iOS

iOS 7 running on an iPhone 5s.

iOS is Apple's mobile operating system developed originally for the iPhone, and later deployed on the iPod Touch and iPad as well. It is derived from Mac OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix-like operating system by nature. In iOS, there are four abstraction layers: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and the Cocoa Touch layer. The operating system uses roughly 500 megabytes of the device's storage.

Ace Attorney series on iOS

To date, only Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the first game in the Ace Attorney series, is available (with the Nintendo DS sprites) in the App Store worldwide. In Japan and the United States, however, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, the next two games in the series, are also available. The buttons used are similar to the skeuomorphic UI used prior to iOS 7. As of 2016, this port of the games has been removed from the App Store.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD (逆転裁判 123HD 成歩堂龍一編 Gyakuten Saiban 123HD Naruhodō Ryūichi-hen), a re-release of the first three games in the series using "HD sprites" (modified from character and background art), was announced for iOS and released in Japan on Feb. 7, 2012, with an English localization being released on May 30, 2013. The first two cases of the first game are free, while the remaining cases and games are available as in-app purchases. The graphics in the games would later be reused for the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Nintendo 3DS port.

A port of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies was released on iOS in Japan on August 7, 2014. All content from the original Japanese release (including the exclusive quiz DLC, extra costumes, and the downloadable episode Turnabout Reclaimed) is present. The first episode is free for download, with the option to purchase the remaining episodes individually or as a multi-pack. The port was released in English a week later on August 14. The English version, like the 3DS original, lacks the quiz DLC and changes its reward (Phoenix Wright's "Old-School Sweater" costume) to a reward for completing Turnabout Reclaimed. The English version also fixes a plot-relevant error from Turnabout Academy involving Aristotle Means's staff that was present in the original 3DS English release.

An iOS version of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney called Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney HD launched on the App Store on December 1, 2016. It features higher-resolution graphics and a touch-oriented interface, similar to the Trilogy HD ports.

A port of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice was released on iOS worldwide on September 21, 2017. Unlike Dual Destinies, it's 99 cents to purchase and download the first episode. Otherwise, the remaining main story episodes can be purchased individually or in a bundle.

Controls

Ace Attorney games on the iOS use a simple control scheme that utilize touch screen controls in a similar way to their DS counterparts. However, a few things have been changed. For example, instead of using the DS microphone to "blow away" fingerprint powder, players instead swipe the screen to remove the powder. The UI during the assembly of the Unstable Jar in Rise from the Ashes was modified, due to the original game using two screens. The screen can be flipped to vertical mode in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD, with a UI more reminiscent of the Nintendo DS ports.

Gallery

Investigation and trial sections on the initial iOS port

A cross-examination on the initial iOS port.