Exclusive: iPhone emulator Provenance following Delta onto the App Store, with SEGA and PlayStation support in tow

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(Image credit: 8BitDo)

iMore can exclusively reveal that Provenance, a multi-system emulator, is in the works for iPhone, following Apple’s recent App Store rule change.

In an email, Joseph Mattiello, project lead of Provenance, told us his team “are working on a release,” but stated “I need to investigate these new rules before an App Store submission, and to improve some quality-of-life issues. Also, I need to change some things to adhere to the App Store’s rules, such as mentioning “beta”.”

Apple’s rule change on April 5 means that retro gaming emulators can now be made available on the App Store. These are apps that can behave like one or more gaming systems — two great examples are Provenance and Delta, another multi-system emulator created by Riley Testut, which was released on April 17. This is, at the time of writing, the number one free app on the App Store worldwide charts.

Provenance goes further than Testut’s Delta emulator, at least for now. The app supports systems such as the Sony PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Nintendo Gamecube, and many more. The team has also confirmed they’re working on support for SEGA Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, and others.

Users should be aware though, that downloading Sony, SEGA, and Nintendo titles for emulation, even if you own the physical titles, is considered a breach of copyright law, especially by Nintendo. For those who want to use Provenance and other emulators on an iPhone lawfully, there are free, independently developed games available online. One such example is Unearthed, a Game Boy game that you can get from Homebrew Hub.

Like Delta, Mattiello’s emulator also has a Patreon which includes an upcoming version that features early support for Sony’s PlayStation Portable and SEGA Dreamcast. Mattiello wasn’t clear on a date he’s aiming for Provenance to be made available on the App Store at the time of writing.


I’ve used Provenance before, and it’s fantastic — iMore’s take

Having used Provenance on Apple’s iPad Pro, I’m happy to report that it’s a fantastic experience, especially when paired with one of the best game controllers for iPhone.

Its user interface was easy enough to map some hotkeys to my controller, and all of the games I tried out ran flawlessly. Just remember, most games you might expect to play on an emulator are still protected by copyright laws, regardless of whether they’re still available to buy or not. If you want to make sure you’re not breaking any laws, there are plenty of homebrew PlayStation 1 games you will be able to play on the app when it’s eventually made available.

I had always hoped that the day would come when I’d be able to download Provenance from the App Store. It looks like that hope is finally becoming a reality.

While Mattiello has been developing Provenance since 2016, the emulator was first created by James Addyman in 2013. This was back when jailbreaking, a method of installing any app onto an iPhone, was the only way to load the emulator onto the handset. Apple’s rule change now allows his emulator on the App Store — and I’m looking forward to seeing just how it will fare on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, when it’s released in the near future.

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Daryl Baxter
Features Editor

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.

  • FMHPro
    Emulating PS2 and GameCube games on iPhone will never be possible. If you have used Provenance before as you said, you would know that those games require JIT to be able to run. Apple allowing emulators is one thing, but they don’t and will never allow JIT on iOS devices
    Reply
  • Annie_M
    FMHPro said:
    Emulating PS2 and GameCube games on iPhone will never be possible. If you have used Provenance before as you said, you would know that those games require JIT to be able to run. Apple allowing emulators is one thing, but they don’t and will never allow JIT on iOS devices


    Hello and welcome to iMore! It's good to have you here. When you get a chance, please take a minute to introduce yourself here!
    Reply