Apple spent over a decade keeping game emulators off the App Store. That changed in April 2024, when Apple rewrote its App Store review guidelines to explicitly allow “retro game console emulator apps.” Two years on, the results are a genuinely useful, if fractured, market: Delta covers Nintendo handhelds and consoles for free, Folium is the only App Store app that runs Nintendo 3DS games, and Provenance throws in more than three dozen systems under one open-source roof. The platform underneath them keeps moving too: Apple enforced an iOS 26 SDK cutoff on April 28, 2026, rejecting any new submission or update not built with Xcode 26.x, so all three emulators have had to stay current on Apple’s toolchain just to remain listed. Each one plays by different rules on price, region, and raw speed, and picking wrong means re-importing ROMs and save files from scratch. This comparison walks through the specs, the pricing, the benchmarks, and the real trade-offs so you only have to set this up once.
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Why iPhone Emulation Went Mainstream in 2026
For years, playing a Game Boy Advance or Nintendo DS ROM on an iPhone meant jailbreaking the device or sideloading through AltStore and hoping the seven-day certificate didn’t expire mid-game. Apple’s April 2024 policy change ended that requirement for most users by opening a specific guideline exception for retro game emulators, and Delta became the first mainstream emulator to land on the U.S. App Store days later. Folium followed within weeks as the first Nintendo 3DS emulator Apple ever approved, and Provenance, which had spent years as a sideload-only project, eventually landed too.
The catch is the European Union. Because of the Digital Markets Act, Apple treats the EU as a separate distribution zone with alternative marketplaces, and Delta’s official App Store listing still isn’t available there. EU users get Delta through AltStore PAL instead, a legitimate, Apple-sanctioned alternative app marketplace rather than a shady workaround, but it’s still an extra step non-EU users skip entirely. Folium and Provenance, by contrast, ship through the standard App Store in most regions without that detour.
That regulatory quirk matters more than it sounds. A player in Toronto downloads Delta from the App Store in under a minute. A player in Berlin has to install AltStore PAL first, register an Apple ID with it, and re-sign the app roughly every year. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it changes which emulator makes sense depending on where you live, and it’s the first thing to check before committing to one app over another.
A Brief History: From Jailbreak-Only to App Store Approved
To understand why these three apps look the way they do, it helps to know what came before them. Riley Testut, Delta’s developer, wasn’t new to this problem when Apple opened the door in 2024. He’d already built GBA4iOS in 2014, a Game Boy Advance emulator distributed outside the App Store that Apple pulled within days, and later AltStore itself, a sideloading platform built specifically because Apple wouldn’t allow emulators through official channels. Delta existed as a sideload-only app for years before its 2024 App Store debut, refined through that entire period on a userbase that had to jump through certificate-signing hoops just to install it.
Provenance has a similar backstory. It began life years earlier as a community fork of iOS emulation projects, distributed through Cydia during the jailbreak era and later through AltStore and manual IPA installs once jailbreaking became impractical on modern iOS versions. Its 38-plus system count reflects years of contributions from an open-source community that kept building cores long before there was any legal path to ship the finished product through Apple’s official storefront.
Folium is the newcomer by comparison, built specifically to take advantage of the 2024 policy change rather than surviving through the jailbreak era first. That’s part of why its App Store reviews read rougher than Delta’s: Folium never had years of a captive sideloading userbase stress-testing it before wide release the way Delta and Provenance did. It shipped straight into App Store scrutiny, 3DS emulation’s notorious performance demands, and Apple’s no-JIT sandbox all at once.
Delta, Folium, and Provenance at a Glance
Before diving into specs, it helps to know what each app is actually built for. Delta, built by Riley Testut (the developer also behind AltStore), is a polished, Nintendo-focused emulator covering NES through Nintendo DS plus Sega Genesis. It’s free, stable, and the closest thing to an “it just works” option for GBA and DS libraries. Folium fills a gap none of its rivals touch: Nintendo 3DS emulation, alongside DS, GBA, and older Nintendo handhelds, sold as a one-time paid app rather than a free download. Provenance is the generalist of the three, an open-source multi-system frontend that wraps dozens of individual emulator cores into one app, covering everything from the Atari 2600 to the PlayStation.
None of the three touch the newest hardware. There’s no PS2 or GameCube support shipping in any of them yet, though Provenance’s public roadmap lists an experimental PS2 core with JIT compilation as a work in progress. If your library is strictly retro, 8-bit through early-2000s handhelds, one of these three will cover it. If you’re chasing PS2 or Switch emulation on iPhone, none of them get you there in 2026.
Full Specs Comparison: Delta vs Folium vs Provenance
Here’s how the three stack up across the specs that actually change your day-to-day experience, from supported systems to save-state handling.
| Spec | Delta | Folium | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | Riley Testut / LitRitt | Independent developer | Provenance-Emu open-source community |
| Latest tracked version | 1.6 (July 2024 build, App Store metadata refreshed Aug. 2026) | ~1.5 | 3.3.0 (released March 14, 2026) |
| Price | Free, optional in-app purchases | One-time purchase, $4.99 | Free, open-source (optional Plus tier) |
| Systems supported | NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBC, GBA, NDS, Genesis | 3DS, DS/DSi, GBA, GB/GBC, NES, SNES | 38+ systems incl. NES, SNES, N64, GB/GBC/GBA, Genesis, DS, Atari, PS1 (via core) |
| 3DS support | No | Yes (only App Store option) | No |
| App Store availability (US/global) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EU App Store availability | No (AltStore PAL required) | Yes | Yes |
| JIT compilation needed for full speed | No (N64/DS run full-speed without JIT) | Yes, for demanding 3DS titles | Depends on core (PS1 core benefits from JIT) |
| Minimum OS / device | iOS 14+, iPhone 8 and newer | iOS 15+, iPhone XS and newer recommended | iOS 16+, iPhone 8 and newer |
| Cloud save sync | iCloud sync for saves and states | Local device storage, no native cloud sync | iCloud sync (added in 3.3.0) |
| Controller support | MFi/Bluetooth controllers, on-screen overlay | MFi/Bluetooth controllers, on-screen overlay | MFi/Bluetooth controllers, on-screen overlay |
| Approximate install size | ~250-400 MB | ~300-500 MB | ~2.5 GB (bundled cores) |
| Open source | Yes (GitHub) | No | Yes (GitHub) |
The line that jumps out is 3DS support. It’s the one column where Folium has zero competition among App Store options, which is exactly why people pay for it despite Delta and Provenance being free. Everything else on this table is close enough that price and region end up deciding the winner more often than raw features do.
Pricing Compared: Free vs One-Time Purchase
Two of the three apps here are free, which makes the pricing conversation shorter than most comparisons on this site. Still, “free” and “one-time purchase” hide some fine print worth knowing before you tap install.
| Cost item | Delta | Folium | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base app price | $0.00 | $4.99 | $0.00 |
| In-app purchases | Optional cosmetic skins/themes | None reported | None |
| Optional premium tier | Not offered | Not offered | Provenance Plus: $3.99/month, $39.99/year, or $99.99 lifetime |
| Subscription required | No | No | No (Provenance Plus is opt-in, not required) |
| Refund policy | N/A (free) | Standard Apple 14-day App Store refund window | N/A (free) |
| Cost over 2 years | $0.00 | $4.99 flat | $0.00 (Plus tier optional) |
| Developer monetization | Patreon (optional, not required for features) | Direct app sales only | Donations/GitHub sponsors, plus an optional Provenance Plus tier ($3.99/mo, $39.99/yr, or $99.99 lifetime) |
| Price gap vs. free alternatives | — | +$4.99 | — |
That $4.99 gap is the whole pricing story. Folium is the only paid app of the three, and it’s asking for less than the price of a coffee for a feature (3DS emulation) that neither free rival offers at all. If you don’t care about 3DS, that $4.99 buys nothing you can’t get from Delta or Provenance for free, which is why so many first-time buyers end up disappointed when their specific system isn’t on Folium’s list.
Provenance’s core app stays free either way. As of August 2026, the project also lists an optional Provenance Plus tier for readers who’d rather support development with an ongoing payment than a one-off donation or GitHub sponsorship, priced at $3.99 a month, $39.99 a year, or $99.99 as a one-time lifetime purchase. None of the systems, save syncing, or emulation cores covered elsewhere in this comparison sit behind that tier, Plus is an optional way to fund the project rather than a requirement for using Provenance fully.
Supported Systems and Console Coverage
Provenance wins the raw numbers game by a wide margin. Its GitHub project and wiki advertise support for more than 38 systems, spanning early Atari hardware, the full run of Nintendo 8-bit and 16-bit consoles, Sega’s Genesis/Mega Drive and Game Gear, and a PlayStation-family core for original PS1 titles. Delta sticks to a tighter, Nintendo-first list: NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Sega Genesis. Folium narrows further still, but its narrowness is the point, since 3DS and DS/DSi are its headline systems alongside GBA, GB/GBC, NES, and SNES.
Where each app actually wins
- N64 library: Delta and Provenance both handle it; Folium doesn’t touch N64 at all.
- 3DS library: Folium only. Neither Delta nor Provenance emulates the 3DS as of August 2026.
- PS1 library: Provenance only, via its bundled PlayStation core. Neither Delta nor Folium supports it.
- Broadest single-app coverage: Provenance, by a wide margin, thanks to its 38-plus system count.
- Cleanest Nintendo-handheld experience: Delta, which trades breadth for a tighter, more polished UI around the systems it does support.
Put plainly: nobody needs all three unless their library genuinely spans 3DS, PS1, and Nintendo 8/16-bit titles at once. Most people will land on one primary app and maybe a second for the system the first one skips.
Performance Benchmarks: FPS on 3DS, N64, and PS1
Formal, lab-controlled frame rate testing for iOS emulators is thin on the ground compared with, say, GPU reviews, but three sources give a consistent enough picture to work from: developer release notes, community FPS testing shared across emulation forums, and hands-on comparison writeups from tech outlets that covered the 2024 App Store emulator wave.
The single most important number in this whole comparison is the JIT gap on 3DS emulation. Apple’s App Store sandbox doesn’t allow just-in-time compilation by default, which is the technique 3DS emulators rely on to translate ARM11 instructions fast enough for full speed. Community benchmarks circulating through 2026 comparison writeups put standard App Store builds of 3DS emulators, Folium included, at roughly 40-70% of full frame rate depending on the title, while sideloaded builds with JIT enabled through AltStore or a developer profile hit closer to 90-100%. That’s not a small gap. A game that should run at 30 fps can drop into the teens on a stock App Store install, and it’s the reason so many Folium reviews mention stutter on demanding titles like Monster Hunter or Super Mario 3D Land while lighter titles like New Super Mario Bros 2 stay smooth.
Delta’s N64 and DS emulation doesn’t have that JIT dependency problem, and Delta’s own release notes plus independent comparison coverage describe full-speed, 60 fps performance on most N64 titles going back to devices with Apple’s A12 chip, meaning any iPhone from the last several generations clears that bar comfortably. Provenance’s PS1 core, similarly, runs at full speed on modern hardware without needing JIT for the bulk of the PS1 library, since the original PlayStation’s MIPS R3000 CPU is a far lighter emulation target than the 3DS’s dual-core ARM11.
The practical takeaway: if your library is N64, DS, PS1, or anything 16-bit and earlier, expect full speed out of the box on any of these three apps on modern hardware. If your library is 3DS, expect Folium to work, but expect to sideload it with JIT enabled (through AltStore or a similar tool) if you want console-accurate frame rates on anything more demanding than a 2D platformer.
Here’s a title-by-title snapshot pulled from developer release notes, community FPS testing threads, and hands-on video comparisons of the App Store builds circulating through 2026, which is the closest thing to a controlled benchmark this category currently has.
| Title / System | App | Reported Result | Source Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Kart 64 (N64) | Delta | Full speed, 60 fps on A12 and newer | Developer release notes + community testing |
| Pokémon Black/White (DS) | Delta | Full speed, no slowdown reported | Community testing |
| New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) | Folium | Rated playable, near-full speed on App Store build | Hands-on video testing |
| Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) | Folium | Playable but audio-impaired without JIT; smoother with sideloaded JIT build | Hands-on video testing + community comparison writeups |
| Super Mario 3D Land (3DS) | Folium | Crashes on launch in some App Store builds | Hands-on video testing |
| Mario Kart 7 (3DS) | Folium | Low playability rating, not recommended without JIT | Hands-on video testing |
| Final Fantasy VII (PS1) | Provenance | Full speed on modern iPhone hardware | Provenance project documentation |
| Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) | Delta / Provenance | Full speed, 60 fps | Community comparison tables |
The pattern holds across every source: anything Delta or Provenance emulates natively runs at full speed on modern hardware without drama. The 3DS column on Folium is the outlier, swinging from “plays great” to “crashes on launch” depending entirely on the specific title and whether JIT is available, which is a direct consequence of Apple’s sandbox restrictions rather than anything Folium’s developer could easily fix on their own.
Controllers, Battery, and Storage: What Nobody Tells You Upfront
All three apps support standard MFi and Bluetooth controllers, so a Backbone One, a GameSir G8, or a plain PS5 DualSense paired over Bluetooth will work identically across Delta, Folium, and Provenance for button mapping purposes. Where they diverge is battery and thermal behavior. 3DS emulation on Folium is the most demanding workload of the three by a wide margin, since it’s asking a phone-class ARM chip to emulate a dual-core system in something close to real time, and JIT-enabled sideloaded builds push that further. Expect noticeably faster battery drain and a warmer phone during extended 3DS sessions compared with an equivalent length of N64 or Genesis play on Delta.
Storage is the other practical constraint people underestimate. Provenance’s roughly 2.5 GB install size is before you’ve added a single ROM, and its cores stay resident even if you only ever use two or three of the 38-plus systems it supports. On a 128 GB iPhone that’s a rounding error; on a base 64 GB model shared with photos, apps, and offline music, it’s worth checking available space before installing. Delta and Folium are both leaner installs by comparison, in the 250-500 MB range before ROMs are added, which matters more on older, lower-storage devices than it does on anything from the last couple of iPhone generations.
App Store vs AltStore vs Sideloading: Availability by Region
Distribution is where this comparison gets messier than a typical three-way app review. All three apps are, at least in theory, App Store apps in 2026. In practice, only Folium and Provenance behave that way everywhere. Delta’s App Store listing is restricted outside the EU’s alternative marketplace framework, meaning EU users need AltStore PAL, a separate, Apple-approved marketplace built specifically to satisfy Digital Markets Act requirements, rather than the standard App Store.
AltStore PAL isn’t a jailbreak and isn’t a shady sideloading trick. It’s a legitimate alternative app marketplace that Apple was required to permit under EU law, and installing it takes maybe five extra minutes: download the AltStore PAL app from its official site, register with an Apple ID, and install Delta through it the same way you’d install any App Store app. The friction is the yearly re-signing requirement tied to Apple’s developer certificate rules, which resets roughly once a year and can occasionally require a reinstall if you miss the renewal window. It’s a different arrangement from TestFlight, which remained free to use through 2026 but still requires the developer behind it to hold a $99-a-year Apple Developer membership and caps distribution at 10,000 testers per app, a ceiling none of these three emulators need to worry about since they ship through the standard App Store or AltStore PAL rather than beta channels.
Folium and Provenance skip that step entirely for most users, since both distribute through the standard App Store in the vast majority of regions including the EU. Provenance does document sideload paths (AltStore, SideStore, or a manual IPA install) for users chasing JIT-enabled builds or bleeding-edge cores still in testing, but that’s an optional power-user route, not a requirement to get the app running.
Delta Emulator Deep Dive: Strengths and Weaknesses
Delta earns its reputation as the default recommendation for a reason: it’s free, it’s actively maintained, it has no ads or telemetry, and its interface is the most polished of the three, with skin support, gesture-based menus, and iPad-optimized layouts added in the 1.6 update. Its Nintendo DS emulation in particular is considered rock solid, and its N64 core handles most of the library at full speed on anything from the last several iPhone generations.
The weaknesses are narrower but real. Delta doesn’t touch 3DS or PS1, so if your collection leans on either, you’re buying or downloading a second app regardless of how much you like Delta otherwise. The 1.6 update also broke backward compatibility with older DS save states, forcing some users to keep a legacy build around just to migrate saves forward, a detail worth knowing before you update blind. And EU users still deal with the AltStore PAL detour every App Store user elsewhere skips.
Folium Deep Dive: The Only 3DS Emulator on the App Store
Folium exists because of a gap nobody else filled: as of August 2026, it remains the only Nintendo 3DS emulator Apple has approved for the App Store, a distinction outlets like Netguru still call out in their 2026 emulator roundups. That alone explains its entire customer base. Nobody buys Folium for its NES or SNES support, which Delta and Provenance both offer for free; they buy it because it’s the sole legal, non-sideloaded way to play Pokémon X and Y, Fire Emblem Awakening, or Ocarina of Time 3D on an iPhone without touching AltStore, at a flat $4.99 one-time price.
That said, Folium’s App Store reviews are noticeably rougher than Delta’s or Provenance’s. Users report crashes on specific titles (Pokémon X being one repeatedly cited example), a forced-landscape mode introduced in version 1.5 that annoyed players who preferred portrait play, and inconsistent performance across the 3DS library, some games running close to full speed, others barely playable, largely tied to the JIT limitation covered above. It’s the only option for its niche, but it’s also the rockiest experience of the three on a day-to-day basis.
Provenance Deep Dive: The Broadest System Coverage
Provenance’s pitch is consolidation. Instead of downloading one app per console generation, Provenance wraps dozens of individual emulator cores into a single interface, meaning your Atari 2600 collection, your SNES library, your Genesis carts, and your PS1 discs can all live in one app with one set of save states and, since version 3.3.0 shipped in March 2026, one iCloud sync profile spanning iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV.
The tradeoff is size and complexity. Provenance’s install weighs in around 2.5 GB because it bundles so many cores up front, which matters if you’re still running a 64 GB iPhone. It also requires iOS 16 or later, a slightly higher bar than Delta’s iOS 14 minimum, and its most advanced features, like JIT-enabled cores for the more demanding PlayStation titles, live behind a sideloading process rather than the plain App Store install most users will use. For anyone whose retro library spans several console generations, though, it’s the closest thing to a one-app solution on iPhone in 2026.
Real-World Examples: How People Are Actually Using These Apps
Specs only tell half the story. Here’s how the choice plays out for specific kinds of players.
- The Pokémon completionist: Someone replaying Pokémon Omega Ruby and X/Y on a commute has exactly one App Store option, Folium, since neither Delta nor Provenance touches 3DS. They accept the occasional crash because there’s no free alternative for that specific library.
- The multi-console collector: A player with ROMs spanning NES, Genesis, SNES, and original PS1 discs consolidates everything into Provenance’s single library rather than juggling three or four separate apps, leaning on its iCloud sync to keep saves consistent across an iPhone and an iPad.
- The EU-based Delta user: A player in Germany or France who wants Delta specifically for its DS library has to install AltStore PAL first, a five-minute detour that App Store users in the US, UK, or Canada never encounter.
- The Ocarina of Time 3D purist: A player chasing console-accurate 60 fps in a demanding 3DS title sideloads Folium through AltStore with JIT enabled rather than settling for the reduced frame rate of the sandboxed App Store build.
- The budget-conscious student: Someone on an older iPhone XS or SE who just wants GBA and DS games downloads Delta, spends nothing, and never looks at Folium’s $4.99 price tag because their library doesn’t include a single 3DS title.
- The homebrew tinkerer: A developer testing ROM hacks and translation patches across several console generations uses Provenance’s open-source core system specifically because it’s actively developed on GitHub and accepts community contributions, unlike Folium’s closed-source codebase.
5+ Use-Case Recommendations
Matching the app to the use case saves a lot of trial and error. Here’s the short version.
- Choose Delta if: your library is mostly GBA, DS, N64, or Genesis, you want a free, actively maintained, no-ads option, and you’re not in the EU (or don’t mind the AltStore PAL setup if you are).
- Choose Folium if: you specifically need 3DS games and are willing to accept some crashes and inconsistent performance in exchange for being the only legal App Store option for that system.
- Choose Provenance if: your collection spans multiple console generations, including PS1, and you’d rather manage one app and one save library than several.
- Choose Delta + Provenance together if: you want full free coverage of everything except 3DS, using Delta for its cleaner Nintendo-handheld UI and Provenance for PS1 and the systems Delta skips.
- Choose Folium sideloaded via AltStore if: you need maximum 3DS frame rates through JIT and don’t mind the extra setup step over the plain App Store install.
- Skip all three if: your library is PS2, GameCube, or Switch, since none of these apps emulate that hardware tier on iPhone as of August 2026.
Migration Guide: Moving ROMs and Save States Between Emulators
Switching emulators, or running more than one, doesn’t have to mean starting every game over. ROM files themselves are universal: a legally-dumped GBA or DS ROM works in any of the three apps without modification. Save states are the part that trips people up, since each emulator core stores them in its own format.
Steps to move a library between apps
- Back up in-game saves first, not save states. In-game saves (the ones the original cartridge would have written) are far more portable across emulator cores than mid-session save states.
- Use the Files app on iOS to locate each emulator’s document folder, typically accessible via the “On My iPhone” section once an app requests file access.
- Export ROMs and save files through each app’s built-in import/export or iCloud Drive integration rather than manually digging through sandboxed folders.
- If moving from Delta 1.5 to 1.6, use the developer-provided Delta Legacy build first to pull forward DS save states before switching, since the 1.6 update changed the save format.
- Import ROMs into Provenance through its dedicated import screen, which auto-detects system type based on file extension and header data.
- Verify each game loads and the save persists correctly before deleting the original files from the source app.
Typical iOS Files app path for emulator ROM folders:
On My iPhone/Delta/Roms/[system]/
On My iPhone/Provenance/ROMs/[system]/
On My iPhone/Folium/roms/
Recommended workflow:
1. Connect iPhone to a computer or use Files app + iCloud Drive
2. Copy ROM files into the matching system folder for the target app
3. Re-launch the app to trigger its library rescanNone of these apps offer a one-tap “import from competitor” button, so budget 20-30 minutes if you’re migrating a sizable library across all three systems and want saves intact rather than starting fresh.
Pros and Cons Summary
Delta
- Pro: Free, polished, actively maintained with iPad support
- Pro: Strong N64 and DS performance without needing JIT
- Con: No 3DS or PS1 support
- Con: EU users need AltStore PAL, not the standard App Store
Folium
- Pro: Only App Store app with Nintendo 3DS support
- Pro: Available in the EU App Store without a sideload detour
- Con: $4.99 price tag for a narrower system list than free rivals
- Con: Crash reports and inconsistent 3DS performance without JIT sideloading
Provenance
- Pro: Broadest system coverage of the three, including PS1
- Pro: Free, open-source, with iCloud sync since version 3.3.0 and an optional Provenance Plus tier for supporters
- Con: Larger install size (~2.5 GB) and a higher iOS 16 minimum requirement
- Con: No 3DS support, and advanced JIT features require sideloading
Which iPhone Emulator Should You Choose? The Verdict
There isn’t a single winner here, and pretending otherwise would ignore how differently these three apps are built. If forced to pick one default recommendation for most readers, it’s Delta: free, stable, actively maintained, and covering the systems (NES, SNES, N64, GBA, NDS, Genesis) that make up the bulk of most people’s retro libraries. That’s the same conclusion outlets like Netguru reach in their 2026 roundups, which call Delta the best all-rounder for casual and power users alike.
But “best overall” isn’t the same as “best for you.” If your library is 3DS-heavy, Folium’s $4.99 is the only legal App Store route to that system, full stop, no free alternative exists. If your collection spans PS1 alongside the usual Nintendo systems, Provenance’s 38-plus system count and free price make it the more complete single-app solution, provided you can spare the 2.5 GB of storage. The realistic setup for a lot of readers ends up being two apps rather than one: Delta or Provenance for the free, broad coverage, plus Folium specifically for 3DS titles neither of the others touches. Layer in the EU distribution wrinkle, and the honest answer to “which is best” is “check your library and your region before you check the App Store.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to use Delta, Folium, or Provenance on iPhone?
The emulator apps themselves are legal, and Apple explicitly permits them under its 2024 App Store guideline update. Legality gets murkier around the ROM files you load into them; dumping ROMs from cartridges or discs you personally own sits in a legal gray area in most jurisdictions, while downloading ROMs for games you don’t own is copyright infringement regardless of which emulator you use. Nintendo’s own legal information page spells out the company’s position that unauthorized copies of its games are not permitted, even if the emulator running them is legitimate.
Practically, that means the safest path is ripping ROMs from cartridges or discs you already own using a compatible reader, rather than downloading files from ROM sites, which almost always host unauthorized copies regardless of what the site claims about “abandonware” status. None of the three emulators in this comparison include any built-in ROM downloading feature, precisely because that would cross from gray-area personal backups into clear copyright infringement.
Do I need to jailbreak my iPhone to use these emulators?
No. All three are designed to run on stock, non-jailbroken iPhones. Jailbreaking isn’t required for any of the core functionality covered in this comparison, though some advanced JIT-enabled builds for maximum 3DS performance are distributed outside the standard App Store via AltStore or similar tools.
Why can’t I find Delta on the App Store in Europe?
Delta’s developer distributes the app through AltStore PAL in the European Union rather than the standard App Store, a distinction tied to how Apple structured compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Folium and Provenance, by contrast, are available through the regular App Store in the EU.
Which of the three has the best Pokémon game support?
It depends on the generation. Delta covers the GBA and DS-era Pokémon games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, Diamond/Pearl, Black/White) at full speed. Folium is the only option for the 3DS-era titles like Pokémon X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, since neither Delta nor Provenance emulates the 3DS.
Can I play PS1 games on my iPhone with any of these apps?
Yes, but only through Provenance. Its bundled PlayStation core supports original PS1 titles at full speed on modern iPhone hardware. Delta and Folium don’t include PS1 emulation at all.
Will these emulators work on an older iPhone?
Delta has the lowest bar, supporting iOS 14 and iPhone 8-class hardware for its Nintendo systems. Provenance requires iOS 16 and effectively an iPhone 8 or newer as well. Folium’s 3DS emulation is the most hardware-hungry of the three and performs best on more recent devices, particularly when running with JIT enabled. All three developers now build against Xcode 26.4.1, the current release as of May 2026 and still a free Mac App Store download, which ships with iPhone 17-class simulators alongside the iOS 26 toolchain that was confirmed current back in April 2026, so newer hardware is where day-to-day performance work is actually being validated even though the minimum OS floors for older iPhones haven’t moved.
Do any of these apps sync saves across my iPhone and iPad?
Delta and Provenance both support iCloud sync for saves and save states across Apple devices, with Provenance adding that feature in its version 3.3.0 update in March 2026. Folium currently relies on local device storage without native cloud sync.
What’s the difference between a save state and an in-game save?
An in-game save is written by the original game itself, the same way it would be on real hardware, and it’s generally portable across different emulator cores for the same system. A save state is a snapshot of the emulator’s exact memory at a given moment, tied specifically to that emulator’s core version, which is why save states often break when you update or switch emulators while in-game saves usually survive the move.
Are there other iPhone emulators worth considering besides these three?
A handful of narrower, system-specific emulators exist alongside these three, mostly covering individual consoles rather than trying to match Delta’s breadth or Provenance’s system count. None currently challenge Folium’s position as the only App Store option for 3DS, and none offer PS1 support outside of Provenance’s bundled core. You can browse Delta’s own official App Store listing or Provenance’s GitHub project page to see the current state of each project’s release notes and roadmap directly from the source.
Could Apple change its emulator policy again and remove these apps?
It’s possible but hasn’t happened since the April 2024 policy change took effect, and all three apps remain listed on the App Store as of August 2026. If anything, the surrounding tooling keeps expanding rather than tightening: CI platforms like Codemagic added iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max simulator devices running iOS 26.x by default that same month, a sign Apple’s build pipeline is accommodating newer hardware rather than squeezing out categories like this one. Apple’s guidelines still require emulators to only run legally obtained software and prohibit them from downloading or distributing ROM files directly, a line all three of these apps stay within by leaving ROM sourcing entirely up to the user.
Does Provenance require a subscription to work?
No. Provenance’s core app and every emulation core covered in this comparison are free to use. As of August 2026, the project also offers an optional Provenance Plus tier for users who want to support development with an ongoing payment, priced at $3.99 a month, $39.99 a year, or $99.99 as a lifetime purchase, but it isn’t required to install the app, import ROMs, or use any system Provenance supports.
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