Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Dreamcast emulator Flycast’s iOS build has been pulled due to persistent harassment of its developer.
- A Reddit post includes Discord messages referencing death threats and repeated bans.
- The harassment appears to have been from one individual.
It’s always frustrating when one person ruins something for everyone else. In this case, a popular Dreamcast emulator for iOS appears to have been pulled following sustained harassment of one of its developers by a single individual.
In a post shared to the r/EmulationOniOS subreddit, a user shared what appears to be a screenshot from Discord showing a message from Flycast developer flyinghead. The message reads: “Due to persistent harassment from an iOS user, support for this platform has been dropped and all release builds deleted.” Almost the same message appears on the project’s GitHub page under the iOS installation instructions.
The harassment appears to have been particularly aggressive. In a top reply, the original poster claims the offending user was “banned 5 times from the server and he sent him death threats,” before linking to another Discord screenshot. In that image, flyinghead states: “Some moron keeps coming back and insults everyone. He sent me death threats by DM. Banned him 5 times.”
Flycast is a well-known Dreamcast emulator with ports for Android, Windows, Linux, and macOS. The iOS version wasn’t available through the App Store, but could be sideloaded — a common workaround for emulators on Apple devices. Given Apple’s restrictions on emulation, it had become a valued option for Dreamcast fans on iOS.
The Reddit thread is filled with disappointment over the loss, but also understanding, with many users expressing sympathy for the developer and frustration that the actions of one person could lead to this outcome.
