diff --git a/modules/webm/libvpx/SCsub b/modules/webm/libvpx/SCsub
index 4d10e0bf3ee..abc74ebabf1 100644
--- a/modules/webm/libvpx/SCsub
+++ b/modules/webm/libvpx/SCsub
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ if env["platform"] == 'uwp':
 else:
     import platform
     is_x11_or_server_arm = ((env["platform"] == 'x11' or env["platform"] == 'server') and (platform.machine().startswith('arm') or platform.machine().startswith('aarch')))
-    is_ios_x86 = (env["platform"] == 'iphone' and env["ios_sim"])
+    is_ios_x86 = (env["platform"] == 'iphone' and ("arch" in env and env["arch"].startswith('x86')))
     is_android_x86 = (env["platform"] == 'android' and env["android_arch"] == 'x86')
     if is_android_x86:
         cpu_bits = '32'
diff --git a/platform/iphone/detect.py b/platform/iphone/detect.py
index 25674c2b47b..99affd2647e 100644
--- a/platform/iphone/detect.py
+++ b/platform/iphone/detect.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def get_opts():
         BoolVariable('icloud', 'Support for iCloud', True),
         BoolVariable('ios_exceptions', 'Enable exceptions', False),
         ('ios_triple', 'Triple for ios toolchain', ''),
-        BoolVariable('ios_sim', 'Build simulator binary', False),
+        BoolVariable('ios_sim', 'Build simulator binary (deprecated, use arch=x86 or arch=x86_64)', False),
     ]