How to Play Retro PC Games on Your iPhone: A Step-by-Step Guide

Before you get started with running all your favourite retro games on your iPhone, you'll need a few things ready:

1)Download and install UTM SE on your iPhone from the App Store.

2)To run your games on a virtual machine, you'll need an operating system, for which I recommend using FreeDOS. Just visit FreeDOS' downloads page and click LiveCD to download it.

3)Make sure to save a copy of your game's ISO file on your iPhone using the Files app, as you'll need it later.

4) While optional, I strongly recommend connecting an external keyboard to your iPhone. You can use the on-screen keyboard instead, but remember it will cover half the screen while you're playing games.

Setting Up FreeDOS on Your iPhone

Now that you have everything ready, you can finally start creating a FreeDOS virtual machine. Here's how you can do so:

• Open UTM SE on your iPhone, and tap the plus (+) icon in the top-left corner.
• Tap New Machine, and then select Browse under Boot ISO Image. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded FreeDOS and select the FD13LIVE.iso file.
• Next, you'll need to allocate hardware resources to your virtual machine. Set the memory slider to 512MB, and use the plus (+) icon under CPU to assign one core. If you encounter performance issues later, you can always increase the memory and CPU cores.
• Finally, just enter the amount of storage you want to allocate to the VM. In most cases, 1-2 GB should be plenty.
• You'll now see a summary of your virtual machine. Just tap Save in the top-right corner to continue.

After creating your virtual machine, UTM SE will show all the details about the VM, including the option to boot into it. But before you do that, you'll need to mount your games as an external drive. Here's how:

• Tap the settings icon in the bottom-right corner.
• Hit the plus (+) icon in the top-left corner and tap Import Drive.
• Go to the folder where you saved your game, tap the ISO file to import it into your virtual machine, and then tap Save.

Setting up freeDOS on your iPhone 

• Finally, FreeDOS virtual machine can be created. Here is how you can do it:
• Open UTM SE on your iPhone and click + in the top left.
• Click ‘New Machine’ then select ‘Boot ISO Image’ under ‘Browse’. From there navigate to the folder you downloaded
• FreeDOS and choose FD13LIVE.iso file.

Next, hardware resources for your virtual machine should be assigned. Change the memory slider to 512MB and assign one core using the plus (+) sign beside CPU. You can always increase this if performance issues arise later on.

• The last setting is to allocate a storage size for your VM. In most cases, 1-2 GB should do.
• A summary of your virtual machine will now appear. Tap “Save” at the top right corner to proceed.
• UTM SE homepage showing several available virtual machines
• UTM SE create new virtual machine menu
• Which ISO image to boot from on UTM SE
• Hardware resource settings as shown in UTM SE

After setting up your virtual machine, UTM SE will display the VM details including the option to boot into it. But before that, you will have to mount your games as an external drive. Here’s how:

• Press on the settings icon found at the bottom right.
• Click on (+) icon in top left corner then select Import Drive.