swipe vs ArcEmu
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
swipe
Navigate a white circle through challenging mazes to collect blue coins. This minimalist puzzle game offers intuitive gameplay with a modern, colorful design and a level editor for creating and sharing your own challenges.
- Minimalist puzzle gameplay
- Level editor with share function
- Intuitive controls
- Modern, colorful design
- 100 challenging levels
- 10 optional themes
- Customizable themes
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swipe the white circle through a maze of barriers to collect the blue coins • minimalist puzzle game • level editor with share function • intuitive gameplay • modern, colorful design • 100 tricky, varying levels • 10 optional themes to change the appearance • personalise your own theme • 120 Hz support for new devices • optimal for OLED screens
ArcEmu
Experience retro gaming on your Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad. This emulator supports Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. Enjoy features like multiplayer, cheats, and customizable controls.
- Game Boy, GBC, GBA emulation
- Multiplayer support
- Cheat codes
- Customizable on-screen controls
- Save State sharing
- iCloud support
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ArcEmu brings retro game emulation to Apple Watch. It also works on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, delivering a seamless gaming experience across your Apple devices. Supported Consoles - Game Boy (.gb) - Game Boy Color (.gbc) - Game Boy Advance (.gba) - Pokémon Mini (.min) - Nintendo Entertainment System (.nes) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (.sfc and .smc) - Atari 2600 (.a26 and .bin) Main Features - Accurate, high-performance emulation powered by the mGBA and Ares cores - Game Link Cable support with online multiplayer for up to four players* - Cheat-code support with a built-in database of popular codes** - Frame-independent emulation at 30 or 60 FPS - Multi-touch and Digital Crown support on Apple Watch - Support for all screen orientations on iPhone and iPad - Precise, thoughtfully designed on-screen controls - Customizable control position and transparency on iPhone and iPad - Fast-forward at 2×, 4×, or maximum speed - Slow motion at 0.5× speed - Touch-based light gun controls for NES and SNES - Custom color palettes for Game Boy games - Button hold/sustain feature - Accelerometer support - Gyroscope support on iPhone and iPad, with Digital Crown input on Apple Watch - Haptic feedback on iPhone - Game controller support with customizable button mappings - ZIP archive support - Automatic saving - Save-state sharing between devices - iCloud support for ROMs and save states - ROM sharing through iCloud using share codes - Support for Apple Watch devices configured with Family Setup - ROM sorting and search Apple Watch Compatibility - Apple Watch Series 4 or later - Apple Watch SE or later - Apple Watch Ultra or later ArcEmu does not include any games or ROMs. You can import compatible ROM files from your iPhone and store them in iCloud. Your Apple Watch can then download them directly from iCloud. On an Apple Watch configured with Family Setup, ROMs can be downloaded from iCloud using share codes. Games Featured in the Screenshots - Acorn Grove: https://gibbongl.itch.io/acorn-grove - Anguna: https://gauauu.itch.io/anguna - Hauntsfield: https://alliemackie.itch.io/hauntsfield - µCity Advance: https://skylyrac.itch.io/ucity-advance * Requires a Game Center account. ** Cheat codes may cause unexpected behavior or affect game stability and save data. ArcEmu is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Nintendo. Nintendo and the names of its game systems are trademarks of Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: swipe at Free against ArcEmu's $1.99. swipe also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.5). ArcEmu's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
swipe is free to download; ArcEmu costs $1.99 up front. swipe sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. ArcEmu asks for nothing beyond the download.
ArcEmu holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.4K and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of swipe's written reviews are positive against 95% of ArcEmu's.
swipe ships an update every 4 months, ArcEmu every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | swipe | ArcEmu |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.4K ratings) | 4.9 (1.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 89.8% of reviews | 94.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.4K — better | 1.3K |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 172 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Briegers GbR | Raffaele D'Amato |
Customer experience
swipe
ArcEmu
User reviews
swipe
From 2.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Smooth gameplay
- 🎮 Great on Apple Watch
- 🎨 Simplistic and modern design
- 🔓 No ads or data harvesting
- 💡 Unique gesture-based controls
Room to improve
- 🔍 Limited number of hints
- 🤯 Some levels are very difficult
- 🔧 Level editor could be improved
- 🔊 Sound issues on certain devices
ArcEmu
From 1.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fully functional
- 🚀 Impressive emulation on Apple Watch
- 👍 Great emulator for both phone and watch
- 👍 Seamless save state transfer between devices
- 👍 Customizable controls and layout
Room to improve
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with some games
- 🐛 Audio quality problems on certain games
- 👎 Limited functionality on Apple Watch
- 👎 Difficult controls for action-heavy games on watch
Bugs and requests
swipe
Reported bugs
2 issues- Level editor crashes
- Hints not always working as expected
Requested features
4 requests- More levels and content
- Ability to reverse moves
- Syncing progress across devices
- Customizable themes and visuals
ArcEmu
Reported bugs
3 issues- Occasional crashes
- Graphical glitches with certain ROMs
- Save data not transferring properly between devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add cheat/GameShark support
- Improve volume controls
- Implement fast forward/slow motion options
- Allow multiple save slots per game
- Improve Game Boy Color support
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Add joystick/button support for Apple Watch
In-app purchases
swipe
- 2 hints$0.99
- Themes$1.99
- 5 hints$1.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- 10 hints$2.99
ArcEmu
No in-app purchases









