This weekend Apple officially approved the first PC emulator in the App Store, an open source app called UTM SEbased on QEMU and free to download (no IAP).
UTM SE can emulate a variety of desktop operating systems and system architectures, including MS-DOS, Windows XP, and (of course) Linux—all without workarounds, jailbreaks, or sideloading .ipa files through Xcode.
However, I should mention (before anyone reading gets too excited) that the overall performance of running Ubuntu on an iPhone or iPad isn’t great – I’ll explain why in a moment.
As you may have heard, Apple eased its restrictions on game emulators earlier this year.
Several open source retro console emulators are now available to install from the App Store, including Delta AND Retro Arch (both work great).
After this change, a question was asked when Apple would allow a general-purpose emulator (don’t call it a VM) capable of running PC operating systems on the App Store, especially since some older OSes are obviously gaming platforms as well.
And she when is more now.
UTM SE – A PC Emulator App for iOS
Based in QEMU UTM SE works with iPhone and iPad running iOS 14.0 or later. It also supports Vision Pro, Apple’s expensive (and clumsy) AR glasses.
Most people probably aren’t that interested in running a desktop OS for traditional computing needs on their iPhone, or even an iPad. So, UTM SE presents itself as a way to emulate older versions of Windows to run PC games (Doom, Quake, etc.)
But you can use UTM SE to run Linux distributions if you need/want to.
For the first release, UTM SE supports:
- VGA mode for graphics and terminal mode for text-only OS
- Emulation of x86, PPC and RISC-V architectures
- Support for pre-built machines (downloaded as
.utmbunch) - Ability to create custom drives, boot from ISO, etc
However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, if you plan to use this app to put a modern Linux desktop distribution in your pocket, you shouldn’t expect an amazing, fast or fluid experience.
Because the ‘SE’ in ‘UTM SE’ stands for ‘Slow Edition’…
UTM SE + Linux = Dog Slow
Depending on how old the OS you want to ’emulate’ is and how new the iPhone or iPad you’re emulating with is, the experience might be good enough to do what you need (games, right?).
But if you’re hoping to use the latest Linux desktop, and use it for basic productivity as well – extinguish any hope of running Steam – prepare for a gloomy experience.
First, emulation is not as fast as virtualization, especially when translating instructions from one architecture to another, eg, a 32-bit Windows XP guest on Apple’s ARM chips.
Realizing a guest that matches the host architecture may yield better results.
Preconfigured ARM-based builds of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Debian, Arch Linux, and other Linux distributions are available in the UTM gallery.
Second, the other reason for the relative slowness is not one of UTM’s choices: it must use a threaded interpreter since Apple does not allow dynamic code generation (JIT) in apps distributed on the App Store for ‘security’ reasons.
While a threaded interpreter is faster than the standard one, it is slower than the JIT would be. UTM SE has to make do with a separate QEMU TCTI implementation — it works as well as it can, but don’t expect miracles.
For ancient OSes, the lack of JIT is less of a hindrance. Those systems were built for modest resources.
But modern Linux distributions are more complex and demanding, so (as I keep saying) be sure to set your expectations low.
Why won’t Apple embrace virtualization properly?
To be honest, the news of the UTM SE approval caught me by surprise. It’s a turnoff for Apple and (to a lesser extent) the developers who build and maintain UTM.
Apple rejected UTM SE in June, saying that PC emulation is different from its (new) console emulation exception. The UTM team wasn’t upset, noting on social media that UTM SE offers ‘a subpar experience and not worth fighting for’ – and yet, here it is.
Use an iPad as an external monitor with Ubuntu
Why did Apple hate console emulators? An itchy head. But his reluctance to allow, support or permit The right one virtualization on iOS is the biggest mystery.
Given that there are powerful, desktop-class processors inside its newer iPads, not embracing the VM use case feels like a self-inflicted missed opportunity.
(Trivia: iOS 16 briefly offered hypervisor support. I used a UTM (side-loaded) build that ran it with Ubuntu ARM and it worked fine! Apple removed the hypervisor in a later iOS update – party poopers).
However, the fact that the gatekeepers at Apple have finally allowed a PC emulator into the App Store IS an encouraging sign – a closed door now slightly open (one wonders if the DMA-shaped boot inserted into the gate has something to do with it… 😉).
Download UTM SE for iPhone/iPad
You can install UTM SE from the App Store in most locations.
EU readers will also have the option of installing UTM SE from the altStore at some point in the coming weeks, so if you prefer to grab your goods from there, keep an eye out.
• Get UTM SE on the App Store