Samuel Axson
After 14 years of varying availability and usefulness amidst changing policies in Apple’s App Store approval process, MS-DOS game emulator iDOS has returned to the iPhone and iPad, and this time, it’s here to stay.
iDOS has a great retro-styled interface that allows you to run applications written for MS-DOS via DOSBox. Its main use case is undoubtedly playing DOS games, but it had a rocky road to get here. It was first released over a decade ago and existed quietly for a niche audience, but it underwent some changes that might have helped it somewhat in its developer’s efforts to avoid being removed from the App Store for violating Apple’s rules. This resulted in a few tweets and articles that led to its complete removal in 2021.
But earlier this year, Apple made a major change to its App Store rules, officially allowing “retro game emulators” for the first time. This led to a wave of console game emulators like Delta and RetroArch, which now work mostly as expected on other platforms. But when iDOS developer Chaoji Li and other purveyors of classic PC emulator software tried to do the same for old PC games for MS-DOS and other non-console computing platforms, they ran into a dead end. Apple said their apps were not considered retro game console emulators and were violating rules meant to prevent people from circumventing the App Store by running applications from other sources.
PC emulator UTM released a version of its software that worked around Apple’s rules, but the experience was subpar. But on August 2nd, Apple revised its App Store rules to explicitly allow emulators of classic PC games. This opened the door for iDOS, which has made a spectacular comeback and is running very well.
Developer Chaoji Li’s announcement of the release of iDOS 3 was not met with triumphalism, but rather with a note of exhaustion, given the app’s struggles over the years.
It’s taken a long time for common sense to take hold within Apple, and while we want to celebrate, we have to be a little cautious about the future. Will things be okay from now on?
Get iDOS3 on the AppStore
I hope iDOS continues to exist and grow.
P.S.: Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough words, but I want to thank all the supporters of iDOS. In many ways, you all keep iDOS going.
Because Apple’s policy change was driven by regulatory concerns, it seems likely it will stand this time around, but given everything that’s happened so far, you can’t blame Li for questioning it.
Either way, if you’re one of the dozens (or hundreds) of people hoping to play Commander Keen, Might and Magic: The World of Xeen, Wolfenstein 3D, or Jill of the Jungle on your iPhone, today is the day.
