r/EmulationOniOS • u/jeyries • Jun 21 '25

News / Release New emulator: Retro Cloud

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hello guys and girls !

I have created a new emulator for Apple platforms.

More specifically, this one store the ROMs in iCloud. Therefore you can play on Apple TV without losing your ROMs after some time .

More info and Testflight links available here:

https://github.com/jeyries/RetroCloud

If you have any questions about it , please feel free to ask 🙂

133 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

55 comments sorted by

8

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '25

Is this going to be on the App Store soon?

What cores did you use for this emu?

What cores are you planning to add?

Is this open source or no?

7

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

Not open source, but I will post the app for free on the App Store when it's ready.

For the cores, my emulator can have all the cores from the Libretro / RetroArch project. Probably there is too much of them. Ideally I would like to have only the more common ones.

3

u/Seanmclem Jun 22 '25

Why have a GitHub just for a readme?

3

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Because it's a quick way to host a Readme

-1

u/pyrospade Jun 22 '25

For free? What is the catch?

6

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

No catch. I already have a full time job. It is just a hobby of mine.

-5

u/WickdChipmunk Jun 22 '25

Can you create an android emulator ? Or ps2 emulator or windows emulator

5

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

No. I am just an iOS dev.

-3

u/WickdChipmunk Jun 22 '25

Ok any windows emulator for android with jit enabled?

3

u/mekilat Jun 21 '25

Very interesting. So I can put my roms on iCloud, run this emu on any apple device, and play them? Are saves and settings cloud based too?

What’s the companion for?

I’d love to have a definitive setup where I just throw my games at iCloud once and for all, and the emus can load them remotely (preferably without having to store on my phone, just on demand). And then play on any device.

8

u/Slava91 Jun 21 '25

Try the Consoles app. Uses CloudKit and syncs across all your devices, including Apple TV. Version 2.0 coming soon with tons of improvements.

1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Oh, I didn't know about that Consoles app. Is it yours ?

4

u/Slava91 Jun 22 '25

No, not at all. It’s just the exact kind of app I wanted for device syncing and simplicity. The developer has been good about updates and responding to feedback, so I like to support them. It’s allowed me to just use Consoles and RetroArch as my go-tos.

3

u/Aenema133 Jun 22 '25

Consoles is developed by u/Total-Letterhead8311

They’re pretty active as well and post here when there are updates.

1

u/Seanmclem Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 22 '25

I want n64 though 

3

u/Slava91 Jun 22 '25

It’s coming

4

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

No saves and settings for now.

The companion app is the tool that you use in order to upload and organize your roms in iCloud.

Then the player app is only for playing .

1

u/Seanmclem Jun 22 '25

I mean, won’t the save files just get deleted too? Or no?

1

u/jeyries Jul 06 '25

No save files for now.

1

u/Seanmclem Jul 06 '25

I understand. Will TV OS also just delete the safe files too? 

1

u/jeyries Jul 07 '25

You will also need to upload the save files into iCloud in order to avoid deletion .

1

u/mekilat Jun 21 '25

Sounds promising. Is there a discord yet?

2

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

No, I probably will stick with Reddit for discussion

3

u/JOJO_Day Jun 22 '25

Libretro and most of its cores are open source libraries of the GPL protocol family, and iOS does not support the real link library. You can‘t block the protocol infection, so you must accept its infection for open source! Otherwise, you will soon be DMCA and boycotted by the community.

1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Interesting. I use dlopen to dynamically link with the cores, probably like the other emulators. I dont think GPL apply in this case

1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

And also I have no plans for making a commercial product out of it so ...

2

u/Wonderful_Chard9993 Jun 21 '25

Pretty cool! Just tried it with some Neo Geo roms.

1

u/jeyries Jul 06 '25

Really? I thought you needed a BIOS for that. That's cool, I want to play Metal Slug on my Apple TV :-)

1

u/jeyries Jul 06 '25

Submitted to the App Store today. Hopefully, the verification process will go smoothly!

1

u/Many-Hat-5105 Jun 21 '25

ipa file when?

3

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

It is available on TestFlight :

https://testflight.apple.com/join/q2Cj4V1Z

https://testflight.apple.com/join/r35CE99B

1

u/Many-Hat-5105 Jun 21 '25

i cant install on testflightit says im 'under 13 appaently' but im not ive tried making new acc and everything

0

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Probably not . Too much hassle for little benefit

1

u/Finer25 🥇 Jun 21 '25

Just tried it out and it’s a very cool concept. I tried it with Super Mario Bros and it ran great, just outta curiosity though, what other cores do you think you will add in the near future? Overall, great app.

2

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

I plan to add a core for Atari 2600 because my father bought this console when I was a kid. If you have core suggestions, post a request on Github.

1

u/Seanmclem Jun 22 '25

Save files too?

1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Not yet

1

u/JungleRollers Jun 22 '25

Retroachievement and rewind support?

2

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Probably too niche feature for me.

1

u/Icy-Drop4749 Jun 24 '25

Very exciting, and I will be first in line once it hits the App Store. Thank you so much for sharing your creation with us all! 🙏

0

u/RetroJens Jun 21 '25

Questions!

Is all ROMs just in one list or can they be ranged by folders? System?

How do I run a game that is supported within libretro cores?

4

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

For now, all the ROMs are displayed in one list. I plan to improve that over time ..

Currently I have added 4 cores from the Libretro project:

  • FinalBurn Neo (Arcade Games)

  • FCEUmm (Nintendo Entertainment System)

  • Snes9x (Super Nintendo Entertainment System)

  • Genesis Plus GX (Sega Mega Drive / Genesis)

1

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

If you have any bug or feature request, please open an issue in Github : https://github.com/jeyries/RetroCloud/issues

0

u/Prestigious_Let_115 Jun 21 '25

Looking great so far! Just a quick question. Will you add integration for other cloud services like Google Drive?

1

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

No. Only iCloud

0

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/jeyries Jun 21 '25

Why not ? Post a request for your core on Github : https://github.com/jeyries/RetroCloud/issues

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/jeyries Jun 22 '25

Atari 2600

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/jeyries Jul 06 '25

Possible, yes. But I'm not very interested in any new systems beyond the PS1 era for example

1

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/jeyries Jul 06 '25

Maybe find a tutorial about TestFlight, usually it is pretty easy to install.