player.
Tap on Player 1 and choose the controller youve just connected to use it.
For example, artwork for any games you add should be automatically downloaded.
you could always tap and hold a game and then choose Change Artwork to nominate your own.
While in a game, the Menu button provides access to some more advanced features, like save states.
This is especially useful on an iPhone where you may need to suddenly stop to take a call.
Tap Save State then use the plus + button to add one.
Delta supports multiplayer play, but youll need controllers to make this happen.
Toggle Delta Sync on then use the Dropbox or Google Drive buttons to link your cloud storage account.
This can be particularly handy when your collection grows to an unwieldy size.
Head to prefs and tap Home Screen Shortcuts to get started.
With a focus on mostly older platforms, Delta performs nearly flawlessly on most modern iPhone models.
Its an exciting time for emulation if youre an iPhone owner.
