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Apple has remove iGBA , a Game Boy emulator app for the iPhone , after approving its launch over the weekend . The app was among the first to capitalise on Apple’snewly relaxed linguistic rule around retro secret plan emulators , a move the tech giant made after EU regulator forced Apple to open up up to App Store contender , like AltStore , which aims to offergame imitator and other Patreon - backed appsto iPhone users .
First launched on Sunday , iGBA was an ad - supported copy of the open source project GBA4iOS that offer a Game Boy game aper for iOS . The new app worked as describe , allow user to download both Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color read-only storage from the web and then open them in the app to play .
However , the app was submit to the App Store without the license of GBA4iOS developer Riley Testut , who also developed theAltStoreandDelta , a Nintendo imitator and popular heir to GBA4iOS .
Testutsaid in a station on Threadson Sunday that he was tempestuous at Apple for approving iGBA while his own app Delta , presently on Apple ’s TestFlight , has been quick to launch since March 5 . He was also not thrilled at his work being knocked off and monetized this room .
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“ I did not give anyone license to do this , yet it ’s now sitting at the top of the charts ( despite being filled with ads + tracking ) , ” Testut said on Threads . “ I ’ve prick my knife a bunch in the preceding month … but this really frustrates me . So glad App Review exist to protect consumer from scam and rip - offs like this , ” he supply , sarcastically .
As some take note , the whang - off rendering used the same codification as GBA4iOS . But , asothers target out , the GBA4iOS emulator was distributed under aGNU GPL v2 license , which should have otherwise permitted copies — except for the fact that Testut added a custom restriction to it that proscribe App Store distribution for any study containing the computer code . They argued that such a restriction was not technically allowed under GPL v2 .
Nevertheless , Apple determined that the knock - off app should be take away for violating its App Store guidelines around junk e-mail and copyright ( prescript 4.3 and 5.2 , severally ) , essentially side with Testut on the matter , despite its earlier mistake .
Apple told TechCrunch the functionality in the app was approved , but when the company learned that the app was copying another developer ’s submission and passing it off as its own , it took action in accord with its guidelines .
