An anonymous reader shared a report. Last weekend, developer Mattia La Spina launched iGBA as one of the first retro game emulators legally available on the iOS App Store, following Apple's rule changes regarding emulators earlier this month. However, as of Monday morning, iGBA was removed from his App Store following a controversy over the unauthorized reuse of source code from another emulator project.
iOS 8.1 closes a security hole that makes it easier to install emulators Shortly after iGBA's launch, some people on social media said the project was a nearly 10-year-old emulator created by developer Riley Testut and partners. I started noticing that it seemed to be based on some GBA4iOS code. It was developed as a high school student (and distributed via a temporary security hole in the iOS App Store). Testut called iGBA a “knockoff” of GBA4iOS on social media Sunday morning. “I didn't give anyone permission and now it's sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads and tracking),” he wrote.
GBA4iOS is an open source program released under the GNU GPLv2 license, which states that anyone can “use, modify, and distribute the original code of this project without fear of legal repercussions.” there is. However, these broad license terms only apply “unless you plan to submit your app to Apple's App Store, in which case you will need my express written permission.”
