While iOS lacks many features compared to Android, a significant number of people including tech-savvy ones still choose to use it for a variety of reasons. With iOS 13’s announcement yesterday, Apple seems to be playing catch-up in the feature department because iOS finally supports the DualShock 4/XBOX One S controller and external storage!
General Gaming: DualShock 4 and Xbox One S controller support come to iOS for better gaming
While Apple Arcade is yet another subscription service that many of us don’t need, at least we got support for two proper controllers out of it!
Yesterday’s iOS/iPad OS 13 announcement was jam-packed full of features although the ones that stood out the most were probably the much-hyped dark mode, the significantly improved volume indicator and swipe keyboard.
However, there’s more than just these 3 features and a significant one for gamers is support for the PlayStation 4’s DualShock and XBOX One S controllers. This means if you have an iOS device, you can finally use existing controllers rather than have to shell out for significantly more expensive MFi controller, some of which even lack certain buttons
The main reason why support for these two controllers was added is because Apple will be introducing a service called Apple Arcade later this year which is yet another subscription service but this time, for games. That being said, it’s highly likely that the DualShock 4/XBOX One S controllers could be used in other software that supports controllers as well, such as RipTide GP2/Oceanhorn/GTA San Andreas, and even unofficial emulators!
Emulation-friendly Moves: Mouse and external storage support
While Basilisk II isn’t available for iOS right now, someone might be enticed to port it over since mouse support would make using classic Mac OS and gaming it on it much more fun!
Other than support for some proper controllers, the upcoming version of iOS also brings two features which could be used in emulation which are external storage and USB/Bluetooth mouse support. From yesterday’s Keynote, it seems that the Files application is getting support for external storage in the form of pen drives, SD Cards and external hard drives.
In addition to external storage support, the Files app is also getting support for SMB sharing (sadly not FTP); through these features, one could easily transfer emulator ROMs to their device since some consoles, like the PS1/PSP, which have emulators on iOS also come with pretty large ROM files that make 32GB devices feel cramped.
While touted as an accessibility feature, a mouse can be useful when using a computer emulator on your device such as C64.emu and iDOS 2 provided these add support for this input device. Furthermore, it could also promote the creation of more computer ports like Basilisk II and SheepShaver.
Conclusion
While the above features sound pretty cool, it must be noted that these features have all been available in Android for quite a while so perhaps, they aren’t as revolutionary as some may think. That being said, the expression “Better late than never” holds here since all these features are quite welcome by people who use iOS and those who don’t.
If you want to try out iOS 13, you’ll either have to wait till September to get the final release or you can jump on the beta bandwagon although getting developer betas this time is a bit trickier since there are no beta profiles available and installation must be done through an IPSW file via iTunes (as ironic as it may sound). Otherwise, you may check out the full feature list here.
Note: As usual, Wololo isn’t an iOS website but this article was written to highlight features relevant to gamers and emulation fans.
The post Mobile Gaming/Emulation News: iOS 13 finally brings DualShock 4,XBOX One S, mouse support to the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch and external storage support for your favourite retro games! appeared first on Wololo.net.