With iOS 8.1.2 why can I install some emulators but not others..why?

[iMore Question]

iOS 8.1.2 I can install some emulators but not others...why?

I know all about the date trick and how it was patched in iOS 8.1, and indeed any app the says it requires the date trick will not install (eg. gba4ios), however I just installed 4 other emulators last night and all 4 of them work and installed just fine.

I have MeSNEmu, nds4ios, Provenance, and ppsspp, and they all installed and work just fine on iOS 8.1.2 with an iPhone 6

But then some other apps, such as abda4ios won't install.

Why is this? has a new method to install apps been found? Did I just get really lucky some how?

and of course I am NOT jailbroken. I promised myself I wouldn't jailbreak this iPhone and I'm sticking to it...but that doesn't mean I don't want to have fun with it.

 

[natasftw]

Re: iOS 8.1.2 I can install some emulators but not others...why?

I'm not sure why that's an "of course." It'd make more sense if you were jailbroken given the context of the message.

But, the answer to your question is easier than you think. Programs are made by programmers. They do exactly what they're told to do. In this case, you have several different programs developed by several different programmers (or groups of programmers). This alone should tell you they have the potential to use different techniques, different code, different algorithms. The one that isn't working relies on something specific. That something specific doesn't exist.

In computing, some programs will work and others won't. This is especially true if you try to run a version that was built for an older OS. It was developed for an OS that you're no longer using so it's likely things break.