Apple blocks a PC emulator for iPhones & iPads from being listed on the App Store

According to a fresh report, Apple has rejected a submission from the developers of UTM, a PC emulator for iPhone and iPad. Apple reportedly took this step because it believes it violates one of its rules in the Notarization Review Guidelines.

Apple relaxed its App Store policies to allow third-party game emulators to be published on its App Store. iGBA Game Boy Emulator was the first to grace the App Store, which was later removed following a violation of some Apple rules.

The Provenance emulator then arrived on the App Store, which lets users play games from different consoles, including NES, SNES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, and even Atari, Sega, and PlayStation.

Later, the Delta Emulator was launched for Apple iPhone and iPad, followed by the Gamma emulator, which brought PlayStation 1 games to iOS devices with Bluetooth and wired controller support. RetroArch emulator also arrived on the Apple App Store, which brought the ability to play games from over 50 consoles.

Popular PlayStation portable emulator PPSSPP (short for Playstation Portable Simulator Suitable for Playing Portably) launched for iOS. Recently, the Folium emulator became the first emulator on the Apple App Store to bring Nintendo 3DS games for iPhones and iPads.

However, Apple has rejected the submission of UTM SE because it decided that "PC is not a console." Additionally, UTM has claimed that Apple is blocking the listing of the app on third-party App Stores in the EU.

UTM says that Apple refused its submission as it believes it is a violation of rule 4.7, which covers "mini apps, mini-games, streaming games, chatbots, plug-ins and game emulators." Interestingly, the App Review Guidelines don't annotate rule 4.7 as a part of the Notarization Review Guidelines.

It is unclear what the actual reason was for Apple not accepting the submission of UTM. It could be that the UTM reviewers were incorrect in accessing the application. As per a post on X, UTM will not proceed to contest the ruling, and it says that getting UTM SE's (the version submitted for review which had the Just In Time disabled) approval isn't something worth fighting for.