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I vaguely remember this as well, but that wasn't the only reason. The other reason was security/ability to review apps. If an app can run arbitrary code, then t

I vaguely remember this as well, but that wasn't the only reason. The other reason was security/ability to review apps. If an app can run arbitrary code, then they don't know if it contains a virus or something else to escape the sandbox. Or something like that. This was all quite a long time ago and Google isn't being super helpful in searching for old posts.

ben_w 3y ago
That rings a bell for me too, FWIW.
simion314 3y ago
I bet it is not about the viruses, Apple does a bad job at catching malware. They are very concerned if a developer might show some link that would educate an apple user that they can get discounts outside the App Store so it is clear that all was for the money. If you have an emulator and then say get some old game from Gog and play it then Apple does not get their 15-30% cut, they want you to buy a game from their store instead.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  Oh, no doubt this is ALL about money. I was just recalling the "official" reason.
- NekkoDroid 3y ago
  > They are very concerned if a developer might show some link that would educate an apple user that they can get discounts outside the App Store I recently had a friend ask if I wanna join their YT Premium Family plan and they said it would be like 6 euro for me. Ended up asking how much they are paying as a whole and it was 32 per month and I immediatly knew that it was paid for on an iPad/iPhone, cuz even if you just go on the website on one of the devices it will show you the actual price of 24 euro.
Mathnerd314 3y ago
Here is an example removal (2021): https://www.imore.com/apple-going-remove-idos-2-emulator-app-store-get-it-while-you-can https://www.imore.com/apple-going-remove-idos-2-emulator-app... It seems that they considered loading game images as "running executable code". So in particular what was banned was running code downloaded remotely, meaning any emulator that could download game images from the web or load game images from the filesystem was banned.

ben_w 3y ago

That rings a bell for me too, FWIW.

simion314 3y ago

I bet it is not about the viruses, Apple does a bad job at catching malware. They are very concerned if a developer might show some link that would educate an apple user that they can get discounts outside the App Store so it is clear that all was for the money. If you have an emulator and then say get some old game from Gog and play it then Apple does not get their 15-30% cut, they want you to buy a game from their store instead.

withinboredom 3y ago
Oh, no doubt this is ALL about money. I was just recalling the "official" reason.
NekkoDroid 3y ago
> They are very concerned if a developer might show some link that would educate an apple user that they can get discounts outside the App Store I recently had a friend ask if I wanna join their YT Premium Family plan and they said it would be like 6 euro for me. Ended up asking how much they are paying as a whole and it was 32 per month and I immediatly knew that it was paid for on an iPad/iPhone, cuz even if you just go on the website on one of the devices it will show you the actual price of 24 euro.

Mathnerd314 3y ago

Here is an example removal (2021): https://www.imore.com/apple-going-remove-idos-2-emulator-app-store-get-it-while-you-can https://www.imore.com/apple-going-remove-idos-2-emulator-app... It seems that they considered loading game images as "running executable code". So in particular what was banned was running code downloaded remotely, meaning any emulator that could download game images from the web or load game images from the filesystem was banned.