Comparison

Plume! vs PocketDOS

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Plume!

This app allows you to play classic Dreamcast games on your iPhone. It offers a polished library, customizable graphics, and flexible control options for both handheld and TV play. Easily import your game titles and enhance their visuals for a modern gaming experience.

Highlights
  • Dreamcast emulation on iPhone
  • Customizable on-screen controls
  • Bluetooth gamepad support
  • Console mode for TV play
  • Advanced graphics tuning
  • Save states and VMU support
  • RetroAchievements integration
Features
Read full description

Plume is a Dreamcast emulator for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. A polished library, deep graphics options, and controls for handheld play and couch co-op. Add games through the Files app, AirDrop, or the Share sheet. Supported formats include GDI, CDI, CHD, CUE, ISO, M3U, ELF, ZIP, and 7Z. Retail BIOS files are optional. Turn on Fast Boot to skip the splash, or add dc_boot.bin and dc_flash.bin from hardware you own for the full boot sequence. LIBRARY Your collection lives in one place with cover art, metadata, favorites, and play time. Every menu can show as Tiles or a List. After you run a game, Plume grades how it performs on your device (Excellent, Good, Playable, and more) so you know what to expect before you boot. Add any game to your Home Screen. CONTROLS Use fully customizable on-screen controls, or pair a Bluetooth gamepad in iOS Settings and remap every button in Plume. Dreamcast has four controller ports, and each port can hold a standard controller, arcade stick, twin stick, racing controller, fishing controller, light gun, maracas, train, rhythm or dance controller, keyboard, or mouse, each with its own touch layout. Touch controls fill port 1 when nothing else is connected. Rumble and haptics are built in. CONSOLE MODE Mirror your screen to a TV over AirPlay or HDMI. In Console mode the game renders on the big screen while your iPhone stays the controller. GRAPHICS AND PERFORMANCE Tune internal resolution, aspect ratio, CRT shaders, texture filtering, HDR, and upscaling. MetalFX upscaling and FSR 3 frame generation are available on supported devices. HD texture packs, neural upscale models, and Upscale Studio help older games look sharper. A live HUD shows FPS, frame time, CPU, RAM, and more. SAVE STATES AND VMU Save and load states from the in-game menu. Slots appear on library covers for quick resume. Per-game VMU files keep memory cards where they belong. CHEATS Add cheat codes by hand or import them for each game. RETROACHIEVEMENTS Sign in to RetroAchievements and earn badges while you play. Hardcore mode disables save states for a classic challenge. EXTRACT Hold a game in the library to extract its music, videos, and pictures from your own disc. CAPTURE AND SHARE Take screenshots and record gameplay in-game. Save them to Documents or Photos, or attach a capture to a save-state slot as a visual bookmark. SOUND AND STYLE Menu music from downloadable tracks, your own imports, or songs from your Apple Music library. Themes give you control over colors, fonts, corners, and accessibility, including Bold Text and Button Shapes when iOS has them on. REQUIREMENTS Plume runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, and on Mac computers with Apple silicon running macOS 14 or later. Your device may warm up during play, and heavy 3D games may not reach full speed on older devices. LEGAL Plume does not include commercial games or a retail BIOS. You are responsible for content you import. Only use game files and firmware you legally own. Dreamcast is a trademark of SEGA. Plume is not affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA.

About

PocketDOS

This app allows you to play classic DOS and Windows 9x games and software on your iPhone. Import your own licensed titles and enjoy them offline with customizable controls and settings. It also features an experimental Windows 98 installation wizard.

Highlights
  • Import DOS & Windows 9x software
  • On-device, offline emulation
  • Customizable touch and hardware controls
  • Session persistence and quick save/load
  • Optional iCloud save sync
  • Experimental Windows 98 installer
  • Open source
Features
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PocketDOS plays the DOS and Windows 9x software you already own, on your iPhone. Import your games and programs from the Files app and they run entirely on-device, offline, at usable speed — no account, no ads, no data collection. PocketDOS ships no games and no Microsoft software. Everything it runs comes from media you supply and are licensed to use. FEATURES - Game library: import .jsdos bundles, .zip archives, or chunked hard-disk machines. Rename, delete, and tune each entry. Your library lives in the Files app, so you can back it up yourself. - Session persistence: autosave every 3 minutes, save on quit and when backgrounding, quick save/load (F6/F7) on a hardware keyboard, and per-game "reset saved session". - iCloud save sync (optional): small save files follow you between installs via your own iCloud Drive. The app works fully offline without it. - Touch controls, three per-game profiles: a D-pad with an action cluster for keyboard-driven games; a tap-to-click mouse mode with a dedicated right-click button for point-and-click adventures; or none. - Hardware keyboards and game controllers are supported, with per-game remapping. - Per-game settings: emulated RAM size and an editable DOS configuration with one-tap presets (Sound Blaster IRQ, General MIDI, MT-32, FM-only). - Sound: Sound Blaster digital audio and AdLib/OPL FM synthesis out of the box, General MIDI via a bundled SoundFont, and Roland MT-32 music with ROMs you supply. - Private by design: every asset is served from inside the app and the emulator cannot reach the network. No telemetry, no analytics. The privacy policy fits on one screen. WINDOWS 98 INSTALL WIZARD (EXPERIMENTAL) Build a real, bootable Windows 98 SE machine from your own Windows 98 SE CD image and your own product key. Entirely on your device, the wizard reads the CD image, extracts its boot floppy, and runs Microsoft Setup unattended — file copy, wizard pages, first boot to the desktop — then installs a mouse-integration driver so your touch input works on the Windows desktop. The finished machine appears in your library like any other entry, with persistent disk state. Honest expectations: a full install runs unattended for 30-60 minutes, and the feature is young — it is labeled Experimental because it means it. If an install fails, it fails cleanly and you can try again. Your CD image is read on-device and never uploaded; your product key is held in memory only and is never stored, logged, or transmitted. OPEN SOURCE PocketDOS is free software (GPL-2.0) built on DOSBox, DOSBox-X, and js-dos. The complete source code, including the exact emulator build recipe, is public: https://github.com/Mantene/PocketDos WHAT POCKETDOS DOES NOT INCLUDE No game content, no operating systems, no product keys, no MT-32 ROMs. You supply your own legally obtained software. DOS, Windows, and all emulated software remain the property of their respective owners. Requires iOS 17 or later. iPhone-first; iPad support is planned.

Screenshots

Plume!4 screens
PocketDOS4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PocketDOS at Free against Plume!'s $0.99. PocketDOS also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Plume!'s advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.3) and chart position (#4 vs unranked). On ratings volume, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PocketDOS is free to download; Plume! costs $0.99 up front. Plume! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PocketDOS asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Plume! holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 3 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Plume! versus PocketDOS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlume!PocketDOS
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (6 ratings) — better3.3 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank#4 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size135 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDylan MathurinMatthew Hood

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Plume!

One-time1
  • Tip $1$0.99
None

PocketDOS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Plume! free?
Plume! costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is PocketDOS free?
PocketDOS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Plume! or PocketDOS?
Plume! is rated higher. Plume! averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while PocketDOS averages 3.3 from 3 ratings.
Do Plume! or PocketDOS have ads?
Neither Plume! nor PocketDOS shows ads.

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