# iGBA: GBA & GBC Retro Emulator — user reviews > 539 indexed App Store user reviews of iGBA by Mattia La Spina, rated 4.40/5 from 2,667 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/igba-gba-and-gbc-retro-emulator/id6482993626/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/igba-gba-and-gbc-retro-emulator/id6482993626.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 2,122 · 4★ 175 · 3★ 58 · 2★ 41 · 1★ 271 ## What do users think of iGBA? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🚀 Runs GBC and GBA games well - 👍 Easy to set up and use - 🎮 Allows playing retro games on iOS **Cons** - 🔍 Ads interrupt gameplay frequently - 🔒 Concerns about stolen code and lack of credit to original developer - 🐛 Audio issues, unresponsive controls, and other bugs reported **Commonly reported bugs** - Audio not working for some users - Unresponsive or delayed D-pad inputs - Crashes and black screens when returning to app **Most requested features** - Option to remove ads or pay for ad-free version - Ability to customize button placement and size - Support for more console emulation beyond GBC/GBA ## Newest reviews (12 of 539) ### 4/5 — Good, but the watch syncing needs work. *2026-08-19* It’s a really good emulator but it lacks one thing, being able to play locally on the watch, whenever the phone is disconnected from the watch, you can’t access your games from the watch, so at that point it’s better to use your phone than the watch rendering the watch gameplay pointless. Oh yeah extra thing, you should add crown inputs for like a b buttons also for some reason the games disappear when disconnected to the phone **Developer response:** Thanks a lot for the review! I’m actually working on that feature right now. My goal is to add the ability to play games directly on the Apple Watch, even when the iPhone is disconnected. I’m hoping to include it in the next update if everything goes as planned. Really appreciate the feedback and support! ### 4/5 — Good, but the watch syncing needs work. *2026-08-15, version 2.10.0* It’s a really good emulator but it lacks one thing, being able to play locally on the watch, whenever the phone is disconnected from the watch, you can’t access your games from the watch, so at that point it’s better to use your phone than the watch rendering the watch gameplay pointless. Oh yeah extra thing, you should add crown inputs for like a b buttons ### 4/5 — Good, but the watch syncing needs work. *2026-07-22* It’s a really good emulator but it lacks one thing, being able to play locally on the watch, whenever the phone is disconnected from the watch, you can’t access your games from the watch, so at that point it’s better to use your phone than the watch rendering the watch gameplay pointless. Oh yeah extra thing, you should add crown inputs for like a b buttons **Developer response:** Thanks a lot for the review! I’m actually working on that feature right now. My goal is to add the ability to play games directly on the Apple Watch, even when the iPhone is disconnected. I’m hoping to include it in the next update if everything goes as planned. Really appreciate the feedback and support! ### 4/5 — もうちょっと！ *2026-07-05* 基本的に問題は無い。広告も少なくて気にならない。 しかしスタートボタンとセレクトボタンが小さくて反応しない。カスタム設定で大きくしているが、アプリを起動し直すとボタンが全て表示されなくなるので、毎回クラシックにしてボタンを表示させてからまたカスタムに設定し直しているのが手間。 ### 4/5 — Era muito bom, até… *2026-06-24* Do nada some os controles! Estava jogando tudo certo até sumirem os controles do NADA, fico totalmente impossibilitado de jogar. **Developer response:** Olá! Isso normalmente acontece em dois casos: * Se um controle Bluetooth foi conectado, os controles na tela são ocultados automaticamente. * Se nas Configurações você alterou a transparência ou a posição dos controles, eles podem parecer que desapareceram. Entre em contato comigo pelo suporte do aplicativo e terei prazer em analisar o seu caso para resolver o problema o mais rápido possível. ### 2/5 — New updates are downgrading quality *2026-05-31* There use to be no ads. I was alright with the first update with some adds and, premium features like over 2x speed and some unique add ons, buts it’s progressively gotten worse. I use to be able to play and listen to my book or music and now that’s gone because the game throws an ad every time I slide my task menu down to start my book. I’m just ranting but it’s sad to see such a good app slowly decay from greed. The newest required add before you play is the latest in a series of poor development decisions that has caused me to write this review. Hope this can help the dev make some changes or someone make an informed decision. **Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to leave such detailed feedback. I’m genuinely sorry to hear that recent changes have made the experience worse for you. Reading reviews like this is important to me because my goal is to make iGBA better, not more frustrating. The issue you mentioned about ads appearing when switching apps to start music or an audiobook is especially useful feedback, and I’d love to understand more about your experience so I can improve it in future updates. If you’re willing, please contact me through the app’s support section or by email. I personally read user feedback and I’m always looking for ways to improve the app based on real-world usage. Thank you for supporting iGBA and for being honest about what you dislike. I hope you’ll give future updates a chance, and I’d be grateful if you reached out so we can work through the issues you’ve encountered. ### 4/5 — Good, but the watch syncing needs work. *2026-05-28, version 2.7.0* It’s a really good emulator but it lacks one thing, being able to play locally on the watch, whenever the phone is disconnected from the watch, you can’t access your games from the watch, so at that point it’s better to use your phone than the watch rendering the watch gameplay pointless. ### 3/5 — Probleme mit Lags seit Update 26.3.1 *2026-05-17* Seit Update 26.3.1 habe ich konstante Mikrolags alle ein bis zwei Sekunden, die auch ein Systemneustart und einenkomplette Neuinstallation (ich habe sogar den Save-file gelöscht) nicht beheben konnten. Das ist supernervig und ich kann meine Spiele so nicht mehr genießen, was ich sehr schade finde. Bis zu diesem Punkt habe ich das spielen mit iGBA sehr genossen. **Developer response:** Es tut mir leid, dass du seit dem Update 26.3.1 diese Mikrolags hast. Das sollte natürlich nicht passieren, besonders wenn vorher alles problemlos funktioniert hat. Bitte kontaktiere mich direkt über den Support in der App, damit wir uns deinen Fall genauer anschauen können. Ich werde versuchen, das Problem zusammen mit dir zu analysieren und in der nächsten Version zu beheben, damit du iGBA wieder ohne Probleme genießen kannst. Danke auch für dein Feedback und deine Geduld. ### 4/5 — Fix the a button in vertical mode *2026-03-28, version 2.5.0* This is a really good gba emulator but my only problem with it is that the a button barely reads my inputs when it’s in vertical mode. Please fix that. ### 2/5 — review *2026-03-24, version 2.5.0* Intrusive ads ### 2/5 — Crashes often *2026-02-21, version 2.2.0* Works alright. Has a double speed option which is nice but it crashes often; but it will start you from within the last 15 seconds of your state so that’s nice. Wish the speed was variable. 2x is too much. ### 3/5 — Ho perso 3 ore *2026-01-06, version 2.2.0* Purtroppo dopo un po’ che giocavo, l’emulatore ha perso un salvataggio e così ho perso 3 ore di gioco. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Ads emulater *2026-08-02* I don’t like to be raped by the ADs so I uninstall it. **Developer response:** このたびは広告でご不快な思いをさせてしまい、申し訳ございません。 iGBAではプレイ中に広告を表示することはありません。表示されるのはゲームの起動時のみで、しかも3回に1回、かつ一定の間隔を空けています。アプリに復帰した際の広告も廃止済みです。 それでも気になる場合は、iGBA Proにアップグレードしていただくと広告は完全に非表示になります。ROMやセーブデータが広告によって影響を受けることは一切ありません。 貴重なご意見をありがとうございました。今後の改善に活かしてまいります。 ### 1/5 — 没有按键 *2026-07-07* 充了会员且玩了一段时间之后，游戏打开之后一个按键都没有 **Developer response:** 您好！感谢您的反馈。 仅凭这条评论，我无法完全理解您遇到的问题。请您通过应用内的支持页面或客服邮箱与我联系，并尽量详细描述问题（如果可以的话，附上截图或录屏），我会尽快帮您排查并解决。 谢谢！ ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2026-06-19, version 2.7.0* It won’t read any of the game files useless app ### 1/5 — This app is paid *2026-05-24* This app is paid **Developer response:** No, it’s free, please contact me if you have some problem ### 1/5 — Immer mehr Werbung *2026-03-25* Seit dem letzten Update nur noch 3 Quick Saves, wenn man nicht bezahlen will oder kann. Außerdem beim öffnen der App, beim Starten der ROM und beim Wechseln ins Menü nur noch Werbung. Suche mir wohl eine Alternative. ### 1/5 — New Update *2026-03-22, version 2.5.0* This new update is horrible and has ruined this app. 0 out of 10 would not recommend for an emulator. ### 1/5 — Update to add ads💀 *2026-03-21* Really? All updates been awful now an update to fix ads??? How pathetic are you **Developer response:** Hi, we understand your frustration — let us clarify a bit. This update wasn’t intended to “add ads” in a negative way, but rather to adjust how they are handled and fix related issues. That said, we realize the experience may not feel right right now, and that’s on us. We’re actively working on improving stability and overall user experience after the recent changes. If you can, please reach out through the in-app support and tell us what you’re seeing — your feedback helps us correct things faster. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. ### 1/5 — Frustrierend *2026-03-12* Spiel stürzt mittendrin einfach ab und lässt sich dann nicht mehr starten. Dafür dass das Android schon vor 15 Jahren ohne Probleme geschafft hat, bodenlos **Developer response:** Hi, thanks for your feedback. Could you let me know if this happens with all ROMs or only with a specific one? That information would help a lot to identify the issue. Please contact me through the App Support so I can assist you directly and investigate the crash. Thank you very much. ### 1/5 — Quase… *2026-02-14* Eu estava quase indo para o elite 4 no Pokémon Fire and Red e o jogo bugou e não deixava eu mexer as pedras, fora que não dá para trocar ### 1/5 — Deletes saved data *2025-12-31, version 2.2.0* The emulator randomly just whiped all my saved data and reverted to a file from months ago losing all my progress. I don’t even know how this is possible as the emulator should be overwriting previous saved files, but nope this app is garbage!!! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Amazing *2026-08-09, version 2.8.0* Let’s you play almost any game and for free ### 5/5 — Convaincu dès la première utilisation *2026-07-28* Franchement très facile à prendre en main, propose des pub mais qui ne sont pas invasives, beaucoup de paramètres pouvant améliorer l’expérience ! Si vous chercher un ému pour vos rom, que ça soit en speedrun même en TAS ou simplement pour revivre la nostalgie, votre bonheur ce trouve ici ! (Seul petit bémol je n’arrive pas à jouer avec ma manette ps4 qui est pourtant visible dans les contrôleurs extérieurs) ### 5/5 — 手表端希望可以独立离线使用 *2026-07-23* 手表的不连手机或者互联网无法加载出已下载好的游戏列表，希望改善此功能，其他都是些小问题不太影响游戏体验，挺好的。 ### 5/5 — Controls disappeared *2026-07-15, version 2.7.0* My controls disappeared and can’t fix how to make them reappear ### 5/5 — Super Emulator mit Potential *2026-03-22* Macht Spaß zu spielen, aber das Linking Feature funktioniert nicht… ich bin mit zwei Geräten im gleichen WLAN und die App findet das jeweils andere Gerät nicht. Sehr schade. ### 5/5 — pokemon *2026-03-20, version 2.4.0* Sorry guys I JUST LOVE OOKEMON IT CAN DO GOLD EMERALD ### 5/5 — Super App, schnelle Fixes bei Problemen *2026-03-12* Danke für das schnelle Update, so macht eine App Spaß ! **Developer response:** Hallo, danke für dein Feedback und es tut mir leid für die Probleme. Der Absturz wurde bereits behoben – bitte aktualisiere die App auf Version 2.3.1, dort wurden die Crash-Probleme behoben. Vielen Dank für deine Geduld! ### 5/5 — Good game but… *2026-02-02* I wrote this review to people who didn’t know how to download the games You search the game you wanted find a website then click in if it has a download button click it Next go to you files click it Then you should be in your game! ### 5/5 — Perfeito *2026-01-05* Não como se desse pra estragar um emulador ### 5/5 — Nostalgic *2025-12-28, version 2.1.1* I haven’t been able to play GBA games since high school. Now I can! God bless you guys --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-03.*