Apple could also be eradicating iDOS 2, a well-liked (or, on the very least, in style for a DOS emulator designed to run decades-old software program and video games) emulation app that permits customers to run DOS video games and software program on Apple’s iPhone and iPad units.
In response to the developer, Chaoji Li, Apple issued the discover of the pending takedown after a just lately submitted replace for a bug repair. Whereas iDOS 2 has been out there since 2014 on the App Retailer, plainly with the latest replace, the corporate has modified its thoughts.
Per the letter that Li obtained:
Upon re-evaluation, we discovered that your app isn’t in compliance with the App Retailer Assessment Tips. Particularly, we discovered your app is in violation of the next:
Guideline 2.5.2 — Efficiency — Software program Necessities
Throughout evaluation, your app put in or launched executable code, which isn’t permitted on the App Retailer.
Particularly, your app executes iDOS package deal and picture recordsdata and permits iTunes File Sharing and Recordsdata assist for importing video games. Executing code can introduce or modifications options or performance of the app and permits for downloading of content material with out licensing.
Li had beforehand been pressured to go 4 years with out an replace to iDOS 2 because of Apple’s restrictions on bundling sport recordsdata, however he was in a position to replace the app in September 2020 with modifications that enabled iDOS 2 to make use of iOS’s document-sharing characteristic to let customers import their very own recordsdata. An earlier model of the app, iDOS, had been briefly out there on the App Retailer in 2010, however was pulled by Apple shortly after it was launched.
Since that September replace, Li was additionally in a position to submit a dozen different updates to his app, every with out problem. Li claims to have been extraordinarily upfront with Apple’s reviewers throughout every replace submission, noting that whereas the app does run exterior code, it does so in a sandboxed setting (which means there’s no safety danger that would compromise consumer knowledge on the remainder of the working system).
For no matter cause, although, Apple seems to have modified its thoughts on imposing this part of its App Retailer guidelines. It’s not clear what precisely has modified right here, though Li speculates {that a} latest burst of recognition (helped by tweets from Quick Firm tech editor Harry McCracken and a information from How-To Geek that exhibits how the app could possibly be used to run Home windows 3.1 on an iPad) could have brought about Apple’s change of coronary heart.
Apple has given Li 14 days to replace his app to take away the power to run executable code — which might render it fully ineffective. Li has already mentioned he doesn’t intend to make that change, explaining that doing so “can be a betrayal to all of the customers which have bought this app particularly for these options.”
For now, iDOS 2 remains to be out there on the App Retailer for $4.99, but when Apple sticks to its phrase, it doubtless received’t be round to buy for for much longer.
