Samuel Axon
After a 14-year journey with varying states of availability and usefulness amid the shifting policies of Apple’s App Store approval process, MS-DOS game emulator iDOS is back on the iPhone and iPad. Hopefully, this time it’s here to stay.
iDOS lets you run applications created for MS-DOS through DOSBox, with a nice retro-style interface. Its main use case is definitely playing DOS games, but the road to get there has been a rocky one. Originally released over a decade ago, it existed quietly for its niche audience, although it underwent a few changes that made it more or less useful in evading the developer’s quest to avoid removal from the App Store after violating Apple’s rules. That culminated in its complete removal in 2021 after a few tweets and articles brought it to attention.
But earlier this year, Apple made major changes to its App Store rules, officially allowing “retro game emulators” for the first time. This paved the way for a wave of working console game emulators like Delta and RetroArch, which today work largely as you’d expect on any other platform. But when iDOS developer Chaoji Li and other classic PC emulator software vendors tried to do the same for old PC games for MS-DOS and other non-console computer platforms, they were blocked. Apple told them that it didn’t consider their apps to be retro game console emulators, and that they violated rules designed to prevent people from bypassing the App Store by running applications from other sources.
PC emulator UTM released a version of its software that circumvented Apple’s rules, but the experience was subpar. But on August 2, Apple changed its App Store rules to explicitly allow emulators of classic PC games. That opened the door for iDOS, which made a triumphant comeback and works quite well.
However, developer Chaoji Li’s announcement that iDOS 3 was available did not sound particularly triumphant – more like exhaustion in the face of the app’s years of problems:
It’s taken a long time for common sense to prevail at Apple. As much as I want to celebrate, I can’t help but be a little cautious about the future. Are we OK from here on out?
Get iDOS3 from the AppStore
I hope that iDOS now has the chance to assert itself and grow.
PS: Even though I sometimes find myself at a loss for words, I would like to thank the supporters of iDOS. In many ways, you keep iDOS alive.
Since Apple’s policy changes were prompted by regulatory concerns, it’s likely that they will stick this time around. But after everything that’s happened, you can’t blame Li for questioning the issue.
If you are one of the dozens (or maybe several hundred) people who want to play, Commander Keen, Might and Magic: The World of Xeen, Wolfenstein3Dor Jill from the Jungle on your iPhone, today is your day.
