How to get Game Boy games on your iPhone in less than 10 minutes

Seventeen years ago, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance in America. The system sold millions of copies and was beloved by players throughout the world for its diverse and eclectic game library. Now, you can enjoy your favorite Game Boy Advance classics on your iPhone using an app called gba4ios. Installing this app is incredibly easy and requires no jailbreaking. This guide works with both iPhones and iPads, and will allow you to play Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy games on your device. The installation process is displayed with pictures below:

First, open your preferred browser on your iPhone and head to this link. You should see a screen like this. iPhone X users should choose the second gba4ios option, while all other users should choose the first. Once you tap an option, a button will pop up saying “Install”. Tap the install button, and gba4ios will download to your home screen like any other app would. However, you must first verify the app to use it. Fortunately, this is easy.

Go to your Settings app and select General. Once inside, open Profiles & Device Management. Inside there should be a profile underneath the Enterprise App header. Open this and the icon for gba4ios should be inside. Select the Trust option. This allows you to actually access and open the gba4ios app. Exit the settings app and open the gba4ios app from your home screen.

Once opened, your app should look something like this (note: We already downloaded a few games, which is why their titles appear). In order to download games, tap the magnifying glass icon in the top right. This will open a web browser within the app. Game Boy game files are called “roms”, so enter the name of the game you want into the search bar followed by rom (ex. “Super Mario Advance rom”). Numerous websites will then pop up. Choose one and download your rom. If done correctly, the title of the game will appear as shown above. Simply tap on the name of the game to play it.

And that’s it! You can now play Game Boy games on your iDevice.