touchHLE FAQ

This page gives answers to some “frequently asked questions” related to touchHLE. This page was last updated 2024-11-10.

Questions

What is touchHLE?

touchHLE is a high-level emulator for iPhone OS applications. For more information, please see the README.

Can touchHLE run all iOS apps?

No. It can run a relatively small number of early (circa 2008~2011), 32-bit iPhone OS games for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Will you add support for my favourite game?

We don't take requests, sorry. There is a chance your favourite game will work in the future. If you have the necessary intermediate-to-advanced-level programming skills, you are also welcome to try to contribute support yourself. We will not guide you through the process.

Why doesn't touchHLE run modern iOS apps?

• Realistic expectations: It is already very difficult to get early (iPhone OS 2) games working, and each new iOS version we support will only increase the difficulty; the OS and apps for it only get more complex with time. 64-bit support first appears in iOS 7, but it would be a miracle if touchHLE could support even iOS 6.
• Implementation simplicity: touchHLE's code assumes 32-bit throughout. Making it support both 32-bit and 64-bit would make many things more complicated.
• Lack of interest in that era of apps: The touchHLE project exists to preserve an older, less cynical era of mobile gaming. By the time you have 64-bit-only iOS games coming out, the mobile app space had fully decayed into its current freemium economy where good games are rare. Moreover, later titles are usually available on Android too, and there's plenty of good emulation solutions for Android titles.

Can touchHLE run on my device?

If it is a modern Windows or macOS computer, or an Android phone, most likely yes. If it is something else, there may be ways to get it to work, but we won't provide support for them. Note that touchHLE cannot itself run on iOS devices.

Why does touchHLE not run on iOS?

There are some technical hurdles, like the fact that touchHLE relies on JIT compilation. Nonetheless, even if those hurdles can be surmounted, that would not be enough. The real answer is actually political: Apple are extremely hostile to third-party developers on their platform, and we do not want to jump through their hoops. touchHLE will not officially support iOS unless iOS becomes an open platform, and it is more likely that hell will freeze over. Yes, the EU's Digital Markets Act is sadly not sufficient (right now, anyway). Bear in mind that if Apple had a less cynical view of the value of software works as cultural artifacts, then this project would never have needed to exist.

I tried to run some game. Why does the emulator crash immediately?

Most likely this game is not known to work in touchHLE. Another possibility is that the game is corrupted or encrypted, that you have the wrong version of the game, that something is wrong with your touchHLE installation, or that your touchHLE version is outdated.

When will touchHLE be able to run all iOS games?

Never. touchHLE will slowly improve in compatibility over time, but the nature of its high-level emulation approach and the massive complexity of the task mean we will never achieve 100% compatibility.

Why do I get an “App not installed.” error on my Android device when I try to install touchHLE?

The most common reason is that your Android device does not support 64-bit applications.

Why doesn't my Android device support 64-bit apps? It has a 64-bit processor!

Yes, but Google in their infinite wisdom invented something called a “64-bit phone with a 32-bit-only userland”, and it sucks, and there's nothing we can do about it. This is also a problem plaguing other emulators. Sorry.

Why doesn't touchHLE run on Android devices that don't support 64-bit apps?

It would be a lot of hassle for us to add support for them, and only cheap phones with poor performance lack 64-bit support. It's just not worth the effort for us.

Why are there so many things you refuse to do?

We are a tiny group of volunteers hacking away at this in our free time, and we do this for the love of it. There are orders of magnitude more people interested in touchHLE than there are people working on it. Some things have to be limited to avoid burnout, sorry.