mac safari emulator

Safari Browser Testing

Browserling offers free online cross-browser testing in the Safari browser. At the moment, we offer Safari versions that run on Windows but very soon we'll also be adding Safari on macOS. The Windows Safari versions are installed on Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and XP. The installed Safari versions are from the official Apple installation packages and they are not fake browser emulators or simulators. To access Safari from Browserling, you don't have to install any additional software as Browserling is powered by HTML5 and JavaScript.

Try Safari in Browserling now!

Use the browser testing widget (below) to load an online Safari browser. Simply enter the address of a website that you want to open and press the "Test now!" button.

The free Browserling version offers 3 minutes of Safari testing on Windows 10 but to get unlimited minutes and access to all other operating systems, you'll have to get the developer plan .

Safari Testing FAQ

What is the latest safari version for windows.

The latest Windows Safari version is 5.1.5. You can access it via our quick browsing URL: browserling.com/browse/safari/5.1.5 .

What is the earliest Safari for Windows?

The earliest Windows Safari version is 4.0 and you can also access it via our quick browsing URL: browserling.com/browse/safari/4.0 .

Does Apple still maintain the Windows port of Safari?

No, Apple stopped maintaining Windows Safari after version 5.1.5

Do you offer Safari testing on macOS?

We're working on it! We don't have Safari on macOS yet but it's one of our top priority tasks to add it. Stay tuned!

Do you offer Safari testing on iPhones?

Offering Safari browser testing on iPhones is also one of our top tasks and we're working on it!

What browser engine does Safari use?

Safari is based on the WebKit browser engine. WebKit is also used by Chrome , Edge , and Opera browsers.

Do you run a Safari emulator?

No, we installed Safari from the official Apple installation package and it runs on a real computer. It's not an emulator nor a simulator but a real browser.

Can you help us with an issue on our website in Safari?

We'd love to help. We have been solving cross-browser testing problems for over 10 years and know everything there is about the Safari browser. Please email us at [email protected] and we'll help you with your website issue in Safari.

What is the Live Safari API?

It's a technology that we created. It lets you embed a Safari in your own project (a website or a webapp). Take a look at the Live API page that shows how it works.

For any other questions about cross-browser testing in Safari please contact us at [email protected] or use our contact form .

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How to Emulate the Latest Safari Browser Online

Browser emulators are ideal for testing how responsive a site is. The term ‘browser emulator’ refers to software that imitates the functionality of various web browsers. For instance, a Safari emulator aims to emulate Safari. 

Emulators help attain the exact look and feel of an actual Safari browser when a website is launched on it. Safari is a popular browser exclusive to Apple devices. Although Apple has discontinued its usage in other operating systems, users can download older versions if they want to test its features.

You need to use a cross-browser testing tool, a virtual machine, or an emulator to emulate Safari browser online. This helps evaluate if a website is working as per expectations.

Table Of Contents

• 1 Can You Run the Safari Browser on Windows 10 & 11?
• 2.1 Use a Virtual Machine
• 2.2 Use Cross-Browser Testing Tools
• 3 How to Test Safari Browser on Windows?
• 4.1 How to Emulate Safari on Linux?
• 5.1 How to Emulate Safari on Chrome
• 5.2 How to Emulate Safari in Firefox
• 5.3 How to Emulate Safari on Internet Explorer?
• 5.4 How to Emulate Safari on Edge?
• 6 Emulate Safari Browser Online 
• 8.1 Can you emulate Safari on PC?
• 8.2 How do I emulate a device in Safari?
• 8.3 How do I test Safari online?

Can You Run the Safari Browser on Windows 10 & 11?

A segment of users wishes to use Safari as a default browser on Windows 10 and 11. This is because of its user-friendly design and speed. Safari runs parallel with popular browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Firefox when it comes to its outstanding performance. However, there is a catch. 

Even if you can download Safari on Windows, you risk your system because you can face potential security issues. The overall performance of your PC might even get compromised if you download expired or old versions of the software. Apple, therefore, has discontinued offering Safari as a standalone browser for any other operating system, including Windows. 

However, you can install the browser as a substitute browser on any PC that runs the operating system of Microsoft from unofficial online platforms. Concludingly, we can say that there is currently no Safari emulator for Windows. 

No Safari emulator is dedicated to running on any version of Windows, be it Windows 10 or 11. However, many websites offer users the option of testing Safari on Windows.

How Can I Test Websites on Safari Without Mac? 

Safari has been deemed the second most popular browser in 2022 and is the native default browser of Apple devices. It is an ideal browser for testing any online product or site because of its fast responsiveness.

However, one of the biggest challenges most software testers and website developers face is the lack of a Mac (iMac or Macbook). You are primarily required to have a Mac for both automated and manual testing in the Safari browser because this browser is platform-specific.

To address this problem, you can use the following hacks to test your product on the Safari browser:-

Use a Virtual Machine

You don’t need to worry about not having a Mac to run your tests on the Safari browser. To do so, you can easily conduct them on a Windows local host with the help of a virtual machine by using your PC or system as the server. 

Numerous virtual machines are available for you to choose from, and they will run any browser inside Linux or Windows. 

All you need to do is configure a handful of settings at the hardware and the software level (choosing the amount of disk space and RAM to allocate to each OS). Your computer, however, needs to have enough power to sustain this configuration. 

Use Cross-Browser Testing Tools

It is imperative to run any website on multiple browsers to ensure a smooth-sailing experience for visitors. To overcome the challenge of testing websites on Safari without a Mac, you opt for cross-browser testing tools. These tools will allow you to see how the website functions and looks on multiple browsers in one go. It does not require additional costs and is ideal for testing various websites on Safari. 

What Tools Do You Use for Cross-Browser Testing? 

You can easily use special tools to test cross-browser compatibility. This will allow you to check the overall outlook of a website in numerous browsers as well as mobile devices.

Advantages of Cross-Browser Testing

The advantages of using a cross-browser testing platform are listed below:-

• It saves time: With cross-browser testing, you can check your website for any hidden bugs or glitches before launching it. This helps save money and time because it detects issues before publishing the website. 
• Test on local and on-premise machines: With cross-browser testing, you can run test cases and websites on any OS environment on any local system behind firewalls.
• Numerous test reporting procedures: You can choose any preferred reporting from videos, images, and the like for better understanding.
• Real test environments: You can seamlessly check your cross-browser compatibility on actual browsers to identify every kink and bug in your website or application.
• Secure customer privacy: These platforms take stringent measures to help maintain the privacy of every customer.
• Broad test coverage: Most platforms for browser testing are codeless because they are AI or NLP-powered. This helps in reaching a broader test coverage.
• Debugging is easy: The debugging features in cross-browser testing platforms are top-notch to help deliver bug-free websites seamlessly.
• Easy CI/CD integration: Most cross-browser platforms have convenient CI/CD pipelines for managing faster and continuous delivery.
• 24*7 test runs: Cloud-based cross-browser testing platforms help run test suites 24*7 to conduct faster and more efficient testing with the least effort.
• Requires no additional coding: You need not have prior knowledge of CSS or HTML coding for cross-browser testing. They are user-friendly and can even be used by beginners.

Common Cross-Browser Testing Tools

If you cannot use emulators or have access to actual devices, you can opt for cloud-based emulators. One of the biggest advantages of using cloud-based emulators rather than local emulators or real devices is automating unit tests for your site across various platforms. 

To make things easy for you, we have consolidated a list of top-tier testing sites and cloud-based emulators:-

Testsigma is a reliable and comprehensive test automation platform. With Testsigma, you can run automated tests for your applications and software seamlessly. It helps ensure the compatibility of your website or application across various browsers.

It is highly scalable as a cloud-based test automation platform where you can run parallel tests and even write automated tests in simple English. Besides, the platform is ideal for both visual and functional testing. We have listed some of the best advantages of using Testsigma as a cross-browser testing platform:-

• Covers over 2000+ native browser or device combinations
• Helps track issues with test logs
• Enables local testing functionality
• Runs automated tests in parallel and gets results fast 
• Performs automated screenshot testing and Video Responsive testing 
• Tools like Jira, Slack, and others are available for integration 
• Offers geo-location testing 

BrowserStack

BrowserStack is an online testing platform for seamless manual and automated testing. You need to choose an appropriate operating system, a device type, a browser version, and a URL for browsing. BrowserStack offers a reliable hosted virtual machine for user interaction.

You can easily run many emulators all at the same time without having to change screens. You can even test out the look and feel of your website or app across numerous browsers and devices. Some advantages you can reap out of using Browserstack as a cross-browser testing platform are as follows:-

• Ability to reproduce, debug and solve issues to launch bug-free websites and apps. 
• Built for all kinds of teams, starting from Engineering, Marketing, Product, Support, and Growth for testing, collaborating, and delivering quality.
• Highly scalable and can accommodate large teams for successfully shipping out applications and websites.

LambdaTest is another widely used online testing platform where users can perform manual cross-browser testing. You can run a combination of multiple operating systems and browsers at once. You can even record videos of complicated bugs and share them via Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Besides, the platform allows you to speed up your testing by running parallel testing. Some of the best features are:-

• You can test multiple browsers on any OS environment or browser of your choice. 
• It has a highly scalable cloud infrastructure. 
• It is highly secure and reliable for performing automated cross-browser testing .
• It offers high execution speeds as well as fast, automated screenshots.
• With its handy reporting feature and detailed integration, you can easily analyze your test runs and immediately send reports.

BrowserShots 

Browsershots is an open-source online platform that offers developers an easy and user-friendly way to run tests for checking a website’s compatibility with a browser. It also allows screenshotting your web design in numerous operating systems and browsers. BrowserShots is completely free of cost, which is convenient for checking how your website looks across multiple browsers.

How to Test Safari Browser on Windows?

Testing Safari Browser on Windows can be challenging because Safari is primarily designed for macOS and iOS platforms. However, there are a few approaches you can consider to test Safari on a Windows machine:

• Remote testing services: Utilize remote testing services such as BrowserStack or Sauce Labs, which offer virtual machines with different operating systems and browsers, including Safari on macOS. These services allow you to access and test Safari on real macOS environments directly from your Windows machine through a web browser.
• macOS virtual machines: Set up a macOS virtual machine (VM) on your Windows computer using virtualization software like VMware or VirtualBox. You can install Safari on the macOS VM and perform testing as you would on a native macOS environment.
• Remote access to macOS device: If you have access to a physical macOS device, you can remotely connect to it from your Windows machine using remote desktop software like TeamViewer, AnyDesk, or Chrome Remote Desktop. This allows you to control and test Safari on the macOS device without needing to physically access it.
• Cross-browser testing tools: Some cross-browser testing tools like BrowserStack or Sauce Labs offer a feature called “Interactive Testing” where you can remotely access and interact with Safari browsers running on real macOS devices from your Windows machine.

Cloud-based test automation platforms: Consider using a cloud-based test automation platform like Testsigma, which provides access to real macOS environments with Safari installed. Testsigma allows you to run automated tests on Safari Browsers without needing physical access to macOS devices.

Emulate Safari Across Other Different OS

There are separate pathways for different operating systems when it comes to emulating Safari. We have consolidated the best ways to emulate Safari on the following OS:-

How to Emulate Safari on Linux?

To emulate Safari on Linux, you can follow two methods.

• Installing Safari using WINE.
• Using WINE and PlayOnLinux provides a graphical user interface (UI) for WINE. 
• Using a virtual visualization application for cross-browser testing

Emulate Safari Using Various Browsers

There are several browsers available that users use at their convenience. This is why you must test it on every possible platform before launching your website or application. Down below, we have listed the various ways you can emulate Safari on numerous browsers:-

How to Emulate Safari on Chrome

To emulate Safari on Chrome, you can use websites such as TestingBot or Chrome extensions such as BrowserStack. BrowserStack is a very reliable solution that allows you to initiate testing sessions with a large number of device and browser combinations. You can immediately set up a Safari testing environment by clicking on the BrowserStack extension icon in your Chrome browser.

Alternatively, you can use these steps to emulate Safari using the Developer tools:

• Hit the Control + Shift + I keys to open the Developer tools environment
• Go to the Network tab and click on Network conditions
• Go to the User Agent section and unselect the ‘Use browser default’ radio button and click on the dropdown with the ‘custom’ label
• Scroll down till you can see the devices under Safari, and then select the device (Mac, iPad etc.) you want to emulate Safari with

How to Emulate Safari in Firefox

Firefox is notably one of the most popular browsers used by millions worldwide. If you want to emulate Safari in Firefox, you have to use visualization software which you can download as a browser extension or turn to a cross-browser testing website. The latter option is completely free of cost, hassle-free, and requires no technological prowess.

How to Emulate Safari on Internet Explorer?

Internet Explorer is one of the oldest browsers known to mankind. Although quite rarely used, it is still surprisingly used to this day. If you still use Internet Explorer to this day, you can emulate Safari on Internet Explorer with a cross-browser testing platform or an additionally installed extension. 

How to Emulate Safari on Edge?

Edge is a popular browser developed by Microsoft. You can emulate other browsers by changing the user string. If you want to emulate Safari on Edge, you need to follow the steps listed below:-

• Open Microsoft Edge and visit the link you wish to test
• Hit the F12 key to open the Developer tools environment
• Go to the User Agent section and unselect the ‘Select automatically’ radio button and click on the dropdown
• Scroll down till you can see the devices under Safari and then select the device (Mac, iPad etc.) you want to emulate Safari with

Emulate Safari Browser Online 

Although the ideal way to emulate Safari is by using an open-source testing platform, some other ways to do the same have been listed below:-

• Using browser widgets
• Downloading older versions of Safari, like Safari 5.1.7 or previous versions 

Every application or website is built using codes using HTML, JavaScript, or CSS elements. Since they are launched online, it is impossible to ascertain which user will use which browser. Safari has its own technology, comes with its own set of challenges, and interprets every application in its own way. 

Therefore, to ensure that your website or application runs smoothly on Safari, you need to conduct cross-browser testing to maintain consistency in its display and functionality. Running automation tests is also integral to software testing. Testsigma is a great platform for seamlessly running automation tests. 

Frequently asked questions

Can you emulate safari on pc.

The Safari Browser has now been limited only to macOS and iOS. However, you can easily emulate this browser on Windows or any other OS by using a virtual machine with your computer as the server. 

How do I emulate a device in Safari?

To emulate a device in Safari, you can use the Simulator added with Xcode and debug/inspect those reviews remotely by using the Develop menu in Safari.

How do I test Safari online?

To run a website on a Safari browser without a Mac, you can use a cross-browser testing tool or an online testing platform. 

Suggested Reading

Android Emulator Online

Adhithi is having 9+ years of experience in automation testing as well as manual testing. She is a QA, blogger and open source contributor. She loves exploring new tools and technologies, and gadgets and sharing her experience by writing blogs and making vlogs.

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Safari Browser Testing

Test Safari online, running on macOS and iOS. No emulators or simulators, only Safari running on real Apple devices and physical mobile devices. Signup & Start Testing for Free!

Trusted by some of the world's most innovative companies

Test on different safari browsers online.

Interactively test your website with Safari's native Developer Tools.

Adjust the screen-resolution on the fly or resize your browser to do responsive testing.

Test your website with Safari from different regions in the world.

Instant access to different Safari versions, test on real Apple products.

• macOS Sonoma: Safari 17
• macOS Ventura: Safari 16
• macOS Monterey: Safari 15
• macOS BigSur: Safari 14
• macOS Catalina: Safari 13
• macOS Mojave: Safari 12
• OSX High Sierra: Safari 11
• OSX Sierra: Safari 10
• OSX El Capitan: Safari 9
• OSX Yosemite: Safari 8

Safari Testing On Windows Machines

Are you using Windows on your computer and want to test something on Safari? No need to setup a virtual machine, simply test your website on a remote Safari desktop browser in the cloud. It does not matter if you are using Windows 11, 10, Vista or XP on a laptop, pc or any other device. TestingBot will stream the contents of a remote macOS machine to your screen. Test any version of Safari on Windows, developer tools included.

TestingBot provides access to various Safari versions, ranging from Safari 8 up to 17 on Desktop and Mobile Safari running on iOS 8 up to 17.

Geolocation Testing on Safari

Perform geolocation testing in various regions across the world. Test Geo Targeting, Geo Blocking and Geo Localization in 10 countries, including Australia, Belgium, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Spain, China and more.

Automated Safari Screenshots

Take automated screenshots of your website on various Safari versions, running on macOS desktops. Perform visual comparison testing with various Safari versions, running on various macOS versions: OSX Yosemite up to macOS Ventura

Safari Tech Preview & Safari Beta

Manual, Automated and Visual testing on Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta. Make sure your website works and looks correctly on Apple's upcoming Safari web browser versions. Available on macOS Monterey and macOS Ventura.

Automated Mobile Safari Testing with Appium

Use Appium to connect to our grid of physical iOS devices and run automated mobile Safari tests against your website.

Run multiple Appium tests simultaneously, shortening your total Appium execution time.

Since Appium uses the WebDriver API, you can write your tests in any language and run on TestingBot.

Test on the devices that matter, representing a large share of global device usage.

Local Cross Browser Safari Testing

Use our secure tunnel to quickly and easily test your staging website on any Safari browser version on macOS and iOS.

Once you download and start our tunnel, you can immediately test your webapps running on your computer or internal network on any browser in our cloud, straight from your browser.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do i need to test my website on safari.

Safari has a market share of about 4% in the global browser market. This browser is built and maintained by Apple and supports all the latest browser technologies.

Safari is the default browser on all macOS operating systems, which means a large portion of macOS users will use this browser for their day-to-day browsing. Test Safari's private browsing capabilities, open multiple tabs or test the cross site tracking prevention.

What is Safaridriver?

Safaridriver is a utility, shipped by default in every macOS operating system, which allows Selenium to automate Safari through a HTTP based API.

To use Safaridriver, you need to make sure it is enabled by running this command in a terminal window: safaridriver --enable

How can I automate Mobile Safari?

We recommend using Appium, which has built-in support to communicate with iOS Safari. Simply run your Appium scripts against the TestingBot device grid.

TestingBot will instruct the iOS device to open Safari. Your Appium script will then instrument the mobile Safari browser in an automated way.

How does TestingBot help with Safari testing?

TestingBot provides a grid of real browsers, ranging from Safari 8 up to 17 on Desktop.

Next to desktop browsers, TestingBot provides access to physical iOS devices, capable of running mobile Safari tests.

Can I test Safari on iPhone and iPad?

TestingBot provides access to physical iOS devices, located in our datacenter.

You can run your automated or manual tests against iOS Mobile Safari on our iPhones and iPads.

How to test on older Safari versions?

TestingBot provides access to Safari versions from Safari 8 up to Safari 17.

Why is TestingBot the preferred choice for Safari Testing?

TestingBot provides real Safari browsers, ranging from Safari 8 up to Safari 17. You can use the developer tools that come with Safari to debug webpages, inspect elements and run performance tests.

You can test the intelligent tracking prevention, test Safari extensions, open multiple tabs and perform all other actions on a remote Safari instance.

How can I test on Mobile Safari?

TestingBot provides access to both iOS simulators and physical iOS devices. Use the developer tools to inspect webpages running on Mobile Safari, straight from TestingBot's Manual Testing service.

Sign up for a Free Trial

Start testing your apps with TestingBot.

No credit card required!

Test any website on Safari browser Emulator online

Having a cross-browser compatible site is a vital thing for any web developer. They use different methods in order to obtain perfectly displayed sites in all browsers. In our article we will talk about the testing site while using Safari emulator online and the reasons for testing sites via emulators.

Try testing for free right now.

• Safari – ​the second most popular browser among users

Installing Safari on a Windows machine

Advantages of using safari emulator for web testing, frequently asked questions.

Thanks to emulators, testers get a real possibility to test the functionality of sites, web systems, using a significant number of devices and operating systems that are used on a daily basis by end users of the web site. Their importance cannot be overemphasized when running tests on a wide variety of devices and systems, because it is impossible to have access to all the mobile devices and web components existing in the world. So how to view website in Safari using different operating systems? And why is it important to test websites on Safari?

Safari – the second most popular browser among users

StatCounter , a web traffic analysis tool, has released a report on the global browser market. Thanks to it, the most popular programs became known. Analysts took into account data for both mobile browsers and desktop programs. As it turned out, the most popular browser in the world is still Google Chrome (64.19%) and the second most popular browser is Safari (19.03%).

From this statistic it makes clear why performing Safari browser test for compatibility is important and why testers should not neglect this browser. It is worth mentioning that Safari browser is available for Mac computers and laptops, as well as iPhone and iPad mobile devices. Designed specifically for Apple devices, Safari runs faster than other browsers and uses less battery power, besides that it is a default browser for Apple devices. Apple's Safari Internet browser provides ample opportunities for surfing the Internet and working on the Internet.

That is why it is highly recommended to test site in Safari as the share of users with Apple devices is increasing day by day and as we know, having a cross-browser compatible site is a first step towards success. Knowing that Safari is one of the most demanded browsers, how to perform Safari check while not having macOS? Let’s try to figure it out.

The popularity of Safari on Mac led developers to adapt their software for other platforms, and in 2007 a starter version for Windows was released. Unfortunately, support for the Windows version ended back in 2012 - Safari 5.1.7 (5.34.57.2) for Windows was the last one, and it is already outdated and not updated. However, it is still used by some users today, so testers can perform Safari test on Windows , unfortunately it will not be the latest version.

It is a known fact that Safari for Windows stands out for its decent speed and characteristic interface. All this is overshadowed by the lack of support for many modern technologies. The browser is not able to display the content of many sites, including YouTube and even, so to speak, the native Apple.com. One of the reasons why Apple has stopped supporting Safari for Windows is that the latest could not become the main browser on Microsoft systems.

So, what is left for web developers and QA testers when they need to test website on Safari? Yes, you are right, they can emulate Safari on Windows or any other operating system and enjoy seamless testing. In such a way we came to one more burning topic like Safari emulator.

We all know that while QA testers may encounter a problem when the required device is not available. Definitely, the first option is to buy a device.However, if you require lots of devices or need to perform testing immediately? Deploying virtual machines demands lots of system resources as well as money and can cause system conflicts. That is why turning to Safari browser emulator tools is an excellent idea. Of course, it cannot overshadow testing on real devices but also has significant advantages:

• quick test site in Safari when Mac device is unavailable;
• testing complex or dangerous scenarios that are impossible or not recommended to be tested in real browsers;
• when it is necessary to work with an older version of the browser within a modern technical architecture;
• when there is no version of the browser for your OS (Safari emulator for Windows);
• doesn’t require maintenance of the device;
• no difficulties to get devices that are only available in foreign countries;
• is not time consuming solution;
• safari browser emulator online doesn’t require installation of your computer.

Perform Safari browser test without having any Mac device is sometimes quite challenging. As Apple Safari is the first browser that blocks third party cookies by default.

That is why Testers choose Mac browser emulator solutions like Comparium - a free cross browser testing tool that facilitates Safari browser testing no matter the OS you have installed on your computer.

Can I use Safari not on Mac? I mean, I have Linux and I need to perform tests in Safari but do not want to install Safari or use a virtual machine. Some kind of online emulator or service maybe?

There are lots of testing services on the Internet. Can recommend Comparium. It is a free solution and allows you to test Safari without installing it on your computer or any additional software.

Infinite Mac is a project by Mihai Parparita to make classic Mac and NeXT emulation easily accessible. It uses WebAssembly ports of Mini vMac , Basilisk II , SheepShaver , DingusPPC , and Previous to allow a broad set of System Software/Mac OS versions to run on the web.

Shortcuts to the most popular versions are available: system6.app , system7.app , kanjitalk7.app , macos8.app , and macos9.app .

How do I use it?

The welcome document or Stickies in each machine has instructions. For a demo of the kinds of capabilities the emulators have, see this video .

How does it work?

To learn more, including how it was built, see this series of blog posts . Source code is available on GitHub .

Why is it called Infinite Mac?

Partly because it evokes Infinite Loop , partly because porting something to the web means it can be run on an almost infinite number of devices, and partly because it's a forever project .

Why is NeXTStep included?

It's a contemporary of classic Mac OS and an ancestor of Mac OS X.

Will you include Mac OS X?

Mac OS X would be great to see, but the primary way to emulate it ( QEMU ) is currently too slow and complex to be run in a browser. You can subscribe to #72 to get updates if that changes. DingusPPC is a work-in-progress emulator that may eventually be able to run Mac OS X, subscribe to #219 for updates.

What about DOS or Windows? Apple II? ProDOS? BeOS?

The project is focused on classic Macintosh and adjacent systems, but if you're interested in other operating systems, you can check out PCjs or Virtual x86 for Windows, and Apple ][js for ProDOS.

How can I provide feedback?

You can reach Mihai via email or @[email protected] . For bug reports or software requests, you can also file an issue on GitHub .

How can I support the project?

Using it, sharing it, and giving feedback is the best way. If you'd like to support the project financially, you can donate .

Test on Real Safari Browsers

Unlike with most test automation vendors, our enterprise testing platform allows you to execute your tests on real Safari browsers from our cross-browser cloud grid. You can easily build automated tests in just a few minutes. No coding skills required . ‍

Run all browsers for maximum coverage

All our tests run on real browsers and real operating systems to ensure the highest quality test environment possible. You can schedule your tests to run when and how you need them to or integrate them into your CI/CD workflows.

Advanced Tools for Any Requirements

We offer a variety of advanced tools like self healing tests to help you maintain through machine learning, computer vision to all us to "see" unexpected changes on the site, and scheduling to automatically run tests whenever you need.

Ensure Maximum Test Coverage

Endtest utilizes machine learning computer vision to do a pixel-by-pixel comparison of the UI and alert of any changes in your test results.

Maintence has never been easier

Take advantage of the power of self healing tests. Endtest can find and update elements in your tests whenever the underlying code they are testing changes.

Record Tests in your Browser

Install the Endtest browser extension to quickly and easily build tests while using your website live.

Endtest has you covered for all your end-to-end testing needs.

Web and Mobile App Testing

API Testing

Email and SMS Testing

• Español – América Latina
• Português – Brasil
• Tiếng Việt

Emulate and Test Other Browsers

Your job doesn't end with ensuring your site runs great across Chrome and Android. Even though Device Mode can simulate a range of other devices like iPhones, we encourage you to check out other browsers solutions for emulation.

• When you don't have a particular device, or want to do a spot check on something, the best option is to emulate the device right inside your browser.
• Device emulators and simulators let you mimic your development site on a range of devices from your workstation.
• Cloud-based emulators let you automate unit tests for your site across different platforms.

Browser emulators

Browser emulators are great for testing a site's responsiveness, but they don't emulate differences in API, CSS support, and certain behaviors that you'd see on a mobile browser. Test your site on browsers running on real devices to be certain everything behaves as expected.

Firefox' Responsive Design View

Firefox has a responsive design view that encourages you to stop thinking in terms of specific devices and instead explore how your design changes at common screen sizes or your own size by dragging the edges.

Edge's F12 Emulation

To emulate Windows Phones, use Microsoft Edge's built-in emulation .

Since Edge does not ship with legacy compatibility, use IE 11's Emulation to simulate how your page would look in older versions of Internet Explorer.

Device emulators and simulators

Device simulators and emulators simulate not just the browser environment but the entire device. They're useful to test things that require OS integration, for example form input with virtual keyboards.

Android Emulator

Stock Browser in Android Emulator

At the moment, there is no way to install Chrome on an Android emulator. However, you can use the Android Browser, the Chromium Content Shell and Firefox for Android which we'll cover later in this guide. Chromium Content Shell uses the same Chrome rendering engine, but comes without any of the browser specific features.

The Android emulator comes with the Android SDK which you need to download from here . Then follow the instructions to setup a virtual device and start the emulator .

Once your emulator is booted, click on the Browser icon and you'll be able to test your site on the old Stock Browser for Android.

Chromium Content Shell on Android

Android Emulator Content Shell

To install the Chromium Content Shell for Android, leave your emulator running and run the following commands at a command prompt:

Now you can test your site with the Chromium Content Shell.

Firefox on Android

Firefox Icon on Android Emulator

Similar to Chromium's Content Shell, you can get an APK to install Firefox onto the emulator.

Download the right .apk file from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mobile/releases/latest/ .

From here, you can install the file onto an open emulator or connected Android device with the following command:

iOS Simulator

The iOS simulator for Mac OS X comes with Xcode, which you can install from the App Store .

When you're done, learn how to work with the simulator through Apple's documentation .

Modern IE VM

Modern.IE Virtual Machines let you access different versions of IE on your computer via VirtualBox (or VMWare). Choose a virtual machine on the download page here .

Cloud-based emulators and simulators

If you can't use the emulators and don't have access to real devices, then cloud-based emulators are the next best thing. A big advantage of cloud-based emulators over real devices and local emulators is that you can automate unit tests for your site across different platforms.

• BrowserStack (commercial) is the easiest to use for manual testing. You select an operating system, select your browser version and device type, select a URL to browse, and it spins up a hosted virtual machine that you can interact with. You can also fire up multiple emulators in the same screen, letting you test how your app looks and feels across multiple devices at the same time.
• SauceLabs (commercial) allows you to run unit tests inside of an emulator, which can be really useful for scripting a flow through your site and watch the video recording of this afterwards on various devices. You can also do manual testing with your site.
• Device Anywhere (commercial) doesn't use emulators but real devices which you can control remotely. This is very useful in the event where you need to reproduce a problem on a specific device and can't see the bug on any of the options in the previous guides.
• LambdaTest (commercial) will help you to perform manual cross browser testing on a combination of 2000+ browsers & operating systems. Users will be able to record video of complex bugs and eve share it via integrations like MS Teams, Slack and more. Users can speed-up their testing by running tests in parallel.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License , and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License . For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies . Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2015-04-13 UTC.

• Set Up Simulator and Test iOS Mobile Safari on Mac

Henry Bley-Vroman , Former Senior UI Developer

Article Categories: #Process , #Front-end Engineering , #Project Management

Posted on November 16, 2018

Full interactive iOS Mobile Safari browser testing is possible right on your Mac, no additional services necessary. We'll set up Apple's Simulator and configure it for testing Safari on a wide range of iOS versions and devices.

F u l l i n t e r a c t i v e i O S M o b i l e S a f a r i b r o w s e r t e s t i n g i s p o s s i b l e r i g h t o n y o u r M a c , n o a d d i t i o n a l s e r v i c e s n e c e s s a r y . W e ' l l s e t u p A p p l e ' s S i m u l a t o r a n d c o n f i g u r e i t f o r t e s t i n g S a f a r i o n a w i d e r a n g e o f i O S v e r s i o n s a n d d e v i c e s .

This article is part of a series on running cross-browser tests directly on your primary computer. The next in the series is  Set Up a Windows 10 Virtual Machine and Run Internet Explorer 11 and Edge on Mac or Linux .

Part of preparing most websites and web apps for shipment is testing across devices. Several popular web-based browser testing services make it possible to test iOS's Mobile Safari, but the best of these tools require an additional fee, have limited free features, or restrict the number of users who can use an account at the same time.  Apple makes iOS testing available for free to all macOS users, with their Simulator app. The app is hidden away and you need to go through some hoops to support older versions of iOS, but you don't need special technical know-how. Here's how to get it up and running with just a few clicks (and some longish download waits). It works for watchOS and tvOS as well!

Getting Ready

First install XCode , Apple's developer suit. Be prepared for a long download.

Simulator is a standalone app but it's buried deep within the hidden contents of XCode , where you can't get at it, and where Spotlight doesn't see it. So make a symbolic link  of it in the Applications folder. Here's how, in case you don't know:

Open Terminal (in the Applications folder) or your favorite terminal app

Copy and paste this line:

If you're comfortable with that, hit Enter . Otherwise, skip down to the Addendum for an explanation.

Open up your Applications folder. You should see Simulator ! And Spotlight should find it now too! (Note: Spotlight should find it. This stopped working for me the same day I updated from Xcode 9 to Xcode 10. Hopefully Apple fixes this.)

Using Simulator

Open Simulator (double click it from the Applications folder, or open it from Spotlight, or if you're psyched about flexing new-found command line powers run —type and follow with the Enter ⏎ key— the command open /Applications/Simulator.app ).

Look at that! An iOS device!

Now you can click on the Safari icon and start browsing! But read on to get the most out of Simulator…

Configuring Simulator

With the devices you need all installed, let's get to know Simulator a little. We'll change the window size, add support for your computer keyboard, and add support for trackpad scrolling.

Turn on the ability to type in Simulator with your keyboard

By default, you have to use the on-screen keyboard to type in Simulator's iOS devices, just like you use the on-screen keyboard on a real iOS device. But you can turn on support for your physical keyboard:

In Simulator's "Hardware" menu, under "Keyboard," check "Connect Hardware Keyboard."

Share the clipboard across macOS and your Simulator devices

By default, the standard command v keyboard shortcut will not work to paste to Simulator from any other app. To turn on the shared clipboard (known in Apple devices as the pasteboard), select "Automatically Sync Pasteboard" from the "Edit" menu.

Note for users running older versions of Xcode:  This worked differently prior to Simulator 10. You'll have to use shift command v to paste the macOS clipboard into the Simulator pasteboard, and then you can use command v to paste from the pasteboard.

Switching Devices

With Simulator you can test any Apple device. Select the device you want to use from the "Device" submenu in the "Hardware" menu. By default you'll have only the latest version of iOS, tvOS, and watchOS, but you can easily install "runtimes" for older versions.

Add support for older versions of iOS, tvOS, and watchOS

To add support for other versions of iOS, tvOS, or watchOS, first select "Manage Devices" from the the "Hardwear" menu's "Device" submenu. (For iOS marketshare by version, refer to iOS Distribution and iOS Market Share or Mobile & Tablet iOS Version Market Share Worldwide . Historically, the most recent and second most recent versions of iOS account for between 80–90% of iOS usage, with adoption of the most recent version taking several months to surpass the second most recent version.)

That will open the Xcode app's "Devices" window. Select the "Simulators" tab. Then click the + in the bottom left corner. (Note that your window may look different — as of this writing, it has been redesigned in every recent version of XCode. In XCode 9 you'll have to select "Add Device" from the + 's contextual menu).

Under "OS Version," select "Download more simulator runtimes."

Another new window opens, Xcode's "Components" preferences' list of simulators. Click the downward arrow button next to the OS you want to install support for.

When the download is complete, close the window. Back in the "Create a new simulator" dialog:

• Leave the "Simulator Name" field blank.
• Select the device you want a simulator for.
• And the OS version you just downloaded should be an option now! (Note that "OS Version" is limited by "Device Type," so you must select the device type first. )

Click "Create," and quit Xcode. Back in Simulator, the device you just added should show up in the "Devices" list!

There you have it! If you aren't familiar with the command line and want to understand what the symbolic link command was doing, continue down to the addendum. Otherwise, you're set up to test things on iOS without going through some extra service!

Limited-audience bonus 1: Turn on three-finger trackpad scrolling in Simulator

By default, you can scroll in a Simulator device by clicking and dragging. With the hardware keyboard connected, you can also use the keyboard arrow keys. If you're used to using trackpad scrolling (e.g. two-finger scrolling) in macOS, you may want to turn it on for Simulator too. While two-finger dragging isn't supported, three-finger dragging is. As of this writing, the experience really isn't good: there can be a initial delay, and then another delay before inertial scrolling kicks in. Here's how to turn it on:

From the System menu () open the "System Preferences," and from there, open the "Accessibility" preferences. Under "Mouse & Trackpad," open the "Trackpad Options" and turn on "three finger drag."

Limited-audience Bonus 2: Opening multiple Simulator devices on older versions of Xcode

Sometimes it's useful to have two devices up on the screen at the same time. Before, Xcode 8 (or was it 9?) Simulator could only run one device at a time. If you're on an older version of Simulator that doesn't support multiple devices, you can open two instances of the Simulator app with open -n :

The second instance of the app opens with an error "Unable to boot device in current state: booted." That's saying "the device you're asking to simulate is already being simulated," which is true — by default it's trying to open the same device as it's running in the first instance of the app. Say OK , then go to the Hardware menu > Device and choose a different device. (h/t i40west for the technique)

Addendum: what's that terminal command doing??

If you aren't familiar with the "command line," don't just run a command because someone on the internet says to. I don't know if it's ever really happened (it probably has), but there are plenty of urban legends of command line novices getting tricked into doing serious damage to their computers.

I've said that to make Simulator appear you run

In a nutshell, the Simulator app is installed as part of Xcode, but it's hidden. So we create an alias (aka "shortcut" to people who learned the term on Windows) to the hidden app, and put the alias in the Applications folder.

Here's how it works:

The "command line" lets you run programs that don't have an interface — you tell the app what to do with text commands rather than by clicking on things. The first thing you write is the name of the command. Here, we're running ln , a command that creates links, the technical name for aliases ( ln is short for "link").

Next, write the command-specific options. Option are set with "flags" prefixed with - . ln 's -s flag turns on ln 's "symbolic link" option. There are important differences between symbolic links and plain old links, but in this context what matters is that apps cannot be aliased with a link; apps must be aliased with a symbolic link.

The next thing  ln needs to be told is the thing you want to create an alias to (the "source file"). All files on your computer have an address, written in the form folder/subfolder/file where in a/b/c "c" is inside "b" which is inside "a". This should look familiar from website URLs, and it's actually exactly the same: a website's URL reflects an actual folder structure on a computer somewhere. [More or less… That used to be a given; now it's only sometimes mostly true.] In our case, Xcode is in the "Applications" folder, and inside Xcode there's a Contents folder, and in that is a Developer folder, and in that is an Applications folder, and the Simulator app is in that .

Next you specify the place ln should put that alias (the "target directory"). It makes sense to put your alias to Simulator in the "Applications" folder: add a space after the source file's path, and then write /Applications . (See that / in front of /Applications , in both the source file and the target directory? That's saying "this is at the top level " - Xcode is a child of "Applications" but "Applications" is not the child of anything. One last bit of vocab: "Applications" is the parent of Xcode .)

Okay, hit Enter!

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Emulate and test other browsers

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Your job doesn't end with making sure your site runs great across Microsoft Edge and Android. Even though the Device Emulation tool can simulate a range of other devices such as smart phones, we encourage you to check out solutions for emulation provided by other browsers.

When you don't have a particular device, or want to do a spot check on something, the best option is to emulate the device right inside your browser.

Device emulators and simulators enable you to mimic your development site on a range of devices, from your workstation.

Cloud-based emulators enable you to automate unit tests for your site across different platforms.

Browser emulators

Browser emulators are great for testing the responsiveness of a site. But a browser emulator doesn't emulate differences in API, CSS support, and certain behaviors that manifest only on a mobile browser on an actual device. Test your site on browsers running on real devices, to be certain everything behaves as expected.

Firefox Responsive Design View

Firefox has a responsive design view that encourages you to stop thinking in terms of specific devices and instead explore how your design changes at common screen sizes, or on your own screen size by dragging the edges of the window.

EdgeHTML emulation

To emulate Windows Phones, use the Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) built-in emulation .

Use IE 11 Emulation to simulate how your page might look in older versions of Internet Explorer.

Device emulators and simulators

Device simulators and emulators simulate not just the browser environment but the entire device. Each simulator is useful to test things that require OS integration, such as form input with virtual keyboards.

Android emulator

At the moment, there is no way to install Microsoft Edge on an Android emulator. However, you can use the Android Browser, the Chromium Content Shell, and Firefox for Android, which we review later in this article. Chromium Content Shell runs the same Chromium rendering engine as Microsoft Edge, but comes without browser-specific features.

The Android emulator comes with the Android SDK which you need to download as part of Android Studio . Then follow the instructions to set up a virtual device and start the emulator . After your emulator is booted, select the Browser icon, and test your site on the old Stock Browser for Android.

Chromium content shell on Android

To install the Chromium Content Shell for Android, keep your emulator running and run the following command:

Now you can test your site with the Chromium Content Shell.

Firefox on Android

Similar to the Chromium Content Shell, you can get an APK to install Firefox onto the emulator.

Download the correct .apk file .

To install the file onto an open emulator or connected Android device, run the following command:

iOS simulator

The iOS simulator for Mac OS X comes with Xcode, which you install from the App Store .

When you are done, learn how to work with the simulator through Apple Developer documentation .

To avoid having to open Xcode every time you want to use the iOS Simulator, open it, right-click the iOS Simulator icon in your dock, and then select Keep in Dock . Now just click the icon whenever you need it.

Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML)

If you need to test your website or app with Microsoft browsers and don't have the necessary versions of Windows to do so, you can use BrowserStack, which supports testing of many combinations of Microsoft browsers and operating systems both past and present. For example, you can test all versions of Microsoft Edge (Chromium) from version 80 onwards, and Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML) versions 15 through 18. Testing of Microsoft Edge is free on BrowserStack. For more information, see Microsoft Edge Browser Testing at BrowserStack.

Cloud-based emulators and simulators

If you aren't able to use the emulators and you don't have access to real devices, then cloud-based emulators are the next-best thing. A big advantage of cloud-based emulators over real devices and local emulators is that you can automate unit tests for your site across different platforms.

The following list is a sample of cloud-based emulators and testing sites. Review the descriptions for features or capabilities to consider when selecting a testing site. Conduct your own search to find the best cloud-based emulator for your needs.

BrowserStack helps you perform manual testing. You select an operating system, a browser version, a device type, and a URL to browse, and then BrowserStack spins up a hosted virtual machine that you can interact with. You can run multiple emulators in the same screen, to test the look and feel of your app across multiple devices at the same time.

Mobileum doesn't use emulators, but real devices which you can control remotely. This is useful when you need to reproduce a problem on a specific device and an issue might not appear in some reports.

HeadSpin helps you perform manual cross-browser testing on thousands of real devices, browsers, and operating systems. You can record videos of complex bugs and share them through integration such as Slack, JIRA, and more. Fast forward your go-to-market launch by testing in parallel.

LambdaTest helps you perform manual cross-browser testing on a combination of various browsers and operating systems. You can record videos of complex bugs and share them through integration such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and more. You can speed-up your testing by running tests in parallel.

SauceLabs enables you to run unit tests inside of an emulator, which can be useful for scripting a flow through your site and watching the video recording of this afterwards on various devices. You can also do manual testing with your site.

TestingBot helps you do both manual testing and automated testing on various browser and operating system combinations. Test both your websites and mobile apps on TestingBot's emulators and physical devices.

Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . The original page is found here and is authored by Meggin Kearney (Technical Writer) and Paul Bakaus (Open Web Developer Advocate at Google | Tools, Performance, Animation, UX).

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Additional resources

8 Best iOS Emulators For PC (Windows And Mac) To Run iOS Apps

Using an Android or iOS emulator to run a mobile app on your desktop has many advantages. While there are tons of worthy Android emulators out there, such solutions for running iOS apps on Windows and Mac aren’t common. To help you out, I’ve curated a list of the best iOS emulators for PC and Mac.

Using these emulators, you can duplicate an iOS device’s behavior without any added hardware cost. You can run games like PUBG and Pokemon Go on your computer by using an emulator. It also helps app developers find unexpected behavior during the testing phase of the apps.

How To Use Delta iOS Emulator & Install Game ROMs On iPhone?

Most of the emulators in this article are free, and others are available for a certain trial period. So, let’s get started:

Top iOS Emulators for PC and Mac | 2022 Edition

1. appetize.io, 2. corellium, 3. ios simulator in xcode, 4. testflight, 5. iphone 11 on qemu, 6. electric mobile studio, 7. remoted ios simulator for windows pc, 8. ipadian- ios emulator for pc.

Platform: Web (browser-based)

Pricing plans:  Free, Premium

I’ve included Appetize.io and listed it in the first place due to the ease of use offered by this freemium service. Given the scarcity of iOS emulators for PC and Mac in the first place, it’s great to find a solution that asks you just to upload your app on its website, and you’re good to go.

Developers can use Appetize.ion to stream iOS simulators in the browser. It’s used for embedding apps in websites, testing, or other phases of development.

As for the price, the free trial period of this iPhone simulator gives you 100 minutes of streaming time for apps. You can monitor your usage from the dashboard and set up alerts when you reach your limit.

Pricing plans:  $99/ month for a 2-core CPU plan; $295/ month for a 6-core CPU plan

Corellium is another iOS emulator for PCs, mostly used by security researchers to run a simulated iOS device within the browser. The people behind Corellium are one of the earliest members of the iPhone jailbreak scene, so you are in safe hands.

Earlier, Corellium was only available to enterprise users but now individuals can also use the iOS virtualization software. However, getting your hands on the tool is difficult since Corellium doesn’t want it to be used by the wrong people.

Platform: Mac

Pricing plans:  Free

Apple’s homegrown Xcode software development environment for Mac comes with its own app simulator for iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iMessage. So, if one is using Xcode as the primary app development suite, then it’s sufficient to emulate different types of interactions like taps, device rotation, scrolling, and other actions performed by the user.

Mac users can directly launch their apps from the Xcode project. What gives Safari an edge over other free iPhone emulators is the ability to test web apps by accessing Safari within Xcode.

TestFlight, which is now owned by Apple, is often used by developers to beta test their iOS apps coded using Xamarin. You can also consider it as Apple’s officially recommended method for testing the apps.

TestFlight’s extensive documentation is a plus point for this iOS emulator for PCs. This free app supports apps for iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and iMessage. It also includes an option for external beta testing of the apps before the final review. The downside of this emulation service is a comparatively technical setup, and one also needs to create an App Store distribution profile.

Pricing: Open source, free

QEMU is a popular open-source emulator which now lets you emulate iOS. While it is still far from a finished product , its open-source nature means you can download it for free. QEMU iPhone emulator’s code is available for free download and you can access it from the page linked below.

At the time of writing this, QEMU packs a couple of features like S8000 secureROM emulation, USB, SPRR, and GFX emulation. So if you wish to run an iOS emulator for free, this is one of the best options. But remember you need a Mac to run this.

Platform: Windows

Pricing plans:  Trial, Paid

Electric Mobile Studio is a paid way to test and run iOS apps on Windows computers, but it offers a full product trial for 7 days, which makes it an eligible choice for this list. Its highlighted features include full-fledged emulation of iPhones, iPads, and responsive apps, and the ability to use the same product on two machines for common work setups at the office and home.

Developers also prefer this iPhone emulator for Windows 10 due to the integrated WebKit and Chrome debugging tools that make their jobs easier. One can add hot-key navigation keys for mapping their favorite shortcuts. Windows users can also easily integrate this tool for iOS app with Visual Studio.

Pricing plans:  Free, Paid

Another popular option to test iOS applications on your Windows PC is Remoted iOS Simulator for Windows. It’s a developer-focused tool that comes pre-loaded as a part of Xamarin in Visual Studio. Microsoft has detailed documentation available on its website that users can follow and test their apps with the iOS simulator.

The tool’s window shows a useful toolbar at the top that has useful options like Home, Lock, Settings, and Screenshot. From Settings, you can enable Touch ID-like functionality, simulate static and moving conditions, shake gestures, rotation, etc. The tool also provides iPhone-like touch gestures and stylus input.

It is important to note that it’s a remote iOS emulator for windows. To put it simply, it requires a Mac to run the iOS simulator, which then sends the feed to a Windows computer.

Platform: Windows, Mac

Pricing plans:  Paid

There are many tools like iPadian that are pretty popular for providing an iPad or iPhone like experience on PC and Mac. However, those solutions don’t let you upload your app/code and test it — instead, they work like a custom layer on the top of your OS, and one can install certain iOS-like apps from their app store. If you simply wish to use an iOS simulator that imitates the design and appearance of iOS hardware, you can go for iPadian.

How to test iOS apps on Windows?

It’s technically impossible as you can only simulate iOS on Mac hardware using macOS. As you can’t run a macOS virtual machine on Windows you need to run macOS natively to test iOS apps. In the future, Apple might release a developer tool for this but for now, we can only rely on emulators to test iOS apps. Meanwhile, you can read our article on Nintendo switch emulators for pc and android devices right here!

iOS Emulator For PC FAQ

You can run iOS apps on your PC with the help of the iOS emulators mentioned above.

No, BlueStacks cannot emulate iOS. It is an Android emulator which can run Android apps and games on your Windows or Mac PC.

Yes, you can run an iOS emulator on Windows with the help of many browser-based iOS simulation software.

iOS is a closed source operating system which means its source code is not published by Apple. This makes it impossible to make a third-party emulator for iOS. Unless Apple decides to make an official iOS emulator for Windows themselves we can only make do with the ones listed here.

I hope that just like our list of Android emulators for PCs, you’ll also find this iOS-focused listing helpful. We also plan to prepare a list of retro game emulators soon like RetroArch and PCSX2 as well, so stay tuned. Keep reading Fossbytes!

Fossbytes co-founder and an aspiring entrepreneur who keeps a close eye on open source, tech giants, and security. Get in touch with him by sending an email — [email protected]

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Emulators on iPhone: Everything you need to know

O n April 5, Apple made a rule change that allowed emulators to be downloaded from the App Store. Soon after, apps like Delta were released, letting users run games from Nintendo’s console and handheld devices from long ago.

You can even connect a gaming controller to your iPhone and play all of these games without using the touch screen. However, it’s not as simple as loading up an app like Delta, choosing the console you want it to emulate, and playing any game you want.

If you’re new to emulators, it can be daunting trying to understand what certain terms mean. With this in mind, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about emulators — from what a ROM is, to what’s currently available on the App Store.

What does Apple’s rule change really mean?

This new change means that an iPhone app can freely mimic a gaming console, such as a Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, and more. You’ve been able to run these apps on a Mac for years, as macOS can run any apps downloaded from the web — the operating system isn’t restricted to its App Store. Now, it’s available on iPhone, but there are restrictions for EU users . 

What is an emulator?

An emulator is a piece of software (or hardware) that enables one computer system to behave like another. Emulators can not only replicate but also enhance the software that they run, often making them more potent than the original. For example, Dolphin , a Nintendo Gamecube and Wii emulator, can load brand new textures into games that can make some look crystal-clear when running at a 4K resolution.

Is it legal to use an emulator?

While downloading or using an emulator itself is not illegal (after all, Apple allows them on its App Store), users of any emulator should be aware that downloading and playing games from past consoles can be a breach of copyright law — even if you own a physical copy of the game.

Nintendo, often a prime target for emulation enthusiasts, has an Intellectual and Privacy FAQ on its website, where it specifically mentions emulation. “While we recognize the passion that players have for classic games, supporting emulation also supports the illegal piracy of our products.”

The company doesn’t stop there in its guide, as it also mentions the game files that power emulators, known as ROMs. “Downloading ROMs from direct download sites, linking sites or other illegal sources, even when you own a copy of the video game, is not allowable under the Copyright Act.”

There are plenty of homebrew games (software created by independent developers that aren’t intended to be sold) that you can use in Delta, which will not go against Nintendo’s rules. SNES Homebrew is a great website for hosting independent games, as well as Homebrew Hub for Game Boy games.

Alternatively, you can play a load of independent games made for the systems that emulators like Delta support, such as this website which hosts a collection of homebrew Game Boy games.

What is a ROM?

These are the files that an emulator runs — but the files can vary, depending on the system being emulated. For example, a SEGA Genesis emulator runs .SMD .GEN and .BIN files which have a file size between 512KB and 3MB. When it comes to a Sony PlayStation 2 emulator, these can be in a .ISO or .CHD format. These are a single file that includes a whole image of a game that can also vary in size — between 300MB and 6GB.

When it comes to running a ROM in Delta for iPhone, users can download one from a website through a web browser like Safari. Once downloaded, you can use Delta’s ‘Files’ feature to go to the Downloads folder in the Files app, where the ROM can be loaded into Delta.  

It’s important to remember that an emulator loaded without a ROM is useless. It’s empty, you can’t do anything— like a CD Player with no CD in. As long as a ROM with the correct file type is present and the emulator supports it, you’re good to go.

I’ve seen something about a BIOS — do I need this?

For some emulated systems, yes. A BIOS is essentially the start-up screen, which verifies a game for its authenticity when it’s been inserted into the system. For any disk-based consoles as well as Nintendo handhelds from the Nintendo DS onwards, they require one or more startup files so the emulator can use the BIOS in order to start up the game you’ve selected. If you’re using Delta on iPhone, you need certain BIOS files in order to play Nintendo DS games on the emulator. Like ROMs, BIOS files are copyright-protected. 

Can you play any game you want?

It depends on how well an emulator supports the system. Cxbx-Reloaded, an Xbox emulator, currently fails to run 83 games from the console — yet PCSX2, a PlayStation 2 emulator can run every game available . Although there are six games that can only reach the title screen for now.

Emulators are improved upon constantly - Dolphin could barely run Zelda: Wind Waker when its first version was released in 2003 . If you download Delta on your iPhone and you discover a game doesn’t work as you expect, there’s a good chance that the developer, Riley Testut, is aware, and you may see some improvements in an upcoming update.

Remember, however, that just because a game can technically run on an emulator, this doesn’t mean it’s legal.

Which iPhone and iPad emulators are available on the App Store?

Delta is a multi-console emulator that was made available on April 17, it runs games from the following consoles: 

• NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)
• Super Nintendo
• Nintendo 64
• Game Boy Color
• Game Boy Advance
• Nintendo DS

Struggling to use the emulator? We've created a handy guide to help you figure it out.

If you’re a subscriber to Delta’s Patreon page , you can access an upcoming version that supports SEGA Genesis, as well as native iPad support.

A Commodore 64 emulator, which is an 8-bit system from 1982, is also available, called EmuXL .

What other emulators could be available?

With Apple’s rule change on emulators, it’s possible that we could see others appear soon that have been available on the Mac for years, such as DuckStation , a PlayStation 1 emulator. Henrik Rydgård, creator of PPSSPP , a PlayStation Portable emulator, said in a recent blog post that he would be happy to bring it to iPhone — if Apple introduces methods for emulators to feature ROM pickers that can allow users to download games straight to PPSSPP. If Rydgård means that these pickers offer homebrew, independent games that the user can choose from, that doesn’t seem like a feature that Apple would have an issue with. With this in mind, we could hopefully see PPSSPP on the iPhone soon.

Provenance , a multi-console emulator that can run games from the SEGA Saturn and Sony PlayStation consoles to name a few, has a great chance of appearing on the App Store. The developers have stayed silent since Apple’s rule change, but if Delta can, Provenance shouldn’t have an issue in being made available as well.

What is JIT?

The Just In Time (JIT) compiler allows rendered graphics to run much faster, as it takes advantage of a graphical framework that’s not allowed for third-party apps on the App Store. The team behind DolphiniOS has said on X that as JIT is still not supported, they won’t be bringing the emulator to iPhone, regardless of Apple’s emulator rule change.

Does this mean I’ll be able to play X from the X console soon?

Maybe! It depends on whether or not the developer decides to port their emulator to iOS. Remember, Apple silicon runs on its Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TV products. There’s a lot of opportunity to see emulators that run well on the Mac, ported over to one or all of these, such as OpenEmu , a multi-console emulator.

Can you use a controller with an emulator?

If an emulator uses the Game Controller framework , you definitely can. Delta is a great example of this, as you can pair an 8BitDo controller, an Xbox controller, or a PlayStation 5 Dual Sense controller, to name but a few. Because of this framework in Delta, we strongly recommend using one of the  best gaming controllers for iPhone.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Best buy vision pro app lets you see tvs, furniture, and more in your home.

A new Best Buy Vision Pro app uses augmented reality to let you see how things like big-screen TVs, furniture, kitchen appliances, and more would look in your home.

Once you find something you like, you can also buy it from within Vision Pro by opening the product page in Safari and completing the purchase there …

AR apps designed to let you view potential purchases in your home are of course nothing new – we’ve long had those for iPhone and iPad .

But there’s no doubt that the immersiveness of a Vision Pro would provide the best sense yet of how something might look in your own environment.

Best Buy says its new Envision app allows customers to feel confident in their purchase decisions.

Today we’re announcing a new way that our customers can explore, discover and bring new technology to life in their own living space. Best Buy Envision is an app exclusively available on the Apple Vision Pro that helps users plan their ultimate home technology setup. The app uses augmented reality (AR) to help you preview 3D models of some of your favorite Best Buy products. That means while wearing Apple Vision Pro, you can see 3D images of how a variety of different products will look and feel in your space before you buy them. It includes big screen TVs, large and small appliances, fitness equipment, and furniture. Just put on your Vision Pro, open the Best Buy Envision app and scroll through hundreds of options to see them appear digitally, right in front your eyes, in your physical space […] Best Buy Envision […] creates a totally new experience that will take your shopping to the next level and leave you feeling confident in your choice to upgrade to the one TV size bigger.

You can download the Envision app from the App Store .

9to5Mac collage using images from Best Buy and Xinyi W.  on  Unsplash

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What to Know About Apple Allowing Game Emulators in the App Store

Apple updated its App Review Guidelines this month to allow "retro game console emulator apps" on the App Store for the iPhone and other devices. Below, we outline everything to know about these emulators and available options so far.

What is Allowed

Apple told us that emulators that can load games (ROMs) are permitted on the App Store, so long as the apps are emulating "retro console games" only.

Apple would not tell us which consoles it classifies as retro, but developer Riley Testut's popular emulator Delta is now available on the App Store , and it can emulate games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64, and Nintendo DS.

We have not come across any other fully-functioning emulators on the App Store released after the rule change, but more will likely be available in the future. Apple recently removed an emulator called iGBA from the App Store for ripping off Testut's code for Delta and its predecessor GBA4iOS, while the developer of NES emulator Bimmy decided to remove the app from the App Store to avoid the risk of legal action from Nintendo.

While a U.S. court ruled that emulators are legal, downloading copyrighted ROMs is typically against the law in the country. On its customer support website in the U.S., Nintendo says that downloading pirated copies of its games is illegal:

Pirate copies of game files are often referred to as "ROMs". The uploading and downloading of pirate copies of Nintendo games is illegal.

Nintendo recently sued the developers of Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu for "facilitating piracy at a colossal scale," leading to a reported $2.4 million settlement . Nintendo has yet to comment on the availability of emulators in the App Store, but Delta and its predecessor GBA4iOS have been available on the iPhone outside of the App Store for over a decade now without being shut down. Nintendo did issue a DMCA takedown notice against the GBA4iOS website in 2014, but the emulators have continued to remain available.

For those who want to abide by the letter of the law, it is generally legal to download and play "homebrew" games available in the public domain.

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Top Rated Comments

Wish Nintendo would buyout the emulator developed without their help and release them with content available above-board.

If we’re doing “retro” stuff of the DS, why aren’t we doing “retro” emulation of OS X from 2004?

When I think “retro” I think pre-PlayStation. So, roughly anything before 1995.

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