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How to play any Game Boy Advance game on your iPhone without a jailbreak

Published Aug 1st, 2014 7:15PM EDT
Play GBA Games on iPhone

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Back in February, we showed you how to play classic NES games on your iPhone without having to resort to a jailbreak. If your mobile Nintendo game fix still isn’t satisfied, you might want to give GBA4iOS a try. There are versions for both iOS 6 and iOS 7, but the instructions to download the app are the same: set your iPhone back at least one day, head to the website to download the app, open GBA4iOS at least once and then set the date back to normal.

The most recent version of the app supports Game Boy Color games, iOS 7 controllers and is even optimized to run on iPad. You can also sync the app with your Dropbox account in order to conveniently switch between saves without having to store anything directly on your device. Inside a game, you can fast forward through cutscenes, sustain a button or even use a cheat code.

Keep in mind, once the app is installed, you’ll have to redo the date trick every time you reset your phone in order to access the app again. It’s part of the loophole that allows you to download the app directly from the GBA4iOS website rather than on the App Store.

Developer Riley Testut says on his blog that the team is planning to release the 2.1 update by the end of the summer, which will add controller skins and multiplayer capabilities via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.