# UTM SE vs Ephemerality

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ephemerality at none against UTM SE's 3. UTM SE's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 8 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. UTM SE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Ephemerality asks for nothing beyond the download.

UTM SE ships an update every 4 months, Ephemerality every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | UTM SE | Ephemerality |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[3.8 (554 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/utm-se-retro-pc-emulator/id1564628856/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **554** | — |
| Positive reviews | 54.7% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 4 months** | Every 8 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 1.6 GB | 70 MB |
| Requires iOS | **14.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | [Turing Software, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1534511649) | [Justin Neuman](https://appshunter.io/developer/1859103444) |

## What reviewers say

### UTM SE

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/utm-se-retro-pc-emulator/id1564628856)

Experience classic computing by running old-school games and software. This emulator supports various display modes and processor architectures, allowing you to run pre-built systems or configure your own.

**Highlights:** Run classic software and games, VGA and terminal modes, Emulates x86, ARM, PPC, RISC-V, Pre-built or custom machine configurations, Built from QEMU

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Transistor | $0.99 | one-time |
| Chip | $4.99 | one-time |
| Computer | $9.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app that can run Windows and macOS
- 👍 Useful for nostalgic reasons
- 👍 Can run Linux VMs

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Slow performance, especially on older devices
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Display and boot issues
- 🐛 Incompatible with some ISOs and VMs

**Reported bugs**

- Inability to select .img files as floppy boot images
- Crashes when trying to leave a VM
- Crashes when adjusting virtual CD-ROM drive settings

**Requested features**

- Add support for JIT compilation to improve performance
- Improve Magic Keyboard support
- Allow exporting VMs to run on other platforms


### Ephemerality

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ephemerality/id6757105307)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is UTM SE free?

UTM SE is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Ephemerality free?

Ephemerality is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do UTM SE or Ephemerality have ads?

Neither UTM SE nor Ephemerality shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, UTM SE or Ephemerality?

UTM SE ships an update every 4 months, and Ephemerality every 8 months. Most recently, UTM SE was updated on September 27, 2026 and Ephemerality on September 15, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*