Last year we wrote about touchHLE, an open-source tool created by developer Hikari no Yume to emulate old iOS apps on macOS and Windows. Based on this project, the developer controlled the emulation of those old iOS apps on Android, and now “ciciplusplus” has controlled to port this tool to iOS (yes, that’s right).
The developer shares the progress of his work with the touchHLE tool on the socialpaintings X network. In recent weeks, it has only managed to emulate more complex games, but it has also adapted the tool to work on modern iOS devices. In one of the examples, the developer showed the old Super Monkey Ball running on an iPhone SE running iOS 15. 8.
But what’s the point of emulating iOS apps on iOS?As we detailed in a previous article, the touchHLE concept is to keep old games alive. With the evolution of iOS and the obsolescence of some APIs, apps that are too old and no longer getting updates are not compatible with the latest versions of the operating system.
For example, modern iPhones and iPads can’t run 32-bit apps, so they can’t run the maximum number of apps from the early days of the App Store. With touchHLE, those who miss out on those apps and games will have the ability to play them. Come back without having to have old hardware.
In addition to Super Monkey Ball, we’ve noticed that the developers effectively run games like Shrek, Resident Evil, and Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3-d with touchHLE. Of course, this is all very experimental and limited at the moment, but it’s still interesting to see how developers work to run iOS apps on other platforms.
You can check the source code for the touchHLE task on GitHub. Are there any older iOS games you’d like to emulate on a modern device?Let us know in the comments section below.
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