Do we know if these emulators will support JIT? JIT has always been prohibited on iOS (which is why there are no browsers other than Safari - Firefox and Chrome on iOS are just a Safari WebView plus a crappy interface on top).
Even when sideloading emulators, you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.
Without JIT, sure, go nuts emulating the NES… But forget about anything more demanding than a GameCube, or using this to run a VM or something.
you only get JIT by paying for a special developer license or using exploits on very specific iOS versions.
Actually Altstore has AltJIT which works on all iOS versions altstore supports but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.
run a VM or something
UTM (which is based on QEMU) is already available on iOS.
but requires you to be connected to the same network as a computer running altstore.
So you mean iOS doesn’t natively support JIT for App Store apps and requires hacky workarounds?
iOS natively supports JIT (by which we mean writable and executable memory) but Apple locks it down to only two use cases:
- The JavaScript engine in Safari
- Support for running a debugger
AltStore launches a debugger and connects it to your phone. Even though it’s not actually doing anything with a debugger, that’s enough to convince iOS to let your app use memory that’s both writable and executable (the key feature needed for JIT).
Without JIT you need to either resort to a slower form of emulation or do something creative.
which is why there are no browsers other than Safari
Wasn’t that explicitly forbidden? Browsers don’t need jit to be fast enough
Edit: was jit explicitly forbidden? Or is it that running dynamically loaded code was forbidden in general and jit falls under that category? If they’re letting emulators and other browser engines in that ban seems to be at least partially lifted
Yes, op is a little confused.
- Browsers (were, still are in many regions) forbidden from using any engine other than the iOS provided webkit.
- Dynamic recompilation is not possible on iOS because of how iOS does code signing. This basically blocks the entire concept of executing instructions that weren’t part of the original signed code.
