Apple Approves Game Boy Emulator in App Store, But it’s Stolen Work

Apple recently revised its developer guidelines to allow video game emulators in the App Store. Now, we are seeing the first emulator hit the App Store and it’s called iGBA: GBA & GBC Retro Emulator.

But this retro emulator appears to be a copy of Riley Testut’s work and is powered by ads and is surging up the App Store charts, according to the developer on Threads (via MacRumors) and others who have looked at the app code, which is exactly the same.

“So apparently Apple approved a knock-off of GBA4iOS — the predecessor to Delta I made in high school — in the App Store. I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads + tracking),” said Testut.

“I’ve bit my tongue a bunch in the past month…but this really frustrates me. So glad App Review exists to protect consumers from scams and rip-offs like this,” he said sarcastically.

“To be clear, I’m not pissed at the developer. I’m pissed that Apple took the time to change the App Store rules to allow emulators, and then approved a knock-off of my own app — even though I’ve been ready to launch @altstoreio with Delta *since March 5*,” said Testut. Delta is the successor to his first emulator.

This Game Boy emulator lets you play retro games from the iconic Nintendo handheld from 1989, right on your iPhone or iPad.