Developers have successfully booted native iOS on commercial Android smartphones. Independent programmers running projects managed to boot Apple operating system files directly on select Redmi and POCO devices without using emulators. The experimental builds remain early proofs of concept with major hardware limitations.
iOS 16.7.16 booting on a Snapdragon 732G (Redmi Note 10 Pro)
by u/One-Hair875 in hackintosh
The setup relies on a modified version of the Apple open source XNU kernel. Developers combined this custom kernel with genuine system files from iOS 16.7.16 extracted from iPhone X firmware images. The build process uses Xcode 15 running on remote macOS servers to compile essential components, including core services and the SpringBoard interface. Programmers must manually write custom drivers for each piece of Android hardware to communicate with the Apple software layer.
Progress varies significantly depending on the target phone. A build shared by Reddit member One Hair875 boots a Redmi Note 10 Pro into a functional home screen. On this device, touch inputs, physical volume keys, power buttons, settings menus, and the control center respond to user interaction. Another project targeting the Redmi Note 12 4G currently stalls after reaching the lock screen, while a separate port for the POCO X5 Pro remains in an early testing phase.
Critical hardware components remain completely offline. The builds lack working drivers for cameras, audio output, Wi Fi, cellular connectivity, Bluetooth, and GPS navigation. Because developers have not established graphics processor acceleration, the central processor handles all visual rendering. This software rendering restricts display output to roughly 20 to 30 frames per second. Boot times also stretch between 3 and 4 minutes. Technical instructions and source code are available on GitHub under the ios topaz and ios sweet projects, though creators warn the modifications are meant purely for software research.
