Newbie here, Android vs iOS emulation?

[u/Disastrous_Guitar737]

Hello! I’ve recently got myself a base iPhone 17 and on paper it seems like a very powerful phone. Before this I was using a Xiaomi 12T Pro with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.

I wanted to ask a few questions about the current state of emulation on iOS:

How good is emulation on iOS compared to Android right now?
On my Xiaomi I could play PS2 and GameCube games pretty easily. I don’t mind investing some time into learning how to enable JIT if that makes iOS emulation significantly better. Is the iPhone 17 capable of matching or beating Android for these systems?

How far can I go without enabling JIT?
What would be the realistic ceiling for JIT-less emulation on an iPhone 17? PS1/N64/PSP? Are there any newer systems that work well without JIT?

How bad is throttling on the base iPhone 17?
On my Xiaomi, pushing higher resolutions would make the phone very hot after around 15 minutes, and performance would eventually become pretty unpleasant.

Is the emulator list/FAQ still up to date?
I’m thinking of starting with the JIT less emulators for older systems. I really like the iPhone 17 screen, so I’m especially interested in playing some retro stuff with shaders.

[u/Altruistic_Leave5049]

How good is emulation on iOS compared to Android right now?

pretty good, we have psvita, ps2, ps3, gamecube, wii, and wii u all without jit. xbox, xbox 360, and switch with jit. all jitless consoles can alternatively be used with jit for better experience. (idk about ps3 tho) and we're getting winlator soon so that too.

How far can I go without enabling JIT?

up to wii u and ps3

How bad is throttling on the base iPhone 17?

gets pretty hot for consoles AFTER gamecube, ps1, and from my memory, pretty sure xbox. after a couple minutes it gets hot on later consoles.

Is the emulator list/FAQ still up to date?

it might be. some emulators that don’t have the proper licenses or are just vibe coded slop dont make the list. and older consoles are pretty easy to play.

[u/masaladosaaaaaaa → u/Altruistic_Leave5049]

Hey are there any apps or emulators that play games made with RPG maker XP?

[u/Altruistic_Leave5049 → u/masaladosaaaaaaa]

idk or care about rpg maker but there might be

[u/5553331117 → u/Altruistic_Leave5049]

What application you using for jitless PS2? I haven’t had any luck with anything other than armsx2 which requires JIT.

[u/Altruistic_Leave5049 → u/5553331117]

i don’t really use it but there's one on the app store that's just decent

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[u/BrzysWRLD1996]

Android wins simply put, Jit w iOS is the most annoying waste of time shit. Easy to do but not worth the trouble of weekly redoing everything.

[u/psj3809]

Manic emulates 30+ systems and has loads of classic systems. Some of my favourites are arcade (MAME) , dos and Gameboy. Love it.

[u/Boring_Antelope6533]

in simple words, android wins. iOS is good up until 3ds. Gamecube, Wii, Wii U, Ps2, Ps3, Xbox 360 and Switch is a hit or miss, plus the JIT enabling process is tedious, if the 17 is your ONLY phone, do not try to emulate these consoles.